Goulash Or Bográcsgulyás In Hungarian, With Homemade Pickles

Bográcsgulyás or goulash is a traditional Hungarian dish but now it's spread all over Europe and even outside the continent. Last week I posted my Goulash Soup recipe and today I'm back with the goulash, as main course.

Bográcsgulyás translated into English means cauldron goulash, not by chance but for a very good reason. Goulash was the main dish or shepherds. They were out with the herd and were cooking using the cauldron. That is the original pot to make goulash, basically the best but not everyone has the possibility or the conditions as that must be used outside. Therefor I'm going to use my usual pot to make the goulash.

Some traditional restaurants are serving goulash in small cauldrons to keep the tradition going and because it looks good. Last year during our trip to Hungary, we had the chance to have original, Hungarian goulash in cauldron, as you can see in the photo above. The paper napkins were red and white checkered, which is also traditional, in old days a red and white checkered tablecloth was what you could find, especially at the countryside. Check out my post about the Jégverem Fogadó - Sopron, Hungary to see more Hungarian dishes.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g beef meat (trimmed and cut into cubes),
• 2 medium carrots,
• 1 parsley root,
• 3 medium onions,
• 6 medium potato (cut into cubes),
• 6 - 8 tbsp olive oil,
• 2 bay leaves,
• 4 clove garlic,
• 1 slice celery (optional),
• 1 tsp caraway seeds,
• red paprika powder or paprika cream,
• salt,
• pepper.

Peal the vegetables, cut the potatoes into cubes.

Cut the carrots and parsley.

Add 6 - 8 tbsp olive oil to the pan.

Add the chopped onion and garlic, gently fry for a few of minutes.

Suggestion. I'm using different types of onions, yellow, white and often red onions. The more type you use, the richer the flavor you get. Each type of onion is different and a mix can only help you make your dish better.

Add the meat.

Gently stir until it's white.

Add the red paprika sauce.

Options

I'd like to give you some options here as I know not everyone has their own paprika sauce.

Option 1. - Make Your Own Paprika Sauce

This is the paprika sauce every year during summer to be used in goulash, soups, stews etc. It's made of fresh, red paprika, onion, garlic, tomato, celery, green herbs, salt and pepper. I'm going to post the recipe in the summer, I promise.

Option 2. - Use Red Paprika Powder

This is the most common option as you can buy red paprika powder everywhere. Just make sure you buy genuine paprika powder from a trusted source, not some no name brick powder that looks like paprika powder. You can use 3 - 4 tbsp of this. There's sweet and hot paprika powder available in the grocery shops, you can pick whichever you like.

Option 3. - Use Red Paprika Cream

This is one of the option you can find in some shops. This is specially made for goulash and stew.

Warning! Please pay attention to salt quantity as these creams are already containing salt. Adjust the salt quantity based on the paprika cream saltiness.

Add the chopped vegetables ...

... the bay leaves and the celery. You can chop the celery and cook it. I prefer to take it out after a short while as it's too strong for me.

Add water to cover, cover with a lid and cook slowly till the meat is tender. Beef needs time to cook, so I guess it took me around 90 minutes.

When the meat is tender, add the potato, cover with a lid and cook till tender.

Serve till it's still hot, with pickles.

Homemade Pickles

Life is funny sometimes and hard work pays off. This is the case with these pickles.

Last year we had a very good harvest of cucumbers, much more than we needed, so towards the end of the season we still had a lot of cucumbers. Wasting food is not an option, never was, never will be. One thing I've learned over the years is can everything you can as you don't know what's going to happen next year. This is a good lesson to follow if you want to be safe and covered.

So we decided to make this cucumber onion mix. It was extra work back then, fatigue we didn't need but a pleasure having it today with the goulash. These moments are compensating the fatigue and the hard work.

Check out my latest recipes:

• Transylvanian Meatball Soup
• Mushroom Tomato Sauce With Potatoes
• Cinnamon Scones With Homemade Jam
• Eggplant Salad
• Goulash Soup
• Vegan Mushroom Tomato Soup for Steemit Fruits And Veggies Monday Contest
• Stuffed Cabbage Rolls