Beef Stew Hungarian Style

There are many Gulasch recipes and there are a lot of Hungarian Gulasch recipes. Most of them are actually not Gulasch, they are "pörkölt". This one is also rather a pörkölt and not a Gulasch, but it is really good.

A real Hungarian goulash is basically a soup. A soup with meat, potatoes and lots of paprika, which is braised for a long time and therefore has a wonderful taste. Pörkölt is the variant of stew, without potatoes and basically also a bit finer.

Hungarian "style"

I call this recipe beef stew Hungarian style because it is close to a Hungarian pörkölt, but again I put my own twist on.

Do not use the most esxpensive cut

I wrote this already a couple of times; do not use for stews the most expensive cut of meat. It makes no sense to use fillet or entrecote when you do a stew, but what is important is to use a good piece of meat, in this case beef.

Better the second day

A good stew is always better on the second day. It doesn't mean that you can't eat it the same day, though. But somehow the flavours get deeper when the stew gets reheated the next day.

Ingredients

For 6 people

1,2 – 1,5 kg of beef for gulasch (usually neck, or belly flap)

2 onions in small cubes

2 sticks of celery in strips

4 carrots in coarse cubes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

0,3 l good red wine

0,5 l beef broth

250 ml cream fraiche

6 - 8 tablespoons sweet paprika

1 bayleaf

Salt

Pepper

Corn starch (if necessary)

Preparation

Use a deep roaster, as large as possible, which is ovenproof.

The meat should be cut into cubes. The butcher can also do this. Make sure that the meat is not too lean. Fat is a flavour carrier and we will take care of the excess fat later.

Season the meat with lots of sweet paprika. Fry the meat in hot oil. Do this in several stages so that the meat is really fried and not cooked. It is not bad if the meat takes on a dark colour. This is more desirable. After a few minutes, remove the meat from the pan. I use the lid of the roaster for this.

In the same pan (without washing out!!!) let the oil get hot and braise the onions, celery and carrots. To do this, turn the temperature down a bit. After a few minutes add the tomato paste and braise for a few minutes. Deglaze with the red wine and boil down a little.

Now put the meat back into the pot and pour the beef stock over it. Add the bayleaf.

Put the lid on and braise in the oven at 180° for two hours.

Take it out of the oven and try the boiled down sauce and if necessary add salt and pepper.

Add the creme fraiche and heat up the stew again on stove. Check again the sauce for the consistency. If you think the sauce is to fluid, add some corn starch and bring the stew to a boil for a few minutes. The stew is now ready to serve.

There is an alternative to get rid of the excessive fat (if you used very fatty meat, the sauce will be quite fatty too): Let everything cool down, mabye even in the fridge. When everything is cooled down, the fat will float on top. Take a spoon and remove the exessive fat.