[Mac the Knife]

Before I share my recipe with you, I wanted to share something I found in an old book of mine. I bought the book, “The Cuisine of Hungary”, by George Lang, 1990 edition, while I was searching for a cabbage dessert recipe for my family that was lost. Mr. Lang writes on pages 270-271 in book; “ Gulyas: A strange thing has happened to Hungarian gulyas. According to a 1969 Gallup Poll, gulyas is one of the five most popular meat dishes on the American cooking scene. Of course, what is usually served under this name shouldn’t happen to be Rumanian.

The origin of the soup, as you have read in the beginning of our story, can be traced back to the ninth century-shepherds cut their meat into cubes, cooked it with onion in a heavy iron kettle (bogracs) and slowly stewed the dish until all the liquid evaporated. They dried the remnants in the sun (probably on their sheepskin capes), and then put the dried food in a bag made of the sheep’s stomach. Whenever they wanted food, they took out a piece of dried meat, added some water and reheated it. With a lot of liquid, it became gulyas soup (gulyasleves); if less liquid was added, it became gulyas meat (gulyashus). Even today the distinction exists, probably to mystify foreigners and foreign cookbook writers.

The more parts of beef and beef innards are used, the better the gulyas will be. Of course, lard and bacon (either one or both) and chopped onions are absolute musts, just as you will find they are in the other three dishes (Porkolt, Paprikas, and Tokany).

Never use any flour. Never use any other spice beside caraway. Never Frenchify it with wine. Never Germanize it with brown sauce. Never put in other garniture beside diced potatoes or galuska. But many variations are possible-you may use fresh tomatoes or tomato puree, garlic, sliced green pepper, hot cherry peppers to make it very spicy, and so on.

An interesting technique was suggested by Mrs. Mariska Vizvary and originally published in the early 1930’s. She added grated raw potatoes in the very beginning, presumably to give body to the soup, and she cooked bones and vegetable separately to give body to make a strong broth with which to strengthen the gulyas soup at the very end.”

And, I know that you’ll want to know what Porkolt, Paprikas, and Tokany are.

Porkolt: uses dried meat in the stew. Onions, paprika, lard or bacon are also the main ingredients. Other vegetables can be added as well, just like in the gulyas.

Paprikas: is much like Porkolt, except it is usually finished with sweet or sour cream, that is sometimes mixed with a little flour. Cream of any kind is never added to Porkolt or Gulyas.

Tokany: is a ragout.

When I spoke with my mom, she reminded me that most of our families soup and stew recipes aren’t measured. Grandma would usually cook very large pots of soups for not only their family, but to help families in need as well (if a mother was sick and her family needed fed, or even to help relatives). So, this recipe does not have measurements. This is made more by how much you need rather than an exact recipe. But, here here it is!

Grandma Fujuras Goulash

Ingredients needed:
Beef Cubes
Crisco Shortening
Onion, chopped fine
Garlic Cloves, whole or chopped
Salt (can substitute Beef Broth, or Beef Bouillon Cube(s))
Pepper
Paprika
Caraway Seed
Potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
Celery, chopped into bite size pieces
Carrots, chopped into bite size pieces
Tomato Paste

Brown the beef cubes in some Crisco Shortening, with the onion and garlic in a pot. Once beef is browned, pour water over it to cover and to make broth. Bring to a boil on high heat, reduce to medium and allow it to simmer, skimming it as it cooks, for about 1 hour or a little more, until beef is slightly tender. Skim on more time, add enough Paprika to turn the broth red. Also, season with salt, pepper and caraway seed at this time (mom changed this. She cut out the salt and uses either beef broth or beef bouillon cube(s) which season with enough of a salt taste.). Add potatoes, celery, and carrots, and continue to simmer until vegetables are cooked and beef is tender. Add tomato paste and allow to simmer a little longer, then serve.