Authentic Hungarian Goulash "gulyasleves"

Viking Knitter's Note:

Tried looking for a recipe on recipezaar for goulash, but couldn't find the true thing. This is the real deal. That crock-pot mess with ground beef, tomatoes, and mushy macaroni is NOT goulash. Whoever started that idea or started calling it that should be ashamed of themselves. Real Goulash has NO tomatoes... the red-orange flavor comes from Hungarian Paprika. --adapted from June Meyer's recipe-- thanks!

• Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 lbs beef chuck , cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 onions , quartered
• 2 tablespoons lard or 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 -4 tablespoons sweet paprika (most important to use real hungarian paprika for ultimate flavor)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 quart water or 1 quart beef broth
• 1 cup dill pickles , diced
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 potatoes , diced
• potatoes, kluski, spatzle (whatever you want!) or egg noodles (whatever you want!)
• sour cream

Directions:

1. in dutch oven or electric skillet: roll beef in paprika, saute in fat.
2. Add rest of ingredients, except sour cream.
3. Bring to slow boil, cover, and simmer for 3-4 hours, checking liquid levels.
4. When done, serve over hot buttered noodles or potatoes -- top w/ sour cream.

Reviews

[Lakme]

Wonderful to see the real thing - with the dill pickles!! This is the same as my recipe, so I KNOW it is great-tasting. I also make it with pork or chicken. Thanks for posting, DHD!

[Ravynnelyn]

I tried this recipe, with high expectations, and followed it to the letter, after raving about how great Hungarian goulash is to a friend of mine. I had already made him my mother's American version with stewed tomatoes and he loved that one. Yes, I am aware that true goulash uses no tomatoes and my mother also made a goulash without tomatoes, but as kids my sister and I loved the taste of stewed tomatoes. Anyway, this recipe is horrible beyond belief...I can't understand why people are ranting about how good it is. I am a good cook and this was awful! We could not even eat the noodles. The meat was salvageable. Anyway, I have never heard of pickles in any kind of goulash before but I took a chance on this one. Ewww! He did not like it either. By the way, I have Norwegian, Rumanian, and Hungarian ancestry and grew up eating many of the recipes from those countries.

[flower7]

This is very tasty. I LOVE paprika (and goulash) so was interested to try a more authentic recipe. I cut the recipe in half, using olive oil instead of lard, the larger amount of paprika, and for the broth I used the liquid left after cooking Crock Pot Dill Pickle Beef for Sandwiches (which I had frozen). I am going on holiday to Hungary later this year so am excited to have goulash like this from the source :) Thanks for posting this so I could have it sooner!