Help!!! Hungarian Goulash advice

CinammonGirl

I'm cooking for 10 people Sat night. Have decided on a Hungarian goulash and did a test run with this one

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9805/hungarian-goulash

It was OK but a bit bland I thought. Also I thought the addition of wine to a goulash was a bit strange? Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions? More paprika? Or do something else instead?
I'm not doing curry as some of my friends are really good curry cooks and I wouldn't match up and I don't fancy beef and guinness stew.
Starting to panic :eek:

Dial Hard

Garlic, lots of. Needs way more paprika too, 1 tsp will be utterly lost in there. I'd also add a lot more celery. Season, season, season, but at a point where you can taste what you're doing. I'd also throw in a good pinch of sugar.

Cheshire Cat

One onion for a kilo of beef is a joke. I use 1:1. Much more paprika needed, too!

DBB

I'm a bit flummoxed at the tiny bit of paprika in that recipe!
Rightly or wrongly, I always go about 2:1 paprika to smoked paprika. The smoked paprika definitely brings something extra to the party!

Speedwell

Garlic? Smoked paprika? Red wine? Celery? Nutmeg? SUGAR?

My Hungarian-born father (I'm an American expat) would have laughed in your face. OK, he was a bit of a jerk and he did that sort of thing. But I'm not entirely convinced what you make is even Hungarian goulash. My Irish husband puts mushrooms in his. It's like Irish pizza. I worked in a pizza place in New Jersey when I was in high school. Irish pizza is not what I think of as pizza, but by god, it's what the Irish want when they want pizza.

Hungarian goulash is much simpler than that recipe. I've made it for a crowd many times (it was a college staple). If you want the recipe I've made since I was seven years old I am happy to give it to you. If it's really what you want. PM me.

Dial Hard

Speedwell wrote:

Hungarian goulash is much simpler than that recipe. I've made it for a crowd many times (it was a college staple). If you want the recipe I've made since I was seven years old I am happy to give it to you. If it's really what you want. PM me.

If it's that amazing why don't you share it with the masses?

Everyone was simply suggesting ways to improve the recipe that was given to us, not commenting on its authenticity or otherwise.

Speedwell

Dial Hard wrote: »

If it's that amazing why don't you share it with the masses?

Everyone was simply suggesting ways to improve the recipe that was given to us, not commenting on its authenticity or otherwise.

The masses don't appear to want it any more than they want real pizza or real Bolognese (which if made properly is served over tagliatelle, not spaghetti). In the US, the local mommies make "goulash" with mince, macaroni, and Campbell's tomato soup. I was under the impression that advice was being asked for, and I offered it if the OP wanted to PM me. If you don't care for authenticity then go make whatever it is you think you're making when you make goulash.

GingerLily

Speedwell wrote: »

The masses don't appear to want it any more than they want real pizza or real Bolognese (which if made properly is served over tagliatelle, not spaghetti). In the US, the local mommies make "goulash" with mince, macaroni, and Campbell's tomato soup. I was under the impression that advice was being asked for, and I offered it if the OP wanted to PM me. If you don't care for authenticity then go make whatever it is you think you're making when you make goulash.

Can you post the receipe please

Dial Hard

Speedwell wrote:

The masses don't appear to want it any more than they want real pizza or real Bolognese (which if made properly is served over tagliatelle, not spaghetti). In the US, the local mommies make "goulash" with mince, macaroni, and Campbell's tomato soup. If you don't care for authenticity then go make whatever it is you think you're making when you make goulash.

And is your "real" pizza and bolognese from America?

I have Italian friends who can't even agree on what constitutes a "proper" bolognese.

I'm sorr, but your posting style really leaves a lot to be desired . One of my ABSOLUTE pet hates is carbonara with cream in it but when someone posted a recipe in the Cooking Club here that included it I didn't swoop in and crap all over it in the manner you have. Likewise, I've seen "authentic" Irish recipes posted on various American recipe sites and blogs that have made me cringe, but dude, seriously, modulate your tone somewhat.

Speedwell

Dial Hard wrote: »

And is your "real" pizza and bolognese from America?

I have Italian friends who can't even agree on what constitutes a "proper" bolognese.

I'm sorr, but your posting style really leaves a lot to be desired . One of my ABSOLUTE pet hates is carbonara with cream in it but when someone posted a recipe in the Cooking Club here that included it I didn't swoop in and crap all over it in the manner you have. Likewise, I've seen "authentic" Irish recipes posted on various American recipe sites and blogs that have made me cringe, but dude, seriously, modulate your tone somewhat.

The kind of pizza you order in a box from a pizza place is a New York invention, hard guy. If you got the kind of pizza invented in Naples, you'd wonder where the other half of it was. And I'm not a dude. My mother's father was from Italy, as it happens. I don't claim to know how to cook Irish food. Are you perhaps of Hungarian or Italian descent?

Yes, I am working on a post that includes my father's goulash recipe. It will be out shortly.

Dial Hard

Speedwell wrote:

The kind of pizza you order in a box from a pizza place is a New York invention, hard guy. If you got the kind of pizza invented in Naples, you'd wonder where the other half of it was. And I'm not a dude.

I know you're not a dude, it's a manner of address I use all the time. And I happen to love Neapolitan pizza so I'm not exactly sure what your point is there. Nor am I sure what your point about your heritage is. Plenty of cuisines have been bastardised by the very cultures who imported them to begin with.

All I was trying to say is that your post was unnecessarily antagonistic to those of us who were simply giving tips on how to improve the recipe we were given. At the risk of being accused of backseat modding, would it have been that hard to just go "Actually, OP, I have an authentic Hungarian recipe that's way easier than that one and might be worth a try?"

Speedwell

OK. For ten people we would have used two pounds of lean stew beef (a trimmed kilo should do) cut into pieces. Silverside or shoulder do nicely. It is not necessary to use tenderloin like the oldest and most formal of my Hungarian cookbooks insists (it's sixty years old and intended for fancy restaurants). Cut it up into chunks as for stew.

Dice one pound of yellow cooking onions. Heat an egg-sized lump of lard in the bottom of a heavy stock pot over low-medium heat (lard is traditional, or use the equivalent in sunflower seed oil; I use rapeseed because it is particularly good quality here). When it is hot, cook the onions slowly until they are transparent. They should not brown.

Add the meat cubes and cook them in the onions over medium heat until the released water cooks away and the meat and onions lie browning slowly in the fat. This replicates the oldest form of Hungarian cowboy cooking, the portable meat/onion mixture they took on the range with them, and it is what gives goulash its name (from gulyás, the Hungarian herder).

You will have some "sweet" (i.e. not hot) Hungarian paprika at your side. Spanish paprika is OK if that is what you have. Stir several spoonfuls (I would use six or seven) into the slowly simmering mixture and keep stirring so it does not burn. When you smell it cooking, immediately add a litre of cold water. My father also added salt at this point, though it is not important if you add it now or with the vegetables. You will need no other spices or seasonings, though it depends what part of the country you come from whether you like a little caraway or a bay leaf.

As the soup comes to a simmer, add a spoonful of tomato puree (my father, who disliked bits of tomato, would simply add a whole tomato and allow it to stew gently, to be taken out later). Have ready some roughly cut up potatoes (the same size as the meat, about one potato per person) and two or three carrots cut into thick circles. Add them when the soup starts to bubble. Add just enough water to cover everything.

Cook this gently, correcting salt and paprika for taste, about 45 minutes to an hour or until the meat is tender enough and the potatoes are a bit ragged. At this point my father would often add egg pasta strips, but he admitted this was a shortcut and he would use csipetke (pinched dumplings) if he wanted dinner to be served at ten He would cook them in the soup, but for a dinner party you will not want to do that. Cook the soup down a bit until it is thickened from the paprika and potato in it, then serve it over your "noodles" or csipetke. Garnish it with a few thin rings of Hungarian wax pepper.

Or, tl;dr...

Ingredients:
- One kilo of lean stewing beef, trimmed and cubed
- One half kilo of onions, diced
- An egg-sized knob of lard (or that much of good cooking oil)
- Fresh Hungarian paprika (at least several spoonfuls)
- Salt
- Fresh water
- Six medium or ten smallish potatoes, peeled and cubed the same size as the meat
- Two or three carrots, sliced
- A spoonful of tomato puree or passata
- Fresh Hungarian wax pepper for garnish

Procedure:
Sweat onions in lard. Add meat and brown. Over lower heat, add paprika and stir until fragrant. Pour in water, and while it comes to a boil, add vegetables and tomato. Cook until the meat is tender and the soup is reduced a little. Serve in bowls with thick egg pasta (gulyásleves, or "goulash soup"), or reduce a little further to a gravy consistency (gulyáshús, "herder's meat") and serve it next to the pasta on a plate, garnished with pepper rings.

Cheshire Cat

Just checked my recipe it calls for
1 kg of stewing beef (shin), 800g onions, 4 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon caraway (coarsely ground), 1 tablespoon marjoram, 4 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, lard or oil, beef stock if needed

You dice the onions coarsely and fry them in lard/oil in a large casserole over a low heat until they are well caramelised. Take the pot of the heat and puree the onions with a stick blender or use a potato masher.

Add garlic, caraway, marjoram, paprika, tomato paste and vinegar, stir well and add a splash of water. Simmer gently for half an hour. Then add the cubed beef and add a little bit of stock. The meat should be barely covered. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 3 hours. The sauce should be a deep reddish brown.

Takes ages, but the result is great. Tastes even better when it's reheated the next day.

Disclaimer: My source calls this a Viennese Goulash, so it's strictly speaking not an original Hungarian Goulash. However as Hungary used to belong to the Austrian Empire, a lot of Hungarian influences/dishes can be found in Austrian cuisine.

Cheshire Cat

Another version we like is Szegedin Goulash it's made with Sauerkraut and delicious.

Here is an example recipe: https://www.daringgourmet.com/szegedin-goulash-szekely-gulyas/

leahyl

I love the goulash recipe that was posted in the cooking club some years back - use it very regularly - delicious!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055802709

Speedwell

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Another version we like is Szegedin Goulash it's made with Sauerkraut and delicious.

Here is an example recipe: https://www.daringgourmet.com/szegedin-goulash-szekely-gulyas/

Funnily enough Székely Gulyás is not a version of a goulash made by the Szekely ethnic group of Hungary... my father said it was a characteristically understated piece of Hungarian snark, something that is basically not goulash at all but that is ascribed to a fellow whose name was Székely; the story is he came around as the kitchen was closing at his favorite pub, didn't find the goulash he came for, and they served him whatever was left over on a plate. But it is good.

gozunda

Speedwell wrote: »

OK. For ten people we would have used two pounds of lean stew beef (a trimmed kilo should do) cut into pieces. Silverside or shoulder do nicely. It is not necessary to use tenderloin like the oldest and most formal of my Hungarian cookbooks insists (it's sixty years old and intended for fancy restaurants). Cut it up into chunks as for stew...

Thanks for the recipe. Always good to get authentic ones ...

Thank god there's no celery in it- can't stand the stuff :pac:

CinammonGirl

Thanks a mill everyone, going to look over the various versions and take it from there. Hoping to make it tonight as I think it improves overnight. Will let you know!

Speedwell

CinammonGirl wrote: »

Thanks a mill everyone, going to look over the various versions and take it from there. Hoping to make it tonight as I think it improves overnight. Will let you know!

No harm, but personally I like the potatoes when they're fresh and fluffy. Refrigerated potatoes are OK in soup but there's a bit of a loss in quality. Your call

B0jangles

You've already got a couple of proper recipes above, but just for luck here's another from a cook I've always found very good for hungarian stuff:

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1459144

Also, is the hungarian shop still there on Parnell street? It used to be the only place in Dublin you could get a range of proper hungarian paprikas. Good paprika makes a really big difference in the final result.

Edit: Just googled it and it's still there!

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Paprika+Stores/@53.3500503,-6.2708685,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x48670e82048eb1c9:0x1903d69bbf22c9!8m2!3d53.3500471!4d-6.2686798

Footoo

I know it’s probably too late now but the Guardian do a “How to cook the perfect.....” series where they discuss various recipes for a dish and look at the history of it and ultimately come up with the best variation . Here’s their one for Goulash.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/03/how-to-cook-perfect-goulash-hungarian

Speedwell

Footoo wrote: »

I know it’s probably too late now but the Guardian do a “How to cook the perfect.....” series where they discuss various recipes for a dish and look at the history of it and ultimately come up with the best variation . Here’s their one for Goulash.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/03/how-to-cook-perfect-goulash-hungarian

That's within the pale. Flour should not be necessary if you've done the "paprika roux" step properly and with enough paprika. Do not let it overcook, though; paprika is a dried vegetable, not a seed or bark product like other spices.

CinammonGirl

Well it went pretty well - clean plates all round and a few requests for seconds which is good enough for me. I used the Cooking Club recipe as a basis, used half and half paprika/smoked paprika (turned out it was the Spanish smoked paprika rather than Hungarian but needs must), didn't used mushrooms (was doing a mushroom souffle to start) and put in some finely chopped celery and carrot at the start. Did it in the slow cooker and reheated next day. Added extra paprika and some Worcester sauce. Possibly a bit too "smoky" for me, need to work on paprika proportions!

Thanks a mill everyone, great to get all the input.