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How to make authentic goulash
First of all, I want to remind everyone on Ares' behalf that goulash is gulyásleves in Hungarian and it is pronounced as "goo-ya-sh." I say this because when I called it "goulash" for convenience, Ares said "you KNOW it's 'ly' so the 'l' is silent. 'Goulash' is just for Americans." And he looked at me with this look that said "you know better than that, you've been studying Hungarian."
Goulash is a well-known dish across the world, so many places claim to sell it. Once, Ares and I passed by a small food place with "Authentic Goulash" on the menu. Ares immediately smirked and said that he doubts it. We went in and realized that the owner's wife is Hungarian and had moved here with his Taiwanese husband. They started chatting in Hungarian immediately, that was 2 years ago and I literally did not speak or understand a word in Hungarian. But he still avoided the goulash and ordered a Greek wrap.
The other day when I was making bone broth, I realized that I had an extra pack of brisket in my freezer, so I decided to challenge myself and make goulash. I had not dared to make it before because of Ares' previous reaction to the restaurant and his long rant about how no one makes it correctly outside of Hungary. Naturally, I was too afraid to invent the recipe from my imagination either. I know if I made too many changes he'd say "tastes good, but you can't call this gulyás." Before I started cooking, I studied my Hungarian recipe book and many recipes online. I even searched for several recipes in Hungarian.
Anyway, I realized that the authentic and Hungarian way of making it is very simple and intuitive, much like how I imagined it in my head. But people from other countries created so many complicated processes. But even the locals have different variations. I saw a lot of non-Hungarians online claiming that the right way to eat it is to serve with Hungarian dumplings (galuska or as English speakers call them–nokedli). Even my Hungarian recipe book said so! I thought this was very different from what I understand about Hungarian food so I checked where the author was from and she was from Romania. They have some similar dishes because they are so close to each other but it's very different when it comes down to execution. There are even more people who consider galuska similar to gnocchi and just straight-up served goulash on top of pasta. It's horrifying! Leves means soup, why would it be used as a pasta sauce? I found this galuska theory very questionable.
Then I saw that some recipes include sour cream and some don't. From what I know, Hungarians do add sour cream to a lot of stuff, especially soup. But then don't cook it into the soup, they add it into their bowls directly once served, and mix it in.
Alas, I had too many questions so I risked being called crazy and plucked up my courage to ask Ares. (In case you are wondering, yes, he did call me crazy when I asked and tried to dissuade me.) But I'm glad that this has proven my efforts in studying Hungarian and recipes were not fruitless. When Ares heard about eating goulash with galuska he immediately exclaimed "that's the wrong way to eat it! We eat it with bread, of course." By the way, I haven't really found anything that Hungarians don't eat bread with yet. As for the sour cream, I was also right. They add it to their bowl in the end. I asked one more question. I don't particularly like potatoes, and I don't want to put it in my goulash. Ares shook his head and said "you can't make gulyás without potatoes. You can say that it's your soup, but you can't call it gulyás." See, there it is, am I psychic or what? So on our way home, I went to the supermarket for potatoes.
Anyway, after all this turmoil, I finally devised how I could make some authentic gulyásleves. When I brought it to Ares, he quickly confirmed that it smells like the right thing. I was so relieved. After he ate it, he said it was delicious and pretty much what he remembered, except that it could be bit saltier. But Ares' mom saw the photo and asked "That's gulyás? But why are there carrots?" I did see some Hungarians include carrots in their recipes, I don't think it's a huge issue. Different families have different recipes and I added carrots purely for the health benefits and color. Ares said "well, now you know how my family feels about carrots in goulash."
Authentic Goulash Recipe (Gulyásleves Recept)–Ingredients
- 1 onion minced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 3 chili peppers minced (this was not in any recipe, I just can't live without spicy food)
- 1/2 tsp caraway seed
- 1/2 cup red wine*
- 600g brisket cut into chunks
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 carrot cut into chunks (Or not, according to Ares' mom)
- 1 green bell pepper cut into chunks
- 3 tomatoes cut into chunks
- 2 potatoes cut into chunks
- 1,500 ml water or unsalted beef broth
- salt to taste
- some cooking oil (I used grass-fed tallow that I rendered myself)
Authentic Goulash Recipe (Gulyásleves Recept)–Instructions
1. Rub the beef chunks with salt and let sit.
2. On medium heat, add about 1 tsp of cooking oil to the pot and put in the onions, garlic, and chili. Fry until the onions are turn transparent but don't burn either the garlic or the onion. Don't wait until they turn golden.
3. On low heat, add in the caraway seeds and fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. On medium-low heat, place the beef chunks on to the bottom of the pan. It can be snug, but don't over lap. Fry until each side turns brown and no more. Pay attention so that you flip them in-time.
5. Remove from heat*(see notes) and add the paprika. Mix thoroughly and make sure that the meet absorbs all the paprika.
6. Add the red one and place back on medium-low heat. Stir as you cook and scrape the bottom to deglaze.*
7. Add the water or broth, turn on high heat until it boils. Then turn to low heat and cook covered for 1 hour–1 hour and 20 minutes.
8. Add the carrots* bring to a boil on high heat, and cook covered for 10 minutes on low heat.
9. Add the remaining vegetables, bring to a boil on high heat then cook covered for another 40–50 minutes on low heat.
And you're done! It's that simple. Add sour cream to your liking once it is served. Ares likes to add a huge heaping spoon, about 1.5–2 times the amount in the picture. Of course, there should be more soup as well, it is a soup after all. I put less soup when I took the picture to show the ingredients. Then eat it with bread or just straight up.
Authentic Goulash Recipe (Gulyásleves Recept)–Notes
It's important that you remove the pot from heat before adding the paprika. Paprika is smoked, dried, and powdered red peppers, so there's a certain sugar content which makes it prone to burning. Adding it while on heat would cause the sugar to burn and turn bitter.
Red wine is actually optional. I haven't really found another recipe with it. But the red wine brings out the caraway, and the tomatoes we add later brings out the wine. They all complement the beef. It's just a magical layering of complementing flavors that make my little heart and black soul fill with joy and light. Previously, as we are frying the onions and beef, a layer of glaze should have formed at the bottom of the pot. That's not burnt food, that glaze is filled with flavor, do NOT ignore it. We must deglaze, which is what we call scraping off the bottom while cooking with liquid. If you choose not to add red wine, make sure that you deglaze when you add in the water or broth. I love using various types of alcohol to deglaze because the alcohol content evaporates but the flavor and aroma stays.
I add the carrots first because they take longer to go soft. If you are not using carrots, skip this step and add 10 minutes to step 9. You can also adjust the cooking time based on how soft or hard you like your vegetables. But if you don't cook them for long enough it won't taste and smell good.
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Cherie Aria🧜🏻♀️ 艾雪莉
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