I'll Have The Goulash
This was published in August 2012, more as a general article, but I added the actual recipe November 29, 2016.
I got into my cooking mode a couple of days ago, and I fixed two great dishes, which lasted for a couple of meals. I made "goulash" and bacon dumplings (German: "Speckknödel" *). There is some disagreement about the history and preparation of goulash, but it developed among Hungarian herders** who fixed a thick soup of beef, peppers, onions, chopped tomatoes,*** paprika (a Hungarian specialty), and perhaps some other items, especially caraway, but also garlic, potatoes, or carrots, and typically thickened with flour. Hungary was ruled for quite some time by the Habsburg dynasty, and later it gained a large degree of equality in an agreement in 1867, making the former Austro-German dominated Austrian Empire into a shared empire called Austria-Hungary, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With Vienna (German: "Wien") the capital city of the multi-ethnic empire, lots of different peoples and foods influenced the culture of the city, and the Viennese picked up goulash from the Hungarians, albeit with their own version,**** which made it into more of a real stew, rather than a thick soup. The stew became something of a Viennese specialty, typically accompanied by bread dumplings (German: "Semmelknödel"), a close cousin to the bacon dumplings I made.
Well, many years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, there was a little restaurant called "Servus" (pronounced "zair-voos"). The word is known throughout the German-speaking lands, but it is more typical in southern German lingo; that is, more so in Bavaria and especially in Austria, and it is used as either a greeting or farewell, depending upon circumstance; thus it means "hello" or "goodbye." Wow did "Servus" have good food! It was owned by a fairly young couple, and I went in so many times, the lady asked me why I had become such a good customer. Well, one of the reasons was the goulash, or "Gulasch," in German, and the other was "Zwetschgenknödel" (plum dumplings). Now, the standard German word for "plum" is "Pflaume," a close relative to the English form, as centuries ago Old Germanic borrowed a form from Latin, giving both English and German forms of the word. For the history of the words "plum" and "prune," see my article at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/04/plum-pudding-and-plum-cake.html However, many German dialects use forms of "Zwetsche"***** for "plum." There are numerous spellings and pronunciations, including "Quetsche" in much of Hessen, the German state where Frankfurt is located, and "Quetschkuche," or "plum cake," is common in that area.
Anyhow, the lady proceeded to tell me she was from Austria and that her husband was Hungarian. Alas, the old empire was recreated. When I asked her where she was from in Austria, she got a bit nervous, even saying I would have never heard of it. Finally she told me, and I certainly understood her anxiety about how I might react. She was from Braunau, a little town right across the border from the German state of Bavaria. In fact, during certain times in the past, the town had been part of Bavaria. So why was she so nervous? Because Braunau was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. The full name is actually "Branau am Inn;" the "am Inn" meaning, "on the Inn (River)."
Germans, the ethnic group, and not just the specific nationality from Gerrmany, love dumplings, and they make them out of flour, potatoes, or even stale bread or rolls. They come in all shapes and sizes, sweet or savory, and with various added ingredients. "Speckknödel" are made from stale rolls, which are sliced and soaked in warm milk. Small strips of bacon and sausage (usually smoked) are lightly fried together and then added to the bread. Today most of us would pour off the fat before adding the meat to the bread, but that was not the case in the past, when bacon and sausage fat added flavor to the dumpling mixture, along with a substantial dose of cholesterol. A little salt and some parsley are mixed in, and egg and flour help to bind the dough, which is then rolled into dumplings somewhere about the size of ping pong balls or golf balls. A little coating of flour helps to keep the dumplings from falling apart. Ten to fifteen minutes in some salted, lightly boiling water and you're ready to go. Any leftovers can be sliced and fried lightly in butter for a snack or even served with eggs for breakfast, which is not uncommon. I don't waste anything, as the water will have residue from the cooked dumplings, giving you something on the order of a thick porridge.
Vienna-Style Goulash (Gulasch, Wiener Art) Recipe (this is my own version):
Typically this dish is cooked on the stove top, but I prefer to bake it at relatively low heat for a couple of hours. In the past, the beef would not have had the fat trimmed off of it.
2 pounds beef stewing meat (bite-sized pieces)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or sunflower oil
3 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons mild paprika (Hungarian, if you have it)
1 tablespoon hot paprika ("hot" paprika tends not to be terribly hot)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar (this helps to smooth out some of the acidity, use a little more, if needed)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (or you can substitute oregano)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1/4 cup beef stock (I suppose you could substitute beef bullion, but don't be surprised if the Viennese put a curse on you, where you hear 24 straight hours of waltz music)
1 or 2 teaspoons salt (your preference; I use seasoned salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
I use a heavy duty pan with a lid to make goulash. I add the oil first, then I add all of the other ingredients, then I mix it all well. I bake it at 275 degrees (F) for an hour, then I stir it, then I turn the heat down to about 250 (F) and let it bake for another 90 minutes. Check to be sure the meat is tender, giving the meat as much time as it needs to bake. The relatively low heat isn't going to hurt it, and your patience will be greatly rewarded with a delicious goulash.
If you want the goulash very thick, as I do, mix 1 tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water, making sure the flour is well mixed in. Stir the mixture into the goulash near the very end of cooking, and return it to the oven for about 5 minutes. Since I fix my goulash in an oven safe pan, I simply put the pan on the stove (low heat) and add the flour/water mixture, stirring until it is thickened and the flour taste is cooked out, which only takes a couple of minutes. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving. I must admit, on occasion over the years, I have used bullion instead of real beef stock and nothing ever happened to me ... Hey! What's that music? Do I hear a waltz?
* Also called "Tiroler Speckknödel."
** The Hungarian word for "herder, herdsman," "gulyas," lies behind the word "goulash."
*** I once read a recipe for goulash by a lady whose Hungarian mother or grandmother, I now cannot remember which, was adamant that "real Hungarian goulash" did NOT have tomatoes in it. I'll stay out of the argument, except to say that everyone has their own recipes for various foods, and goulash is no exception, including in Hungary. Just a possible explanation though: the passing down of recipes for goulash could likely date from a time before tomatoes were accepted as being safe in Europe. Tomatoes came from the New World, and they were originally thought to be poisonous, thus it is not out of the question that early recipes for the dish did not include tomatoes, and that omission was retained by many people, as the recipe was passed down.
**** The more typical Viennese style (German: "Gulasch, Wiener Art") uses beef, onions, some tomato puree or paste, paprika, salt, pepper and caraway, although some cooks add garlic, and/or, a bit of vinegar. I improvised a bit, using some tomato paste and about a heaping tablespoon of thick ketchup, which provided just a tad of vinegar. It should be slowly braised (a slow cooker is good for this) and end up rather dark in color, somewhat on the order of dark red wine. A variation of this is served with a fried egg on top, as well as one of the famous Vienna-style sausages ("Wieners," to Americans; German: "Frankfurter Würstl"), and a pickle, which in restaurants has one end cut into a fan shape. This is then called "Fiakergulasch," or "Cabbie's Goulash," with a "Fiaker" being the name for a two-horse carriage used as a cab long ago. The name was also used for the cab driver.
***** The various forms of Zwetsche are not native German words, but another borrowing, "perhaps" from a non-German dialect from the alpine border area of northern Italy and eastern France.
WORD HISTORY:
Cook-This "seems" to go back to Indo European "kekewo," "perhaps" a variant form of "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. Latin had "coquus," which was borrowed into Old Germanic as "kukaz," a noun form. This gave its Anglo-Saxon (Old English) offspring "coc," which later became "cook." The Latin verb form "coquo" was likewise borrowed by Old Germanic as "kokanan," which then gave Old English "cocian," as well as "gecocsian," both meaning essentially "to cook." The latter died out or merged with the former, which then became "coken," before the modern form. Noun and verb forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "Koch" and "kochen" (meaning "cook, boil"); Low German Saxon "Kock" and "kaken/koken;" Dutch has "kok" and "koken;" Danish has "kok" and "koge;" Icelandic has the noun "kokkur" ("chef"); Swedish has "kock/kocken" and "koka;" and Norwegian has "kokk(en)" and "koke" ("boil"). Apparently Frisian does not use a form of the word in modern times, but it once had "koka."
I got into my cooking mode a couple of days ago, and I fixed two great dishes, which lasted for a couple of meals. I made "goulash" and bacon dumplings (German: "Speckknödel" *). There is some disagreement about the history and preparation of goulash, but it developed among Hungarian herders** who fixed a thick soup of beef, peppers, onions, chopped tomatoes,*** paprika (a Hungarian specialty), and perhaps some other items, especially caraway, but also garlic, potatoes, or carrots, and typically thickened with flour. Hungary was ruled for quite some time by the Habsburg dynasty, and later it gained a large degree of equality in an agreement in 1867, making the former Austro-German dominated Austrian Empire into a shared empire called Austria-Hungary, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With Vienna (German: "Wien") the capital city of the multi-ethnic empire, lots of different peoples and foods influenced the culture of the city, and the Viennese picked up goulash from the Hungarians, albeit with their own version,**** which made it into more of a real stew, rather than a thick soup. The stew became something of a Viennese specialty, typically accompanied by bread dumplings (German: "Semmelknödel"), a close cousin to the bacon dumplings I made.
Well, many years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, there was a little restaurant called "Servus" (pronounced "zair-voos"). The word is known throughout the German-speaking lands, but it is more typical in southern German lingo; that is, more so in Bavaria and especially in Austria, and it is used as either a greeting or farewell, depending upon circumstance; thus it means "hello" or "goodbye." Wow did "Servus" have good food! It was owned by a fairly young couple, and I went in so many times, the lady asked me why I had become such a good customer. Well, one of the reasons was the goulash, or "Gulasch," in German, and the other was "Zwetschgenknödel" (plum dumplings). Now, the standard German word for "plum" is "Pflaume," a close relative to the English form, as centuries ago Old Germanic borrowed a form from Latin, giving both English and German forms of the word. For the history of the words "plum" and "prune," see my article at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/04/plum-pudding-and-plum-cake.html However, many German dialects use forms of "Zwetsche"***** for "plum." There are numerous spellings and pronunciations, including "Quetsche" in much of Hessen, the German state where Frankfurt is located, and "Quetschkuche," or "plum cake," is common in that area.
Anyhow, the lady proceeded to tell me she was from Austria and that her husband was Hungarian. Alas, the old empire was recreated. When I asked her where she was from in Austria, she got a bit nervous, even saying I would have never heard of it. Finally she told me, and I certainly understood her anxiety about how I might react. She was from Braunau, a little town right across the border from the German state of Bavaria. In fact, during certain times in the past, the town had been part of Bavaria. So why was she so nervous? Because Braunau was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. The full name is actually "Branau am Inn;" the "am Inn" meaning, "on the Inn (River)."
Germans, the ethnic group, and not just the specific nationality from Gerrmany, love dumplings, and they make them out of flour, potatoes, or even stale bread or rolls. They come in all shapes and sizes, sweet or savory, and with various added ingredients. "Speckknödel" are made from stale rolls, which are sliced and soaked in warm milk. Small strips of bacon and sausage (usually smoked) are lightly fried together and then added to the bread. Today most of us would pour off the fat before adding the meat to the bread, but that was not the case in the past, when bacon and sausage fat added flavor to the dumpling mixture, along with a substantial dose of cholesterol. A little salt and some parsley are mixed in, and egg and flour help to bind the dough, which is then rolled into dumplings somewhere about the size of ping pong balls or golf balls. A little coating of flour helps to keep the dumplings from falling apart. Ten to fifteen minutes in some salted, lightly boiling water and you're ready to go. Any leftovers can be sliced and fried lightly in butter for a snack or even served with eggs for breakfast, which is not uncommon. I don't waste anything, as the water will have residue from the cooked dumplings, giving you something on the order of a thick porridge.
Vienna-Style Goulash (Gulasch, Wiener Art) Recipe (this is my own version):
Typically this dish is cooked on the stove top, but I prefer to bake it at relatively low heat for a couple of hours. In the past, the beef would not have had the fat trimmed off of it.
2 pounds beef stewing meat (bite-sized pieces)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or sunflower oil
3 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons mild paprika (Hungarian, if you have it)
1 tablespoon hot paprika ("hot" paprika tends not to be terribly hot)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar (this helps to smooth out some of the acidity, use a little more, if needed)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (or you can substitute oregano)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1/4 cup beef stock (I suppose you could substitute beef bullion, but don't be surprised if the Viennese put a curse on you, where you hear 24 straight hours of waltz music)
1 or 2 teaspoons salt (your preference; I use seasoned salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
I use a heavy duty pan with a lid to make goulash. I add the oil first, then I add all of the other ingredients, then I mix it all well. I bake it at 275 degrees (F) for an hour, then I stir it, then I turn the heat down to about 250 (F) and let it bake for another 90 minutes. Check to be sure the meat is tender, giving the meat as much time as it needs to bake. The relatively low heat isn't going to hurt it, and your patience will be greatly rewarded with a delicious goulash.
If you want the goulash very thick, as I do, mix 1 tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water, making sure the flour is well mixed in. Stir the mixture into the goulash near the very end of cooking, and return it to the oven for about 5 minutes. Since I fix my goulash in an oven safe pan, I simply put the pan on the stove (low heat) and add the flour/water mixture, stirring until it is thickened and the flour taste is cooked out, which only takes a couple of minutes. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving. I must admit, on occasion over the years, I have used bullion instead of real beef stock and nothing ever happened to me ... Hey! What's that music? Do I hear a waltz?
** The Hungarian word for "herder, herdsman," "gulyas," lies behind the word "goulash."
*** I once read a recipe for goulash by a lady whose Hungarian mother or grandmother, I now cannot remember which, was adamant that "real Hungarian goulash" did NOT have tomatoes in it. I'll stay out of the argument, except to say that everyone has their own recipes for various foods, and goulash is no exception, including in Hungary. Just a possible explanation though: the passing down of recipes for goulash could likely date from a time before tomatoes were accepted as being safe in Europe. Tomatoes came from the New World, and they were originally thought to be poisonous, thus it is not out of the question that early recipes for the dish did not include tomatoes, and that omission was retained by many people, as the recipe was passed down.
**** The more typical Viennese style (German: "Gulasch, Wiener Art") uses beef, onions, some tomato puree or paste, paprika, salt, pepper and caraway, although some cooks add garlic, and/or, a bit of vinegar. I improvised a bit, using some tomato paste and about a heaping tablespoon of thick ketchup, which provided just a tad of vinegar. It should be slowly braised (a slow cooker is good for this) and end up rather dark in color, somewhat on the order of dark red wine. A variation of this is served with a fried egg on top, as well as one of the famous Vienna-style sausages ("Wieners," to Americans; German: "Frankfurter Würstl"), and a pickle, which in restaurants has one end cut into a fan shape. This is then called "Fiakergulasch," or "Cabbie's Goulash," with a "Fiaker" being the name for a two-horse carriage used as a cab long ago. The name was also used for the cab driver.
***** The various forms of Zwetsche are not native German words, but another borrowing, "perhaps" from a non-German dialect from the alpine border area of northern Italy and eastern France.
WORD HISTORY:
Cook-This "seems" to go back to Indo European "kekewo," "perhaps" a variant form of "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. Latin had "coquus," which was borrowed into Old Germanic as "kukaz," a noun form. This gave its Anglo-Saxon (Old English) offspring "coc," which later became "cook." The Latin verb form "coquo" was likewise borrowed by Old Germanic as "kokanan," which then gave Old English "cocian," as well as "gecocsian," both meaning essentially "to cook." The latter died out or merged with the former, which then became "coken," before the modern form. Noun and verb forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "Koch" and "kochen" (meaning "cook, boil"); Low German Saxon "Kock" and "kaken/koken;" Dutch has "kok" and "koken;" Danish has "kok" and "koge;" Icelandic has the noun "kokkur" ("chef"); Swedish has "kock/kocken" and "koka;" and Norwegian has "kokk(en)" and "koke" ("boil"). Apparently Frisian does not use a form of the word in modern times, but it once had "koka."
Labels: Austria, Austria-Hungary, Austrian recipes, dumplings, English, etymology, Frankfurt, German, German recipes, Germanic languages, Germany, goulash, Hungary, Latin, personal recollections, plums, recipes, Tirol, Vienna
posted by Randy at 3:03 PM
5 Comments:
Wow, great article. I'll have to try these.
I love bacon so I think I'd love the dumplings.
So what's the macaroni with tomato sauce called? I thought that was goulash.
Johnnie, well Americans frequently call that goulash, but when I was a kid some also called it "Poor Man's Meal." The goulash label "probably" comes from the idea that Hungarians sometimes served their goulash with noodles in it, so pasta. As I noted, there are numerous recipes for goulash, some with tomatoes, some without; some with sour cream, some without; some with beef, some with pork; it goes on and on. The "Poor Man's Meal" probably comes from the idea that you took macaroni, tomato sauce, a little onion and some ground beef, all once relatively cheap items, and you made a filling meal. Today, the price of ground beef alone would cause a horse to drop over, if a horse could read, but when I was a kid, many people still remembered the terrible days of the Great Depression all too well, and the food they had to survive on.
I always heard the macaroni concoction called goulash.
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