To make Hungarian goulash for four you will need:
- 1,5kg beef shank with the bone
- 1kg marrow bones
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 large onions
- 5 tablespoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne or red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon ground caraway seeds or cumin
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 3 cups beef or chicken stock
- 300g potatoes
- 3 sweet peppers
- A couple of sprigs of fresh origanum or marjoram
- Thick sour cream on demand
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 3-4 tablespoons of canola or sunflower oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C, then select an ovenproof casserole dish with a fitted lid. Cut the beef off the bone, producing uniformly sized 25mm cubes. Reserve the bones for later. Crush and peel the garlic, peel and thinly slice the onions, peel and cube the potatoes. Strip the origanum or marjoram leaves off the twigs and finely chop them to produce two teaspoons in volume.
Top, tail and de-seed three different coloured sweet peppers and cut them into longitudinal strips. Pour 3 tablespoons or so of canola oil into the casserole and bring this up to medium-high heat on the hob. Brown the cubed beef for a few minutes. Work in batches to avoid lowering the oil temperature. Reserve under cover. Lower the heat and sweat the onions and garlic until the onions are soft and transparent. Stir from time to time.
Add most of the paprika, saving a couple of teaspoons for later on. Stir in the caraway or cumin seeds and the cayenne or red chilli powder. (The cumin and chilli powder are local spices that substitute more than adequately for the original Hungarian requirements.) Pour in the white wine and let the contents simmer for three minutes, with the occasional stir. Then add the stock (beef is best), coarse salt, water, marrow bones (all of them) and the previously browned beef cubes.
Stir to evenly distribute the ingredients and stick the casserole pot with lid into the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 120°C and cook for three hours or so until the meat is tender but not falling apart. Remove from the oven, let it cool and chuck out the empty marrow bones. Skim off the fat. Return the pot to the hob and add the cubed potatoes for an additional 20 minutes or so. Add the remainder of the paprika powder (about a tablespoon) stir and simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the sweet pepper strips in canola oil until tender. Remove and drain on brown paper. Return to the casserole and, just before serving, adjust the salt to your liking. Serve with the sweet pepper strips and a fresh sprig of origanum or marjoram on each plate as a garnish along with a generous tablespoon of sour cream. While this has been cooked in white wine, the meal demands a heavy, room temperature red, ideally a Shiraz or Syrah. Enjoy this astonishing combination of flavours.
Contact David Basckin at [email protected]. Please state ‘Real cooking’ in the subject line of your email.
