Hungarian Goulash

Tonight's Austro-Hungarian speciality was Hungarian Goulash. I had roughly glanced at the Goulash recipes on Epicurious and then called the Mom while I was in line at Wegman's to get tips and hints from her Goulash recipe. The Mom's advice included brown sugar and a can of tomato sauce. From the Epicurious recipe (also the only Goulash recipe in the Gourmet Cookbook) I used the caraway seeds, beef broth, red pepper and potatoes.

I began by slicing up one yellow cooking onion and sauteeing it with a bit of garlic in butter and olive oil on medium heat until the onions were soft. Once the onions were translucent I turned up the heat and added in one pound of veal cubes (aka "veal for stew"). I browned the veal, added in one tablespoon of paprika and one thinly sliced red bell pepper. Once the veal was browned I added in a bit of cooking sherry to deglaze the pan. Once deglazed I added about 3/4 of a cup of beef broth and one small can of hunt's tomato sauce. At this point I added in 1/4 of a can (18 oz can) of tomato paste, approximately 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and one tablespoon of dark brown sugar. The I simmered the Goulash on low heat for about 45 minutes. During this time I sliced up three good sized butter potatoes and boiled the potato slices. Once boiled, I added the potatoes to the Goulash (together with a pinch of caraway seeds). Add additional red wine vinegar and brown sugar to taste-- you're going for a sweet/sour tang. I served the Goulash on extra wide egg noodles (with a bit of butter). It was very tasty and I was happily surprised that the veal remained very tender!

Next up: Wiener Schnitzel and Spaetzle!