[ ./recipes/mains/gulasch.md ]
★ HUNGARIAN · MAINS
Hungarian Goulash
(Pörkölt).
SERVES
10
TOTAL
210m
ACTIVE
45m
LVL
EASY
// SUMMARY
The real Hungarian goulash — properly called Pörkölt, not the soupy German version. Concentrated, meat-heavy, thickened by onions alone, no flour or cream. The key: equal weight of onions and meat, slowly braised in lard, paprika never fried in hot fat (or it turns bitter). After 2.5–3 hours of gentle braising, the meat is butter-soft and the sauce thick, red and intensely flavored.
// INGREDIENTS
| — 2.5–3 kg beef (shin or shoulder) | ||
| — 2–2.5 kg onions (roughly equal weight to the meat!) | ||
| — 5–6 tbsp lard | ||
| — 6–8 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika | ||
| — 1–2 tbsp hot Hungarian paprika | ||
| — 5–6 cloves garlic | ||
| 2 | tsp | caraway seeds |
| — 2–3 bay leaves | ||
| — salt, pepper | ||
| — approx. 300–500 ml water | ||
| — optional: 1–2 tomatoes | ||
| — optional: 1–2 green peppers | ||
// METHOD
- 01
**Braise the onions (crucial):** Finely chop the onions. Slowly cook them in the lard until golden brown — this takes 20–30 minutes. Don't rush it. The onion mass replaces any "sauce."
- 02
**Sear the meat:** Turn the heat up high. Add the meat and sear hard. Season with salt.
- 03
**Incorporate paprika correctly:** Pull the pot off the heat briefly. Only then stir in the paprika. This prevents bitterness — a classic mistake is frying paprika in hot fat.
- 04
**Braise:** Add garlic, caraway seeds and bay leaves. Pour in a little water. Braise gently for 2.5–3 hours. Goal: tender meat, thick, red, intensely flavored sauce.
- 05
**Finish:** Optionally add tomatoes and green peppers in the last 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
// NOTES
- — Equal weight onions to meat — this is the most important point. The onions make the sauce.
- — No flour, no cream, no thickeners — that's not the classic way.
- — Very little liquid — otherwise it becomes soup, not Pörkölt.
- — Never fry the paprika — always pull off the heat first, then stir it in. Otherwise it turns bitter.
- — Hungarian goulash (Pörkölt) is concentrated and meat-heavy. The German-style version with lots of broth and flour thickening is a different tradition entirely.