Hungarian Beef Goulash Our Way
A proper beef goulash as it should be: shin simmered with onions, sweet and hot paprika and tomatoes until tender. We do not thicken it with flour or roux; the rich sauce comes from the meat, vegetables and stock. The result is aromatic, tender and as spicy as you like. Serve with fresh bread, dumplings or rice.
Total: 2 h
Servings: 2
Method
01.
Cut the beef shin into 4x4 to 5x5 cm cubes and place them in a bowl or on a plate. Peel the onion, chop it into small cubes and add it to the same bowl or plate. By eye, not by weight, the piles of meat and onion should be roughly equal in quantity.
02.
In melted lard, fry the onion until golden brown or light brown, but do not burn it. Add the chopped, peppered meat and let it brown on all sides, stirring occasionally. Only then season it with salt so it does not release its juices sooner than necessary. Once the meat is browned, push the fried onion and meat to the edge of the pot, add the sweet and hot ground paprika to the centre and let it briefly foam so it does not turn bitter. Add the cleaned, chopped green and red peppers, or the same amount of Slovak or Hungarian peppers, then the halved tomatoes, and fry for a little longer, stirring constantly. This way the peppers and tomatoes release an even better flavour than if we poured stock over them raw.
03.
Pour about 200 ml of stock over the meat and vegetables and simmer gently, covered, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender. During cooking, add more stock as needed, but towards the end be careful not to add too much liquid. We will not thicken the goulash with flour, bread or a roux; the sauce from the shin, stewed onion, peppers and tomatoes is enough. Finally, remove the tomato skins from the goulash.
04.
Hungarian goulash is not mainly about the sauce, but about the meat, which must not be boiled until it falls apart into strings, and about the excellent sauce that the beef shin provides. If we want the goulash hotter, we can add a little chilli pepper.
05.
Serve with bread, dumplings or rice, as you like.
