In our country, meat is usually called goulash with gravy. And most often the dish is made from pork. Without a doubt, it has every right to exist - but not to the name. Since in Hungary, whence the food began the victorious procession around the world, first of all, it was prepared only from beef, and secondly - it was the first, and not the second course. To make a real Hungarian goulash soup, the recipe recommends doing without practically adding water. Let's try to follow the advice.
Historical Roots and Essential Ingredients
Why is it supposed to take beef to Hungarian goulash soup? Its recipe was invented by shepherds grazing cows. The term gulyas means their shepherd. And what kind of meat was this shepherd supposed to eat? Naturally beef! Hungarian cuisine, no doubt, uses other types of meat, however, it is quite accurate in names that almost always reflect what was used in the dish.
Why goulash soup? Because in the traditions of the described country to make very thick and spicy first courses. They warm very well and perfectly saturate. And if you want to try not a liquid, emasculated likeness, but a true Hungarian goulash soup, the recipe will have to be observed exactly.
An indispensable component of shepherd goulash is, as already mentioned, beef. In principle, you can take any part of the carcass, but the most rich and fragrant goulash will be if it is made on the basis of a drumstick or shank. Also required ingredients are paprika and onions - there must be a lot of both. In most cases, when the goulash soup is prepared in Hungarian, the recipe tells you to put tomatoes and potatoes, but there are options in which it can do without one and the other. However, in almost all such soups there are peculiar dumplings, which are called chipsets in the homeland.
Variations on a Theme
What just do not put in goulash soup! The best recipe for Hungarian soup for every housewife is her. Carrots and celery are often present in the dish. No less popular recipes with beans - and legumes, and chilli. Mushrooms are often laid. There are recipes based on other types of meat, offal, poultry and fish. Their authentic names are different, but the essence is the same - it is still Hungarian goulash soup, the recipe still involves stewing, not cooking.
Great scope for imagination is provided when choosing spices. In addition to paprika, caraway seeds are usually present (and they should not be neglected), but any peppers, zira, rosemary, garlic, coriander, etc. are allowed.
An indispensable component - chipsets
In Hungary they even sell ready-made dry dough for them. Some room for experiments is still left: they are boiled directly in the soup; separately, with subsequent laying in a plate; fried, and then cooked in an almost ready-made goulash ... The composition of the chips varies, but not too much. The most common recipe is for a nearly full glass of flour, a third of a small spoonful of salt and an egg. Pieces of irregular shape are plucked from the resulting cool but soft dough and dry for about half an hour. The principal thing in the preparation of such dumplings is that they are not given any “appearance”, since the name comes from the word “pinching”.
Classic Hungarian Goulash Soup
We’ll clarify right away that so many cooking methods are considered. If the cook does not introduce any of his improvements, the dish is already considered traditional. Hungarian goulash did not escape this approach. The recipe for the classic soup, which is offered here, is simply most often found in Hungary. Two onions are taken and chopped as finely as possible, after which they are fried on lard or pork fat. 4 full spoons of paprika are poured into the frying. After mixing, large pieces of shank (1.5 kg), salt and ground pepper are laid. Do not pour water! An hour and a half later, when the beef is soft, an incomplete glass of water, a quarter of a spoon of caraway seeds, a little root celery and lavrushka are added. After 10 minutes - coarsely chopped six potatoes and two mugs of carrots. After a quarter of an hour, 4 crushed cloves of garlic, cubes of yellow and red paprika, chopped green celery and small pieces of peeled tomato are placed. How to boil - throw in the chips and turn off after five minutes. Dinner is served!
Hungarian bean goulash
It is less thick than the bograch described above, and pork (grams 700) and beef (grams 300) are used for it. However, it is also a very popular Hungarian goulash soup in the homeland . How to cook it? A bit troublesome than the bograch. To begin with, 2 cups of beans are soaked overnight. In a 5-liter pan, until half ready (about half an hour), both types of meat are cooked with a whole onion and laurel. The pulp is cut and returned to the pan, seasonings are thrown out. Strained beans are added to the broth and cooked together for another hour. In a stew-pan on fat until chopped golden, chopped three onions are allowed, two full spoons of paprika are added, and after a minute - a soup ladle. Next, cubes of two sweet peppers and a bag of tomato paste are introduced. When the mass becomes homogeneous, it is poured into the main pan. There, the meat is laid, taken from a quarter kilogram of smoked ribs. After half an hour of cooking, chopped carrots, celery and parsley roots (2 vegetables each) are added. After another third of the hour - six chopped potatoes, after another as much - chopped head of garlic. At the same time, bean goulash is salting. The last step: throw the chips, turn off and put the small rings of the two chili pods.
Pörkölt - Hungarian pork goulash soup
It is curious that it is he who dispenses with dumplings. To prepare such a goulash soup in Hungarian, a step-by-step recipe suggests observing the following sequence of culinary techniques:
- 400 g of pork (tenderloin or other high-quality piece) cut into large slices.
- In a cauldron, melt fat or lard.
- Fry in it two large onions, sliced in half rings.
- Introduce two chopped red peppers. How to fry - salt and season with a pinch of caraway seeds and a lot of paprika. Stir for about three minutes, until a scarlet shade is obtained.
- Lay slices of meat and grated garlic (2-3 slices). Pour half a glass of water and simmer for half an hour.
- 3 potatoes cut into bars and lay in the soup. After a quarter of an hour we get a thick and fragrant pörkelt.
Eat it right away, enjoying the taste and smell.
Veal Paprikash
This is one of the easiest Hungarian goulash soups to make. The key to a successful experiment is an equal amount of beef and red bell pepper. To begin with, onions in fat are allowed to become transparent. Peppers are laid immediately, and a little later - grated or minced garlic to taste plus paprika at the rate of a tablespoon of a quarter kilo of veal. After about three minutes, the meat is introduced into small chunks. On a high fire, a crust is expected, after which tomato slices are placed in a container, the fire is screwed on, and the paprikash is stewed for about forty minutes. When it is almost ready, a sauce is made: a spoonful of flour is diluted in low-fat sour cream, the mass is poured into the pan and stirred until it boils. After boiling, the chips are immersed in goulash, and after five minutes you can have lunch.
Bograch in a slow cooker
Many people have already tasted Hungarian goulash soup. That is why the recipe is adapted for modern units. It all starts again with onion: two chopped heads are fried in the baking mode for about ten minutes, after which the mode is turned off, 3 tablespoons of paprika are poured, mixed and a kilogram of chopped beef is laid and laid. Two cloves of garlic are squeezed out on top, a little caraway seeds are poured, half a glass of water is poured in and the quenching mode is turned on for 2 hours. After their expiration, the dish is salted and pepper and 7 medium potatoes are put in, large carrot and medium sweet pepper - all chopped. It remains to add tomato paste, juice or chopped tomato and turn on the stew for another 2 hours.