Ingredients for 40 servings: 1.5 cups oil, 3.3 lbs onions (about 8 large ones), 7lb cubed beef, water, 4 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp Cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 tbsp salt, 4.5 lbs potatoes (15 small ones), 3 tbsp marjoram, 8 cloves garlic, beer (optional)
Prep Time: 30 minutes of prep time, 2 hours for cooking

Here is what you will need for this version of goulash: beef, potatoes, onions, and various spices.

Chop the onions (cibule). The pieces don’t have to be too small since the onions will dissolve during cooking. Pour the oil (olej) into your kettle and wait for it to get hot. Then add the onions. Fry them until they get golden and glass-like translucent. Add the meat (mäso) and brown it from all sides. You can brown all the meat in the kettle but I figured it will be faster if I do one half (one 3lb packet) separately in a frying pan. If you fry your meat separately like this, make sure to pour in all the juices into the kettle. Add water. I didn’t measure how much I added in, but it was enough to get this 16L stock pot 2/3 full. Roughly speaking, you want half the soup be water and the other half meat. When adding water, it’s better to add in several small batches and wait for the water to come to boil in between each addition. This way the meat will continue to cook.

Add the spices: paprika (sladká červená paprika), Cayenne pepper (štiplavá červená paprika), ground black pepper (mleté čierne korenie), and salt (soľ). Cover and let simmer on low heat for about an hour. In the meantime, peel and cube all but two potatoes and get minced garlic ready to go.

About an hour later

Add the cubed potatoes into the goulash once the meat is almost ready. Also add the marjoram, I used both fresh and dried. When substituting fresh herbs for dried ones, use one tablespoon of fresh herbs for each one teaspoon of dried herbs.

Mince the garlic cloves and add these into the pot. Also grate the remaining two peeled potatoes using a grater. Add these in as well, these potatoes will help thicken the stew.

Finally, if the goulash tastes too thick, you can thin it by adding some dark beer. Or just add the beer regardless. I used about 1/3 bottle of “dark amber” brew. And that’s it, look at all that delicious oil floating on top!

Slovak Picnic in Turkey Run, VA

And just few photos from the picnic. I ended up reheating the goulash using this portable gas stove. This was my first time using it and it’s a really handy thing! The only issue is that the flame is really hot. It didn’t even occur to me to keep stirring the goulash while heating it up, and some potatoes on the bottom burned. So unfortunately the goulash had bit of a burned taste. But nobody really complained, I guess that’s part of the charm of eating in the outdoors…

We also had hot dogs (párky). The Giant grocery chain sells “New York deli-style” hot dogs that look and taste very much like Slovak hot dogs. By the way, hot dogs are served differently in Slovakia than here in the US. One way is to serve them in a hollowed out bread roll. These are hollowed out by a heated spike that toasts the roll from the inside. You then squirt mustard into the slot and then put in the párok. This kind of hot dog is called, quite appropriately, párok v rožku (hot dog in a bread roll). The other way of serving hot dogs is by simply placing two cooked pieces on a paper plate with mustard and few slices of rye or whole wheat bread. This way is popular at festivals where vendors may not have that fancy bread roll toasting spike.

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Horseradish is an ancient plant from the same family as broccoli, mustards, or cabbages. It is grown for its large root, which is grated and preserved in vinegar. It will keep refrigerated for many months. You will horseradish in your grocery store in the deli section, next to pickles and some exotic cheeses.

Sauce (omáčka) made out of horseradish is very popular in Slovakia. In making it, I used mix of three different recipes. The amount of flour came from Recepty Starej Mamy by M. Murtišová. The cream and water came from Slovenská Kuchárka. And finally, the serving suggestion is from mimibazar.sk.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream, water, 100g horseradish, lemon or vinegar
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Start by preparing zápražka (roux) by browning the flour on oil (or butter). Add milk and cream.

Then add salt and one tablespoon worth of lemon juice (citrón).

Add water as needed – I needed about two cups. Continue stirring and let go through boil. Then turn the heat off and add 100g – half this jar – of horseradish (chreň).

Serve with smoked meat (údené mäso) and knedľa (the popular Czech/Slovak steamed dumpling).

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I love Hungarian goulash! Goulash, the traditional dish of Hungary, refers to a beef stew cooked with the sweet powdered red pepper. At least, that’s how it’s now known. This spice, paprika, did not enter Hungarian cuisine until the 16th century. Goulash, on the other hand, was prepared by Hungarian shepherds as far back as the 9th century (these facts come from foodtimeline.org). Goulash is a great dish to prepare while going about other business, such as herding sheep – or mowing the lawn. It takes only some 20 minutes to get the brew going. It can then be left on its own to stew for hours.

Goulash can be either soupy or saucy. In Slovakia, the word guláš or gulášová polievka refers to the goulash soup made with potatoes and eaten with a spoon. Hungarian goulash (maďarský guláš), on the other hand, is the name for a thick stew eaten as the main course with a fork and knife, and served with a helping of the steamed dumpling. What a great combination! You cut off little pieces of this dumpling and use them to soak up the sauce – and “lick-clean” the plate.

Hungarian goulash is a spicy dish. In fact, it is one of only two spicy dishes common in Slovakia I can think off, with the other one being something called Detvianska nátura (recipe to be added later). It is often prepared with canned pepper and tomato combo called lečo. However, this is done just out of convenience, and you can just as easily prepare it using fresh veggies. In making this dish, I followed a recipe posted on a Slovak website. This resulted in a very authentic taste. But there are many variations on this recipe. For few others options, check out Sandy’s recipe, recipe from Hungary Guide or another one from Budapest Tourist Guide. With all this said, let’s get cooking!

Here is what you’ll need, but once again, I forgot a crucial item: cayenne pepper. Hungarian goulash is a spicy dish and this is a must!

Heat up oil (olej) in a large frying pan. Then slowly add the meat (mäso). The oil may splatter so be careful. Brown on all sides. This will take 5 to 10 minutes. Meat is browned before cooking to create a hard shell to keep the juices in. I am not sure why meat is also browned before stewing. Perhaps it helps keep the chunks together.

Next remove the meat, leaving behind the brewing sauce. In the next step, you will add various seasonings, including garlic (cesnak). One trick I learned from my grandma is that there is no need to peel garlic. Simply take an unpeeled clove, and mince it using a food grater. The hard shell will stay behind!

Now add your chopped up veggies (zelenina) and brown them for a bit. Don’t forget to add the spices: minced garlic, caraway (rasca, ground is better, but I used whole), salt (soľ), ground black pepper (mleté čierne korenie), paprika (Hungarian dish without paprika? Impossible!) and a spoonful of tomato paste (paradajkový pretlak).

Then the final spice: hot pepper (štiplavá paprika). When adding red pepper, remember that the concentration will increase as the water content evaporates. Put the meat back in and add enough water (voda) to cover it. Feel free to move everything to a bigger pot if you need to, as I did. Reduce the heat once the water starts to boil.

Cover and wait. And wait. It will take about 3 hours for the meat to soften. I spent this time watching Julie & Julia. Great movie, just to bad Julia Powell decided to write her follow up book outlining (in gory detail according to reviews on Amazon) her various affairs and infidelities. Quite a different image of her marriage than the movie portrayed. In the last hour or so, I moved the lid slightly to a side to allow the steam escape. This helped thicken the sauce. The resulting sauce should be pretty thick – about one second gap thick. This means that if you run a wooden spoon through it, it will take at least a second for the gap to close up. Just as the sauce is starting to get ready and the meat is nice and tender, add some marjoram (majorám).

Serve on a dinner plate with 3 or 4 slices of the steamed dumpling (knedla). It was delicious! I offered a plate to my roommate and he pretty much licked the plate clean. This dish is almost always topped with a dried cayenne pepper, known in Slovak as baraní roh, meaning ram’s horn. Not having any, I chopped up some onions. Note, this photo was taken the following day (the first batch was eaten at 1am) and the sauce thickened overnight. So I added water to thin it, but slightly too much. Hence the slightly watery look to the sauce. Enjoy and dobrú chuť!

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Chicken paprikash is a dish that is not only truly delicious, but is also really cheap to make. I spent 11 dollars (tax included) at my local grocery store for all the ingredients. This total include potatoes for halušky. Flour and paprika were not included in this tally, since I already had these at home. But, these two items added at most another dollar to the total. We ended up with enough food for at least six hearty plates. That’s just two dollars per person! I don’t know about you, but I think this beats any deal you will find on a McDonald’s Dollar menu. Here you have a great home-cooked dinner that will feed a family of four for under ten bucks!

Take a chicken (sliepka) and cut off / pull off all the skin and fat you can. Don’t throw it out, you will need it!

Cut the skin and fat into inch-by-inch (or smaller) pieces. Fry them for about 10 minutes until the skin starts getting crispy.

Dice half a small onion (cibuľa) and add to the pot.

Cube the meat (mäso) and add to the pot.

Add one tablespoon of paprika and enough hot water to cover the concoction.

Let simmer for about an hour, adding more water as needed.

Chop up two small Roma tomatoes (paradajky) and quarter of a green pepper (zelená paprika). Add to the pot. Let simmer for another 20 minutes or so until everything is nice and tender. While the vegetables are simmering, start preparing halušky.

Combine 2 cups of flour (múka) and 1 cup of sour cream (kyslá smotana). Mix well until you get a mixture resembling yogurt.

Add the cream to the pot, one wooden spoon at a time. Cook until everything dissolves. The resulting mixture should not be too watery. Just like any other sauce.

Serve with halušky. Stir together before eating. Dobrú chuť!

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I showed you how to make steamed dumplings in the previous recipe. In this post, I show you how to prepare a great meal to go with them. The dish is called Segedin goulash (Segedinský guláš) and it’s a stew consisting of pork and sauerkraut. You will find it offered in most Slovak restaurants.

Chop up one medium onion (cibuľa), and brown it on butter (maslo).

Add cubed pork (bravčovina), along with 1 teaspoon of paprika, half a teaspoon of caraway seeds (rasca), few dashes of black pepper (čierne korenie) and some salt. Fry stirring until pork is cooked on all sides. This will take about 20 minutes.

Now add 1 lb of sauerkraut (kyslá kapusta) and enough water to cover the concoction. Cover, and simmer for 80 minutes, adding more water as needed.

Take 3 tablespoons of flour (múka) and brown it on melted butter (or lard). Mix into the stew. This will thicken the sauce.

Finally, stir in one cup of sour cream. Let boil for few minutes.

Serve with dumplings. Enjoy! Visit this link for other goulash recipes.

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