For the last few years, my husband and I have taken to international travel, particularly trekking across Europe, the Baltic, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, and (coming this fall) the Adriatic. And as you can imagine, we’ve sampled some pretty amazing food in all those places: chocolate in Belgium, trdelník in Prague, borsht in St. Petersburg, and bratwursts in Berlin. Even tea and biscuits in London. On our most recent trip to Europe last fall, we visited a few counties in southeast Europe, specifically Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary. And it was in that last country that we tried what turned out to be a surprisingly delicious dish. Because, when in Hungary, one must eat . . . wait for it . . . goulash!
Goulash, or more precisely Hungarian goulash, is not what you think it is – or at least it is not what I thought it was. I expected some kind of heavy cream soup loaded with something like corn and cauliflower- a rather pale dish of food. But the goulash we were served while sitting in an old market square in Budapest was nothing short of a tasty (and a little spicy) tomato-based soup. Served in a crock with a nice chunk of hard bread, I just as easily could have been dining in an Amish restaurant in Lancaster, PA instead of a cafe in Vorosmarty Square in Budapest.
Goulash is a soup made of meat and vegetables and a few seasonings – specifically, paprika. But don’t be fooled here - goulash is not your grandmother’s vegetable soup. For one thing, Hungarian goulash dates back to the 9th Century, being a dish created and consumed by Hungarian shepherds. And while it is, in essence, a beef stew, it differs greatly from the American goulash soup which includes elbow macaroni, cubed steak, ground beef or hamburger, and tomatoes in some form, whether canned whole, as tomato sauce, tomato soup, and/or tomato paste.
Hungarian goulash is a deceptively simple dish with relatively few ingredients. There are many forms of this soup, but at its core it remains the same, with paprika, more specifically Hungarian paprika (which is a bit sweeter than regular paprika) being the ever-present seasoning-staple most versions have in common.
Truthfully, the hardest part about making goulash at home was finding the perfect recipe. Because there are so many versions of goulash out there, it’s tricky to find the one you want unless, like me, you KNOW what you want. Below is the recipe for Hungarian goulash that’s as close to what I ate in Vorosmarty Square in Budapest last fall. Your home will smell amazing! Imagine curling up on a couch on a snowy, rainy, or chilly night and hugging a bowl of this hearty Hungarian dish.
Dop's Husband Kevin eating Goulash in Hungary
3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1″ cubes
5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2″ diagonals
4 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4″ cubes
1 large yellow onion, cut in half
3 large cloves garlic, minced
4 cups low sodium beef broth
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup Hungarian sweet paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Place beef in bottom of slow cooker. Cover with carrots, potatoes, the two onion halves, and garlic.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, and then add to the slow cooker. Stir a bit to combine.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 9 hours.
4. Remove the onion halves before serving. Serve with a loaf of hearty, crusty bread.
If you enjoy this dish, you won't want to miss the traditional Feijoada, which is Brazil's national dish of pork, beef and black bean stew that you will learn how to make in The Chopping Block's Brazilian Carnivale hands-on cooking class being offered on: