Goulash—or slumgullion

Goulash! Even the very name sounds like stew or mish-mash of some sort. I’m sure I’ve eaten it, but I don’t remember when. I do remember one attempt to cook it that I thought was unsuccessful. But recently I came across a mention that rekindled my interest, and I set out to find a suitable recipe. Of course, I fiddled with the recipe I did find, but it turned out to be a keeper. With Fall coming on, it’s a good dish to keep in mind for chilly evenings.

Goulash is traditionally thought of as a Hungarian dish characterized by the use of a lot of paprika and caraway seeds—and that sort of sums it up. I might say it’s stroganoff on paprika. It is, however, eaten in many Central European countries, often with a distinguishing spice or addition. In the American South or Midwest it is sometimes called slumgullion and bears scant resemblance to the Hungarian version. Slumgullion often has pasta, tomato (sauce, paste, or canned), onions, garlic, and ground beef. I think what I did is sort of a mix of Hungarian and American traditions.

The basic recipe I ultimately settled on comes from the New York Times and calls for a pound of beef stew meat. I have a problem with stew meat—when I ask the butcher to cut it into one-inch pieces, I get these huge, untrimmed hunks with lots of fat, and I spend too long trimming the meat. Besides I started this late in the day and didn’t have time for stew meat to stew and get tender. So I used hamburger.

Goulash

2 Tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, chopped fine (you can slice onion, but I dice out of kindness to some in the family who really don’t like onion)

2 Tbsp. good, sweet Hungarian paprika (I got it from the spice bins at Central Market—so much fresher and cheaper)

1 tsp. caraway seeds (I omitted because I don’t particularly like them and didn’t miss them in the finished dish, but they are traditional)

1 lb. ground beef

½ cup flour

2 c. beef broth (or as needed)

1-1/2 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Wide egg noodles

Sour cream

Melt the butter and sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add paprika and caraway and cook briefly. Add ground hamburger and sauté until there is no pink. Sprinkle with flour and stir to incorporate thoroughly.

Add the beef broth a bit at a time, cooking after each addition. Check consistency as you add. I used about 1-3/4 cups; the full two cups would have made it to runny.

Just before serving, stir in salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Serve over wide egg noodles and top each serving with a good-sized dollop of sour cream.

This is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, if you have time to plan—and cook—ahead.