Goulash
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Goulash (Gulyás in Hungarian, which originates from the word "gulya" meaning herd of cattle; Croatian gulaš, German gulasch, Polish gulasz, Romanian: gulaş) is a food originated in Hungary. In some regions of the United States, the term goulash can be used interchangeably with hot dish and casserole.
Goulash is made of beef, onions, capsicum and paprika powder.
It is hard to find a good gulyás in Hungary, and it is close to impossible to get one outside Hungary - unless of course you are invited to a family's house who knows how to cook it properly. What people now - incorrectly - refer to as "original hungarian goulash" could be anything containing beef and various vegetables, sour cream or any kind of pasta. Naturally, these show no real similarities to Hungarian Gulyás. The Hungarian gulyás is most accurately defined as a soup and the food that most people outside of Hungary call goulash is really closer to the Hungarian Pörkölt (called stew in English).
Gulyás is much easier to cook and requires less attention, thus it fits occasions when there are many hungry people and a busy cook.
Basically, it is a paprika-powder soup or broth, flavoured with sliced onions and capsicum, with beef. Caraway seeds are also added for extra flavour, and is highly recommended by Hungarian cook-books. The onions and capsicum are first sautéd, then paprika-powder is added and fried for a short time along with the caraway seeds. Then water is added. Chopped beef - preferably rump-steak, but any kind is suitable - is then added to the cold-water mixture, and then the whole lot is gently raised the boil, and is then simmered for at least a few hours.
Occasionally, one might read a recipe book, or see a chef on television purporting to know how to cook real goulash. Often these "chefs" will be seen adding tomatoes to the mixture, browning the meat first, adding stock-cubes or even thickening the mixture with flour! All these methods however, are in-fact completely incorrect and are to be avoided.
Finally, it is also common, especially among German varieties of goulash, to add what are known as knoedeln. Essentially, these are what are known as dumplings in English recipes, but aren't as big and 'fluffy'. Where a mixture of flour, egg, salt and a tiny bit of milk are made into a paste, and in small amounts, spooned into the boiling goulash. One extra element may be added; that being potato, which still is sticking within the bounds of tradition.
External links
- One possible way to cook The Hungarian Gulyásleves (Goulash Soup) (http://www.darvas.de/kocsis_goulash.htm).
- Who Put the Paprika in Goulash ...and Other Hungarian Soup Tales (http://www.soupsong.com/z61000.html)
- For goulash recipes see the WikiBooks Cookbookbe:Гуляш