Traditional Hungarian Goulash - Gulyás
Rated 3.6 stars by 285 users
Servings
10
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
2 hours 5 minutes
Authentic recipe for a traditional Hungarian beef goulash, with ingredients and a step-by-step guide, best for easily making this original gulyás soup. It is made with
simple ingredients like meat,
peppers and root vegetables elevated to perfection by the use of
Hungary’s most famous spice: paprika. Goulash can be made with beef or
pork but the traditional way of making it is with beef. Originally this
was the signature dish of the herdsmen on the Hungarian Great Plain
(puszta), the "Hungarian cowboys" who used to live a nomadic lifestyle
and would cook it over the fire in a cauldron.
Making the dish also goes hand-in-hand with drinking Bull's Blood, Hungary’s most iconic red wine. There is something about getting smoky while standing around a huge kettle of goulash that’s slowly cooking over a wood fire while sharing a bottle with your best friends that makes you feel fulfilled and happy. Stories start flowing, and playful teasing and bantering follows. That’s what goulash is about: friends, laughter, drinks and flavorful food.
Hungarian paprika is the signature flavor in most famous Hungarian dishes. It is very different than let’s say Spanish paprika. Hungarian paprika is naturally dried under the summer sun, whereas its Spanish counterpart is smoked over a wood fire. As a result, Hungarian paprika is known for its rich and intense red peppery flavour and is essential to give this dish an authentic flavor. Jó étvágyat!
This recipe is courtesy of Aurel Pop
Ingredients
-
800g beef shoulder, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 2-3 tomatoes, diced
- 2 red bell peppers, de-seeded and cut into half rings
-
2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
-
2-3 parsnips, peeled and cut into rounds
-
200g celery, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
-
400g potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh parsley leaves, tied together
- 4-5 cups hot water
-
1 tbsp lard
-
1 tbsp goulash paste
-
2 ½ tbsp. Hungarian smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp ground caraway seeds
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 dried bay leaves
-
½ tbsp salt
- ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
-
100g csipetke - pinched pasta
Directions
Heat the lard in a cast-iron Dutch oven. Add the onions and cook for 8 minutes, stirring them often so they don’t burn. If they start browning, add a tablespoon of water.
Stir in caraway seeds, black pepper and bay leaves, and cook for 2 more minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat, and sprinkle paprika over the onions. Stir often! (Burnt paprika is bitter.)
Add beef cubes and garlic. Stir well until each piece is coated with paprika gravy. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the beef cubes start browning.
Mix in tomatoes, peppers, goulash paste and the remainder of the broth (1 ½ cup). The broth should cover the meat and vegetables by an inch or two. If it doesn’t, add hot water.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the Dutch oven, and let it simmer for an hour and a half.
Add the root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, celery and potatoes) and the tied parsley leaves to the pot. Add 4-5 cups of hot water to cover by an inch or two.
- Season with salt, and bring the soup to a boil over high heat. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 15 minutes uncovered.
- Add the csipetke and boil for another 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust saltiness.
Recipe Note
I usually add the salt at the end when cooking with beef, so that it stays tender rather than becoming chewy.
Serve alongside a glass of Bolyki Winery's Bull's Blood, a velvety red with a lively acidity and a tight tannic structure that perfectly complements the rich flavours of the goulash.
