Viennese Goulash
Much has been written about the origin and the correct preparation of Viennese goulash. It is obvious that the name comes from Hungary (from gulyás hús, gulyás = cattle herd and hús = meat dish), but the Viennese goulash no longer has much in common with the Hungarian gulyás. The Viennese multi-cultural cuisine of the Habsburg Empire created something new from the Hungarian model, which was then reimported to Hungary and is now called Pörkölt there.
Today, goulash is part of the standard ‘home kitchen’ repertoire and there are as many original versions as there are families. And, as is well known, nothing tastes better than grandma’s goulash.
important questions
Among goulash fetishists, however, there are already questions that are heatedly debated. There is no right or wrong, but the result does have different nuances in taste.
Is the meat seared or not?
If you sear the meat, you do this at the very beginning, take it out again and then remove the residue with the onions. That makes a wonderful stock. The downside is that the meat doesn’t get as tender as if you just cook it.
What is the meat to onion ratio?
As a rule of thumb, use a 1: 1 ratio of meat to onions. However, the goulash becomes more substantial if you use 10-20% more meat than onions, i.e. about 800 grams of onion per kilo of meat.
Are the onions mashed or not?
The original goulash certainly had to do without a hand blender, as at the time there simply wasn’t one. The goulash becomes a bit thicker and the sauce smoother when you puree. You don’t have to put in as much effort when chopping onions either.
Water or soup?
Water makes a mild goulash; soup promotes the umami and beef stock enhances this even further.
Time is Gold
The most important main ingredient for all versions, however, is time and patience. The onions must be cooked very slowly and carefully, and as a result, the meat will only be really tender by simmering slowly for hours. The cartilage and sinews contained in the meat have to slowly boil off, which gives the goulash its fine consistency. Ultimately, a perfect goulash must cool down overnight because it only develops its full potential when it is warmed up the next day.
Ingredients
6 servings
– 1 kg of well-grown beef, ideally Wadschinken / Hesse (in Vienna it is called Wadschunken), preferably whole.
– 800g yellow onions
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 75g clarified butter
– 35 g sweet paprika powder
– 1 tbsp marjoram, dried and grated
– 1 tbsp caraway seeds, finely chopped
– 1 tbsp vinegar
– 1L beef soup
– Salt pepper
That’s all the ingedients you need for the original Viennese goulash.
Refine
To enhance individual taste components you can:
Acid: before adding the paprika powder, add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and roast briefly. Alternatively, you can also cook some lemon zest. But be careful and don’t use too much: lemon has a distinct taste.
Bitter: Cook 2 bay leaves and remove at the end.
Umami: season with a teaspoon of soy sauce at the end. Alternatively, you can also add a cube of beef soup (10g).
You can replace 5-10 grams of the paprika with smoked paprika. This gives a fine smoky note. If you like a little more spice, you can add a teaspoon (3g) of rose-hot paprika.
CULINAMUS
For our Culinamus goulash we use the oval Le Creuset 35 (8.9L) with 2.5 times the recipe amount. With smoked and hot peppers, bay leaves, hand blender and a strong beef stock. No soup stock cube for that. Goulash can be frozen without any problems. Season after defrosting.
Preparation
– Cut the meat into even pieces about five centimeters in size. Do not put in the refrigerator again. For cooking, room temperature is better.
– Peel and quarter the onions (for large onions in 8 parts) and cut into thin (quarter or eighth) moons. (if you puree, you can also dice the onions), finely chop the cloves of garlic.
– Prepare clarified butter, put together peppers (mix).
– Prepare water or beef soup / stock, it should – if it is used – be boiling hot.
– Finely chop the marjoram, grind the caraway seeds and prepare the vinegar.
Cooking
(5 hours)
– Heat the clarified butter in a heavy casserole (without a lid). Preheat to level 8 (of 9), then turn down to level 7. Depending on the size of the pot and the amount of onions, first sweat half of the onions and after about 20 minutes add the second half. The onions shouldn’t turn brown. The color of the goulash comes from the paprika and the long cooking and not from the brown roasted onions. When the onions get dark or are sitting on the bottom of the pot, turn down the temperature.
– After a total of 45 minutes (large amount 1 hour), when the onions are soft and golden yellow, remove the casserole from the heat, add the paprika and mix well. Deglaze with the vinegar. Since paprika quickly becomes bitter, don’t wait too long to deglaze them.
– Add boiling water / beef soup and simmer the onion stock. After about 20 minutes you can puree (if you want). Add the meat, marjoram, caraway seeds and garlic (and bay leaf).
– Now comes the most important part. Let the goulash without lid simmer for 3 to 4 hours. If it starts to bubble the temperature is too high. The temperature should remain below 100 degrees. A light movement of the surface is enough. We use level 4 (out of 9) stir every now and then and make sure nothing is stuck on the bottom. If necessary, add hot water or soup.
– Alternatively, you can cook in the oven: 100 degrees bottom heat. Make sure you use a lid.
– Just before the end of the cooking time, optionally refine with soup stock cubes or a bit of soy sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. After a few minutes, remove the goulash from the heat and let it cool down. Then put in the refrigerator and let it steep overnight.
And what comes next?
Enjoy the next day. As a ‘Fiaker goulash’ with sausage, fried egg and pickled gherkin.
Traditionally, there is bread and beer (a well-chilled Budvar is a dream). Butter dumplings, potatoes or bread dumplings are also eaten with it. If you prefer wine, a full-bodied red wine is ideal, such as a Phantom from the Kirnbauer
In the meantime, however, you can definitely dare to drink a slightly more voluminous white wine with it. I think of a Chardonnay Reserve with a light woody note from Jost in Podersdorf.
CULINAMUS!