In each country there are several bright culinary creations (it will be too prosaic to call them dishes), which make up the pride of the nation, largely reflect the national character and features, convey the very essence of the originality of the people who invented them. After all, they are “born” not in the kitchens of fashionable restaurants, but in peasant huts, during folk festivals and festivities, or in pots by shepherds, such as Hungarian goulash, whose name means “shepherd, shepherd”. Hungarian goulash, the recipe of which is as old as the history of the Hungarian people, has nothing to do with the dish so common in our catering establishments. The Hungarians - this is a thick, rich in tomatoes, red pepper and paprika, meat soup, which among nomad shepherds was immediately the first and second dish.
There are several varieties of this culinary creation, the most famous of which are actually goulash, as well as perkelt, tokan and paprikash, which differ in some subtleties in cooking, inconspicuous to people ignorant, but very distinguishable by the Hungarians themselves. So, Hungarian goulash, the recipe of which includes exclusively lean beef tenderloin, is a thick soup of either one meat or with the addition of carrots and potatoes. Any meat is used in the preparation of perkelt. This can be not only beef, but also pork, duck, chicken, lamb, even fish. Perkelt is thicker than goulash and, most likely, refers not to the first, but to the second dishes. Tokan is made from several varieties of meat with the addition of vegetables and mushrooms, paprikash is similar to Tokany, but paprika is its mandatory ingredient.
What you need to know to cook a real Hungarian goulash? Its recipe is quite simple, the main thing is to adhere to some mandatory conditions, one of which is the choice of meat. It should be beef tenderloin or veal flesh. It is necessary to take a lot of meat. How to cook beef goulash - a very satisfying and quite spicy dish, which necessarily contains paprika?
Hungarian goulash
Required: beef tenderloin, potatoes, onions, carrots, sweet peppers, tomatoes, paprika, pork fat and caraway seeds. In the preheated fat, fry the onions, add the chopped meat, cover the pan with a lid and stew the meat with onions in their own juice over a small fire. In the process of putting out a little greens and caraway seeds in the meat. When the liquid boils, add a little boiling water, and stew the meat almost until done (you can add red wine instead of water if desired). When the meat is almost ready, put carrots and potatoes chopped fairly large into the pan, and after a while, red pepper and paprika, at the very end of the stew - tomatoes without skin. Goulash stew until all ingredients are cooked under the lid over low heat. Then let him infuse for some time. It is not necessary to observe strict proportions in order to cook a real goulash in Hungarian. The recipe for this dish is quite democratic and may consist of a different ratio of vegetables and meat. The main thing is that as a result a rich, rich soup with a mixture of vegetable juices is obtained.
Perkelt or chicken goulash. Recipe
In a preheated fat in a pan with high sides, fry the onion, cut into fairly large half rings. Spread chicken onion, chopped into large pieces for frying. After a while, in a pan with chicken and onions, add sweet pepper chopped into large pieces, then the tomatoes, peeled. Tomatoes will provide the necessary fluid by secreting juice. We do not add extra liquid to goulash. Stew chicken and pepper in tomato juice until tender, constantly turning over so that nothing burns. At the end of the stew, goulash must be pepper and salt, put chopped greens. Chicken perkelt or Hungarian goulash, the recipe of which may be so, is ready.