Traditional Hungarian Goulash (Gulyásleves)

March 02, 2016 by Aurel Pop in Soup

The time has arrived for me to post my very traditional beef goulash recipe. My first post on this blog was for Chicken Paprikash, another Hungarian staple. After trying it, many of my readers requested my goulash recipe. Goulash is the most famous Hungarian dish in the world. It’s one of Hungary’s national dishes -- the symbol of their country. And it is for a good reason. It’s a dish made with basic 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, pork or even chicken, but the traditional way of making it is with beef.

Speaking of traditions, goulash is usually made by men. Hungarian men take a lot of pride in making this dish. They are often cook-offs where the best Hungarian goulash cooks measure their skills. When I lived in Hungary, goulash was my go-to dish when I had a large group of friends over for dinner. Also, every time my friends and I went camping, I was the one responsible for making bográcsgulyás, which is a goulash made in a huge enamel cast iron or stainless steel cauldron, outdoors over wood fire.

Making the dish also goes hand-in-hand with drinking pálinka, Hungary’s national drink. 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 of homemade pálinka with your best friends that makes you feel fulfilled and happy. Stories starting flowing, and playful teasing and bantering follow. That’s what goulash is about: friends, laughter, drinks and flavorful food.

If you ever get to Hungary ask a local to cook goulash for you (preferably outdoors in bogrács). You’ll experience something beautiful, and you’ll get a good understanding of their culture, even if you aren’t able to understand their language. Hungarian is very unique, so don’t get too downhearted if you’re unable to pick it up right away. It’s unrelated to any other language in the world, and it’s rather difficult. A friend of mine, Erin, attempted to learn it after making a dumb bet (when she was drunk of course) with my other friend, Alex. She was so excited about learning Hungarian for about two weeks, after which she gave up.

Hungarians are the proudest people you will ever meet. Although only half-Hungarian, I identify with Hungarian culture. We take pride in our traditions, language, food, and drinks. Our food consists of simple dishes made with simple ingredients turned into delicious, fragrant and hearty dishes. Chicken paprikash (paprikás csirke), Pork stew (sertéspörkölt), and Beef goulash (marhagulyás) are just a few of our most famous dishes. The basic ingredients are the same: meat, onions, peppers, and paprika. Even the cooking technique is similar for all three of them -- sauté some onions, add a bunch of Hungarian paprika to it, add some meat, and follow with peppers. You basically make a stew. From there it’s the final touch that makes a paprikash, paprikash and a goulash, goulash -- add sour cream for the former, and water and root vegetables for the latter.

Hungarian paprika is the signature flavor in most famous Hungarian dishes. It is very different than let’s say Spanish paprika. Hungarian paprika is sundried, whereas its Spanish counterpart is slowly smoked over a wood fire. As a result, the flavors differ significantly. Hungarian paprika is known for its rich, bittersweet, and intense red peppery flavor, whereas the Spanish one is more delicate and smoky. It’s worth the money to buy the Hungarian variety for this dish to get an authentic Hungarian flavor. Jó étvágyat!

TRADITIONAL HUNGARIAN GOULASH (GULYASLEVES)

Serves 10-12
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 2.5 hours
Inactive time: 2 hours

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. pork lard (or bacon fat, or vegetable oil)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 ½ tsp ground caraway seeds
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 ½ Tbsp. Hungarian paprika
2 dried bay leaves
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
2 lbs. beef shoulder, cut into ½ inch cubes (chuck and shank are also good)
5 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 Hungarian waxed peppers (or Anaheim peppers), deseeded and cut into half rings
¾ lb. carrots (about 2-3 large carrots), peeled and cut into rounds
½ lb. parsley roots (about 2-3 parsley roots), peeled and cut into rounds (or parsnips)
½ lb. celery root (1 small celery root), peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
3-4 sprigs of fresh parsley leaves, tied together
4-5 cups hot water
1 ½ tsp wood smoked salt, optional
½ TBS kosher salt
sour cream, optional
½ cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

Instructions

In a large cast iron Dutch oven, heat lard over medium-high heat. When the lard starts shimmering, add onions and cook for 8 minutes. Stir 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 all over the onions. Stir often! (Burnt paprika is bitter.)
Return the Dutch oven to the fire. Add ½ cup beef broth, and cook for 5 minutes.
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 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, parsley, 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 soup to a boil over high heat. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 30 minutes uncovered.
Using a sieve, skim off the scum. Remove the parsley sprigs and the bay leaves and discard them. Taste and adjust saltiness.
Serve goulash hot with fresh bread. You can add an optional dollop of sour cream to the top and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Notes

I usually add the salt at the end when cooking with beef, so that it stays tender rather than becoming chewy.
Recently I discovered wood smoked salt at my local grocery store, so I used a bit to simulate the subtle smoky flavor that comes from traditional goulash. Historically, goulash was made on wood fire in a cast iron enamel cauldron.

Spicy Coleslaw

October 07, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Side Dish, Salad

Let me preface this post by saying that this recipe is part of a bigger project that I've been working on with one of my colleagues. Coleslaw is the quintessential side dish of southern cuisine. It comes in different varieties from creamy and made with mayonnaise, to simple and made with vinegar, and with a variety of ingredients like shredded cabbage, carrots, vinegar, salt and pepper and sometimes onions, jalapeños, apples, mustard or even ketchup.

Even though I never tried coleslaw until I was in my twenties, I consider myself a big fan. I often times find myself judging barbecue joints based on the coleslaw they serve. I know that the main focus of a barbecue place should obviously be the meat they smoke, yet still I can't help but take the coleslaw into consideration when rating them. For me coleslaw was love at first sight. I remember eating it on the first day I moved to Austin four years ago. My hotel was really close by Rudy's BBQ so I decided to eat my first lunch there in the sizzling heat of the legendary summer of 2011.

In my book a good coleslaw has to be crispy but not raw, tangy but not sour, spicy but not too hot, and with just the right about of mayo to give it a subtle hint of creaminess. A coleslaw also should never be a soggy soup-like concoction with the mayonnaise overwhelming all the freshness of the cabbage and carrots. So how do you do all of that? First, use a mandolin to shred the cabbage really thin. Then purge it. Purging essentially is the process of brining the cabbage in salt, to get some of the water and that raw bitter flavor out of the cabbage.

I used kewpie mayo because I find it less heavy with a nice piquant aftertaste. I also choose to add leeks for a subtle hint of onion-like flavor. If finding leeks is challenging where you live, just use scallions or chives. Experiment with the flavors and ratios until you reach the combination that makes you happy. Enjoy!

Spicy Coleslaw

Yields about 1-2 quarts
Prep time: 20 minutes
Inactive time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb red cabbage, shredded
1 lb white cabbage, shredded
1 cup leek, thinly sliced (about 1/2 large leek)
1 TBS table salt
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 large jalapeño, halved, deseeded and finely sliced (about 1/4 cup)
2 tsp dried chili flakes
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup kewpie mayonnaise
2 TBS white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine red cabbage, white cabbage and leeks. Sprinkle with salt and toss well. Set bowl aside and let the mixture rest for 10-15 minutes. This process is called purging the cabbage and it's essential for the texture of the coleslaw.
After the cabbage has been rested, you'll see a lot of juice in the bowl. Dispose it and transfer the cabbage to a colander. Run it under cold tap water to get rid of the excess salt.
Rinse the big mixing bowl and transfer the cabbage from the colander back into the bowl. Squeeze, handful by handful, the salty juice out of the mixture.
Add carrots, jalapeño, white pepper and chili flakes. Mix to combine and add the mayonnaise and vinegar. Stir until the coleslaw is evenly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Cover with a plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

Notes

Use the white part of the leek. For instruction on how to clean leek check out my Creamy Leeks with Pan Roasted Chicken recipe
The green part of the leeks can be used for making stock.

Grilled Carrots and Parsnips with Orange Yogurt

May 11, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Salad

A few weeks ago I felt like I desperately needed a full day for myself to decompress and do only what I wanted to do, which was absolutely nothing. On days like this I sleep in, prepare a quick breakfast, play a bit with my dog, then get cozy on the couch with a book or Netflix and Popsi snoring at my feet until it's my own nap time.

To the amusement of my friends, I still take naps. They constantly remind me that they quit taking naps when they were 7. I'm 31, but I still do it and get excited about it just like I did when I was a kid. Probably even a little bit more because it’s much harder to find time to do so now than when I was young.

I feel like in this fast paced world that we are living in, we barely have time to allow ourselves a little downtime. When was the last time you didn't have plans on a given weekend?

I used to think that I was wasting my day by doing nothing and even felt guilty for doing so. Not anymore though. Nowadays I just embrace these lazy days and enjoy them while they last.

On my days off, I rarely want to cook at home and prefer to go out and look for new ideas and recipes that inspire. I'm not pretentious when it comes to food, but I have certain expectations. I want simple dishes cooked with fresh ingredients.

The inspiration for this recipe came on one of these days at a local Italian food truck called Patrizi's. Although I almost always go with their roasted garlic bruschetta for the appetizer, this time I decided to try one of their specials- Roasted Carrots with Orange Yogurt. It sounded so light and refreshing that I couldn't pass on it.

I was so blown away by the sweet and tart combination of the carrots and orange that I knew I wanted to try to make something similar at home sometime soon. That time came earlier than expected when we received our CSA box of veggies from Johnson's Backyard Garden that week. It was loaded with gorgeous, fresh organic carrots and parsnips.

In my recipe, I'm using both carrots and parsnips, and instead of roasting them I decided to grill them for that added charred flavor that develops while grilling. I also added fresh oregano and orange zest to the yogurt sauce, and mint and orange juice to the grilled vegetables. The idea of adding fresh herbs came mostly out of convenience as not long ago I started to grown my own herbs in small pots outside on the patio.

I served this appetizer with a side of arugula salad sprinkled with olive oil and topped with sour cherries, walnuts and goat cheese, but it stands well served on its own. It's delicious, healthy and flavorful. Enjoy!

Grilled Carrots and Parsnips with Orange Yogurt

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Grilled Carrots and Parsnips

2 bunches carrots (10-12 whole), scrubbed or peeled
1 bunch parsnips (4-6 whole), scrubbed or peeled
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
8 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1 TBS olive oil

Orange Yogurt

1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 TBS orange zest
1 TBS fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 tsp caraway seeds, ground
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

In a medium-large mixing bowl combine cleaned carrots, parsnips, 2 TBS olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well until the root vegetables are evenly coated.
Fire up the grill to medium-high heat, around 425-475F (220-245C). If using a stovetop cast iron grill, set burners to medium-high heat.
Place carrots and parsnips on the grilling grate. Cover (use aluminum foil if grilling on stove top) and grill for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables develop sear marks. Flip them over and continue grilling them until the crunch is gone but the resistance remains, about 20-25 more minutes. Make sure you're flipping them every 10 minutes so they don't get burned.
In the meantime, prepare the orange yoghurt by combining all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir them together and let it sit in the refrigerator until the carrots are cooked. This way the flavors will blend and the sauce will taste better.
Once cooked, remove the vegetables from the grill and toss them in a mixing bowl with the orange juice, chopped mint leaves and the rest of the olive oil.
Serve the carrots and parsnips at room temperature over 2-3 tablespoons of yoghurt and sprinkle more mint on top.