Gulyás
This dish is the best known Hungarian food outside the Hungarian borders, although it is not really the dish that people think it is
If you type “goulash” or “gulash” into Google, you will get endless recipes in English and other languages on how to make a typical Hungarian stew. "The national dish", some will say. But instead, if you type “gulyás” and translate the results from Hungarian you will soon realize that it is not a stew at all, but rather a soup.
A soup mistaken for a stew
Károly Gundel, a famous Hungarian chef, once said that “outside of Hungary, almost all dishes that are seasoned with paprika are called goulash.” And while it does carry this spice, many of the traditional Hungarian dishes incorporate it as well.
Gulyás, then, is not the thick stew that people imagine, but rather a fine soup that can be eaten daily in almost any restaurant in the country, be it traditional food or a modern bistro. It is also one of those dishes that is easily made at home, especially during the cold months, since the preparation is simple and the ingredients can be found anywhere. Many times I have also seen it done in large pots (called bogrács) cooked over a live flame in parks and areas set up for bonfires.
To make the traditional gulyás, you usually start by frying the onion in pork fat, then adding the minced garlic and then the cubed beef. Once the meat has changed color, the spices (paprika and caraway - very similar to cumin-), salt and pepper are added. Then the tomato cut into quarters and the pepper. Following, the water is poured and it’s let to cook for about 90 minutes over very low heat. After that time, the rest of the softer vegetables can be added: carrots, parsnips, celery root and potatoes. The soup has to continue cooking until the meat is completely tender and the vegetables are done.
This recipe, like most, is not set in stone. There are those who add marjoram, those who skip the pepper, those who replace animal fat with vegetable oil... But certain things are always present: the meat is traditionally beef, it has paprika, sour cream or flour is never added and it is never cooked with hot chili peppers, although they are usually served at the table to be added on top.
From pastors to stardom
The history of this dish dates back to the Middle Ages and has been modified over time. In the great Hungarian plains, land of the Huns and Mongols, groups of 5 or 6 men spent long periods of time grazing their cattle with the only company of a horse to pull their cart. They used to cook in large cauldrons attached to a pole over a blazing fire. Their meals consisted mainly of cereals and legumes, but when an animal died or was sacrificed, a delicacy was prepared based on their meat (and entrails), fried in fat and accompanied by onion, salt and cooked in water. Often they let all the water evaporate and the pieces of cooked meat were stored in bags made from sheep's stomachs. When they were hungry, they rehydrated the meat with water and ate it like a soup.
During the Modern Age, elements that would end up composing the dish that we all know now and that came from America were incorporated: tomato, pepper, potato and above all, paprika. By the end of the 18th century, the dish was already known throughout the territory and to travelers who visited it: a comforting and spicy soup made by shepherds (that were called gulyás in Hungarian). Thus, it began to be known as gulyásleves (shepherds' soup) or gulyáshús (shepherds' meat).
Although this was a rustic, country dish adopted by the working class of the city, the prevailing nationalism of the 19th century prompted it to appear in recipe books and on restaurant menus as a traditional and national symbol. Even the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier served a Goulash à la Hongroise in Monte Carlo in 1879 with paprika imported from the city of Szeged. When he himself included the recipe in his book Le Guide Culinarie (1904) he catapulted the dish to international stardom and into elite European circles.
In the United States and Canada, the dish took on even more relevance, if possible. Surely carried by Hungarian immigrants who escaped the failed revolution of 1848, it became a typical dish of American-European gastronomy. But the dish that was made there (and also in the rest of Europe) was more of a stew that was served with mashed potatoes or noodles.
This dish, curiously, exists. It is not called goulash but pörkölt. Marhapörkölt (beef pörkölt) is made with almost the same ingredients but it is different. No carrots, no parsnips, no other roots, no potatoes added, and the meat is left to cook until most of the water has evaporated and the consistency is that of a thick stew. In this case it is usually accompanied by potatoes, mashed potatoes or more typically nokedli, a type of local pasta. It is delicious as is paprikas, another type of stew that is sometimes confused with goulash. In this case, sour cream and a paprika roux are added to create a thick, silky sauce. It is typically made with chicken (csirkepaprikás) and is also served with nokedli.
Going through many hands and social strata and having paprika at the center of its recipe, gulyás is a round dish. It captivates us with its history, it tells us about healthy food and incorporations from other worlds, and how such a simple dish can captivate the highest palates. Give the Hungarian recipe a try if you haven't already, because while stew has its place, this soup will warm your spirits.
The essence of Hungarian gastronomy comes from its plains