stew

Beef Goulash

April 26, 2020 By Caroline Leave a Comment

There is no hiding behind tomato paste, vegetables or other flavours. This is a purists’ goulash where all of the rich colour and flavour come from beautifully seared beef, caramelized onions, plus Paprika, and that’s it. This classic recipe is incredibly simple and requires only a few ingredients. I’ll get into the secret to mastering the very dark, rich gravy below.

First, we begin with onions. LOTS of them! Don’t be shy, it looks like a lot but they really cook down and lend a deep, caramelized flavour to the stew. It is important to cook them in animal fat for the best caramelization (like lard) over medium – medium high heat for some time (usually about 25 minutes or so) to ensure they get dark enough and caramelize to the point of almost looking black. Golden simply won’t due if you want a rich, dark gravy. Be patient and wait for them to look like the image below:

Once the onions are done, you’ll need to brown the meat. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside; add about a tablespoon of oil. Add the beef in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. Drop the meat in and don’t touch it for about 3–4 minutes. This will help get you the very deep, dark areas of searing as shown in the image below. If you start to flip the meat and it’s not brown yet, continue to leave it until it is. If too much water evaporates from the meat and you find it’s steaming instead of browning, turn up the heat until the water cooks off. Then the meat will be able to brown. Pressing your meat with a paper towel before browning can help if you find it is holding too much moisture. If the pan starts to look dry, add a bit more oil.

Once the meat is nicely browned, it’s time to add the spices. I use the Paprika shown below (LOTS!) About two tablespoons sweet (or more), and one tablespoon hot).

Hot and Sweet Paprika are the key to the flavours of this dish

You want to add the Paprika to the pot and stir it around with the meat to heat it up in the oil to bring out all of the smokey spice’s flavour.

Then place the reserved onions back in the pot and add water and salt, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer, covered, over medium-low heat for about two hours. You can pretty much ignore it, just checking occasionally to make sure it’s neither bubbling too profusely nor standing still with no bubbling at all. You want just a very slow, gentle bubble here and there to gently and slowly cook the meat to keep it tender.

Tender, meaty beef is lifted from the rich gravy

Once the meat is tender, add more water and bring to a simmer. Add a mixture of cornstarch and flour dissolved in cold water to thicken the sauce, simmer for a few more minutes, and it’s ready! Serve over spaetzle style noodles, potato dumplings, or potatoes.

Beef Goulash

A hearty, dark beef stew with onions and Paprika. No tomato paste, carrots or other stuff—this is a purists’ beef goulash that needs nothing extra added. Serve over noodles, dumplings or potatoes. Trying to resist a second helping is futile.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Hungarian

Keyword beef, comfort, goulash, gravy, hungarian, onions, paprika, sauce, stew, szeged

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours 20 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

1/4 cup lard Tenderflake works well
4-6 onions, roughly chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2.5 lbs stewing beef
2 tbsp Sweet Hungarian Paprika or more if desired
1 tbsp Hot Hungarian Paprika substitute 1/2 tsp cayenne if you can’t find hot Paprika
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups water, divided 3 ways possibly more
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
spaetzle noodles, dumplings or potatoes for serving

Instructions

In a large pot, heat lard on medium-high heat. Add onions. Cook, stirring until they just start to brown, and turn down the heat slightly to avoid burning. Continue cooking until very dark and caramelized—they should be almost but not quite black. Once they reach the right colour, remove the onions to a side plate and reserve.
Add 1 tbsp oil, turn up the heat to medium-high, and then add some of the beef, ensuring the pot isn’t overcrowded. Don’t touch the beef for about 3 minutes; check to see if dark brown areas have developed. If so, flip the meat until browned on all sides. If not, continue to heat until the right colour is there. Turn up heat if the meat isn’t browning enough. Brown the beef in batches, usually two batches does the trick in my pot. Once all of the meat is browned, add both Paprikas and stir over the sizzling heat for about one minute to bring out the flavour of the spices.
Add the onions back into the pot along with the salt and two cups of water (or enough to just cover the meat). Scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer on low for about 1.5 – 2 hours, until meat is tender.
Combine flour and cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water; stir well to dissolve, pressing out any lumps. Add to the pot with an additional two cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about five minutes until sauce is bubbling and thickened.
Serve over spaetzle style noodles, dumplings or potatoes.

Lamb Stew with Chestnuts, Mushrooms, Cranberries and Polenta

February 18, 2018 By Caroline 5 Comments

Special enough to serve at a dinner party, yet homey and comforting for a family night in, this lamb stew with chestnuts and cranberries is a favourite dish. Served over creamy polenta, and enhanced with mushrooms, pearl onions and a little tomato, it’s a comforting dish with sophistication. To save time, and also to avoid having to wait for chestnuts to be in season, buy packaged chestnuts that have already been peeled.

Of course like pretty much all stews, this lamb dish tastes just as good when reheated the next day (maybe even better!), so you if you want to make it ahead before company comes over, it will work perfectly. To begin, trim off any large areas of fat and season the lamb with salt and pepper. Dredge with all-purpose flour.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add lamb in a single layer, in two batches if needed to avoid over-crowding the pot. Sear until browned on all sides, about five minutes. Transfer lamb to a plate. Some of the flour will stick to the bottom of the pot and will turn a deep golden colour. Adjust the heat down slightly if needed to avoid burning it—you’ll want to scrape this up to enhance the flavour of the stew in a few steps when you deglaze the pot with wine.

Add a bit more olive oil and add the onions, cooking until golden, about five minutes. Add mushrooms, seasoning with some salt. The mushrooms tend to soak up the oil (as well as the bits of flour that will have stuck to the pot from searing the lamb). If the pan gets too dry add a bit more olive oil. Cook until the mushrooms are well browned, about six minutes.

Next add red wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until the wine is reduced by about half, approximately five minutes.

Add reserved lamb, beef stock, chestnuts, herbs and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, and then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for two hours. I have become addicted to the method of using gelatine as a way to add body to sauces and stews, once I read about the method on Serious Eats. So toward the end of the cooking time, I combine a packet of gelatine with about 1/4 cup cold water, mix to combine, and add to the pot. This gives the sauce a lovely silky quality. Once the meat is tender and cooked through, about two hours, add cranberries, and cook for two minutes more. Serve in bowls, spooned over creamy polenta.

The textures of the soft chestnuts, savoury lamb, mushrooms and creamy polenta come together to create a unique and delicious meal. The cranberries add a lovely tart pop to brighten the dish and add just a touch of sweetness that plays off of the lamb really well. This is a wonderful stew sure to become a classic favourite in your recipe collection.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Lamb-and-Chestnut-Stew.

5 from 1 vote

Lamb Stew with Chestnuts and Cranberries

Course Main Course

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

3 100 g packages of peeled, roasted chesnuts
2 lbs lamb stew meat, in 2" pieces
salt and pepper
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 - 5 tbps olive oil
6 oz red pearl onions
12 oz button mushrooms
1 cup red wine
3 1/2 cups beef broth
5 plum tomatoes, from a can
1 tbps chopped fresh sage
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 pouch/sachet of Gelatine (approx 7 g)
1/4 cup water

Instructions

Trim the lamb of any large areas of fat, and season with salt and pepper. Dredge with flour, shaking off the excess. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add lamb in a single layer, in multiple batches if needed to avoid over-crowding the pot. Sear until brown on all sides, about five minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add additional olive oil to the pot, and add the onions, cooking until they are golden, about five minutes. Add mushrooms, season with salt to taste, and cook until well browned, about five minutes.
Add red wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until the wine is reduced by about half, approximately five minutes. Add reserved lamb, beef stock, chestnuts, herbs and tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for two hours. Combine gelatine with 1/4 cold water and stir to combine. Add mixture to the pot and cook until the body is silkier and slightly thicker, about 5–10 minutes. Add cranberries and cook for two minutes. Serve over a bowl of creamy polenta.

Sock-it-to-me Sauerkraut Goulash with Bread Dumplings

February 4, 2018 By Caroline 8 Comments

Spicy, fermented goodness with simple, old-country heritage, this dish dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its actual name is Szégediner Gulasch, but growing up no one could pronounce the name properly, so it came to be known as “Sock-it-to-me Goulash.” This recipe was passed down to me from Grandma and it remains a family favourite. The stick-to-your-ribs stew is served over homemade German-style bread dumplings, also known as Semmelknoedel. A great dish to make ahead, it just gets better every time you heat it up!

Pork shoulder is best for this dish as it will be the most tender, however I can’t always get it at the grocery store. Pork loin roast is a good substitute, even though it is lean the sauerkraut is tenderizing and it still tastes great.

Let me share a tip it took me so many years to learn the hard way: DO NOT overcrowd the pot when you brown meat! If you do, you will find the meat steaming in its own liquid instead of turning crisp and golden brown. There are a few factors at play that cause this: first, all meat has some water content. If the pot is too crowded, all of the water releases and doesn’t come into contact with the hot surface of your pot, so it will remain and build until your meat is swimming in liquid for more of a steam/braise than a browning. The second issue I believe at play is that the temperature of the pot is more difficult to maintain at the high heat needed for a good sear when overcrowded, further compromising your ability to achieve a proper sear on just the outer edges of the meat. If you allow generous spaces between the pieces as shown below, you will achieve a lovely golden brown on the meat, and also build up a nice crust on the bottom of the pan that will deglaze when you add the onions, forming the base of a flavourful sauce. It’s totally worth the effort of splitting into batches to achieve the correct level of browning.

A word on using lard. No one seems to speak of using it and I rarely see any recipes calling for this type of fat. Most people avoid cooking with it like the plague, thinking it to be extremely unhealthy. However, according to this article by the Huffington Post, it has “less saturated fat than butter, it’s higher in monounsaturated fats which are said to lower LDL cholesterol; and it has none of the trans fat that shortening does”. But really, the real reason I use lard is because Grandma told me under no circumstances to ever even think of substituting it with anything else. She knew instinctively that it can handle high heat without smoking, and using true rendered fat allows the onions to caramelize in a way they could not with olive oil. It gives just the right silky body to the final dish without imparting any unwanted flavours.

Paprika is an essential ingredient in Hungarian kitchens. Not to be confused with Spanish Paprika which has a totally different flavour, you must use true Szeged Hungarian-style Paprika for this recipe. If I were to describe the difference, I would say Hungarian Paprika is smokey, deep and almost more chili-like, while Spanish Paprika I have had is more sweet with essence of fresh peppers. Once I tried mixing a bit of Spanish Paprika into the Goulash, thinking it would add an additional flavour dimension, but it was completely out of place and didn’t work at all. For this recipe, I like to make it a bit spicy and love to mix half sweet with half hot Hungarian Paprika. It gives the dish a some edge that compliments the sauerkraut for the best possible mash-up. However, you can adjust the mix to as much or as little heat as you like. Just don’t substitute with Spanish-style Paprika, please!

When cooking with Hungarian Paprika, it is always recommended to cook it at medium-high heat in some fat to maximize the flavour, so I recommend adding it to the onions just before returning the meat to the pot, stirring for a minute or so to bring out the spice. Then you can add the meat back in and top it off with water for a long, gentle simmer to tenderize the pork. Finally, the sauerkraut is added near the end and cooked a bit longer to further tenderize the meat. When you use good quality imported sauerkraut there is no need to drain the liquid, I put the whole can, juices and all, into the pot.

While the goulash is cooking, you can make the bread dumplings. These dumplings have always fascinated me—how do regular kaiser buns turn into these awesome morsels, with a firm texture that perfectly compliments the goulash? Keep reading to find out!

To begin, tear up the kaisers and spread onto a baking sheet. Toast in a preheated oven for under 10 minutes until they are just a bit dry and lightly toasted. Transfer them into a large bowl where you’ll mix in egg and milk and allow it to absorb (think: french toast-ish). But don’t wait too long, you need to add the flour (along with any seasonings) before the liquid fully absorbs and then mash up the whole thing until you get a sticky, dough-like consistency (see lower right pic).

Then you just shape them into balls, before dropping them into simmering water to boil until they are cooked through, firm but fluffy. After having these, I just can’t go back to potatoes with this goulash, only bread dumplings will do!

Kimchi might be the cool, trendy cabbage the kids are into these days, but trust me, Grandma always knew best. This goulash is savoury, spicy, fermented goodness with simple, old-country heritage that truly satisfies.

5 from 2 votes

Sock-it-to-me Sauerkraut Goulash

Grandma's hearty and spicy recipe for pork goulash with sauerkraut, served with bread dumplings.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Austrian, German, Hungarian

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

Goulash

2 medium onions, chopped
1 796 ml can imported mild wine German sauerkraut
1/4 cup Tenderflake or other brand of lard
2 1/2 lbs pork stew meat, cubed
1 tbsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 tbsp hot Hungarian Paprika
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp flour

Bread Dumplings

3 large kaiser rolls, torn into pieces
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups flour

Instructions

Goulash

In a large dutch oven or heavy pot, melt lard on high heat. Add 1/3 - 1/2 of the meat, ensuring the pot is not overcrowded and there are spaces between the meat pieces to ensure effective browning. Brown meat evenly on all sides until deep golden brown in places, about 5 minutes. Transfer meat to a bowl to rest and continue with the rest of the pork until all of the meat has been well-browned and transferred into the bowl. Add onions to the pot, reduce heat to medium-high and cook until light golden, stirring to avoid burning. Scrape up the bottom of the pot to release any browned bits of meat as you stir the onions. Add Paprika and Cayenne and stir into the onions; cook about 1 minute to bring out the flavours in the spices.
Add water to cover meat. Bring to a boil and add salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the meat is tender, about 45 minutes. Add sauerkraut and cook an additional 30 minutes.
In a small bowl combine about 1/2 cup water with cornstarch and flour and stir well to dissolve. Add to pot and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve with bread dumplings.

Bread dumplings

Preheat oven to 325°. Spread torn Kaiser roll pieces out on a baking sheet. Add to preheated oven and toast for 7 minutes, until bread is just lightly toasted. Remove from oven and place in a large bowl with salt.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs with milk and add to bread mixture, stirring to allow the bread to soak up the liquid. Sprinkle with the flour and use a fork to shred the mixture into a dough-like consistency. The mixture will be sticky, so keep some extra flour aside that you can dip your hands into, to reduce the dough sticking to your hands. Form dough into 1.5" balls and place on a plate. Bring a large pot of water to a gentle simmer. When all of the balls are ready add them to the water to a maximum of a single layer at the bottom of the pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes—the balls will rise up to the top when they are cooked through. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and reserve until ready to serve with the goulash.

Wine-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Parsnip Potato Mash

January 7, 2018 By Caroline 7 Comments

Melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bone, rich and delicious, these short ribs will warm the coldest winter night. Braised with Cabernet Franc and parsnips, the gravy develops a rich flavour with a subtle peppery depth. Even better the next day, this is a perfect make-ahead meal elegant enough to serve at a dinner party, yet equally suited to a casual family dinner.

To begin, the short-ribs need to be cut parallel to the bone, also known as “English style”, so that there is one bone per piece. Avoid flanken “Korean style” cut ribs for this recipe, as the meat is cut much thinner and wouldn’t work as well with the long braising time. Below are the ribs straight from the butcher, I had them cut the ribs which were originally closer to 5″ long in half, into more manageable 2.5″ pieces as shown below. All together I had about 6 lbs of meaty ribs—this is pretty much the max amount my generous dutch oven would hold.

You can see from the photo below that the meat is well-marbled with fat. The braising process slowly and gently cooks this fat so that it renders down leaving silky soft meat that falls right off the bone. I highly recommend making this a day in advance so that you can easily remove all the fat from the gravy—when you chill the broth in the fridge all the fat floats to the top and hardens so that you can just lift it out in a large piece. The remaining broth will be wonderfully enhanced by natural collagens from the bones giving your gravy natural body and thickness.

To build the flavour profile of your braise, it is critical to get a good sear on the ribs. I had to do mine in two batches to avoid overcrowding. Go with high heat and make sure they sizzle when they hit the pot. You want a deep brown colour on the seared areas, and also look for some browned bits of meat to begin to stick to the bottom of the pot—you’ll scrape up all those bits later and they form the flavour base for your broth.

Once all the ribs are well-browned, remove them to a bowl and set aside. Add the onions to the pot and cook until they start to turn golden, about 5–6 minutes. Add the parsnips for another 5–6 minutes, then add garlic and rosemary and cook some more.

Once all the vegetables are golden, it’s time to add red wine and broth. A word on the type of wine: I find Cabernet Franc works really well for this dish. Generally this grape varietal is grown specifically to be blended with other grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. However, it has become popular in areas like Canada’s Niagara region as a varietal to enjoy on its own. It ripens a bit earlier than Cab Sauvignon so tends to fair better in the Canadian climate. I find Cab Francs tend to have a peppery quality with notes of tobacco and cassis that I really enjoy, while it goes lighter on the tannins. These qualities make it perfect to braise the short ribs and delivers a beautiful gravy when paired with the parsnip, rosemary, onion and garlic.

The pot of ribs with wine and broth is placed into a preheated 325° oven where it gently braises for 2.5 hours. Once ready, the meat will have have shrunk considerably (as much of the fat will have melted away into the broth), and if you take a fork to it, the meat will be very soft and fall away in shreds. Often some bones will come loose while it cooks; you’ll find them floating freely in the broth. Once the meat is cooked, I find it is best to remove the ribs, setting them aside in a sealable container, and then transfer the cooled broth into another container to be chilled in the fridge overnight. This way you can easily remove the fat which will harden into a single piece on top of the broth. If you can’t bring yourself to wait and want to eat these immediately (which would be totally understandable!) allow the broth to sit without stirring for 5–10 minutes; you’ll notice the fat will sit on top of the broth (but being clear it is a bit hard to discern from the actual broth). I once skimmed almost two full cups of fat, and I was doubting myself, wondering if I was being over zealous and skimming broth rather than fat. I decided to freeze it to check, and sure enough, it was all solid hardened fat!

Whether you patiently wait overnight or skim off the fat while warm from the oven, the next step is to bring the broth to a simmer and add flour mixed with butter to thicken it into a light gravy, just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Then the meat is added back into the sauce to be warmed up, ready for serving. Pureeing the parsnips further thickens the sauce.

The short ribs are great served on your favourite mashed potato recipe, or to change things up you can make the parsnip-potato mash to compliment the sauce. Recipe for the parsnip mash is below.

Elegant wine-braised short ribs piled high on fluffy potato parsnip mash

5 from 1 vote

Wine-braised beef short ribs

Melt-in-your-mouth short ribs are delicious and simple to make. Best made the day before to allow for the easiest removal of excess fat from the broth.

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Servings 8

Ingredients

Beef short ribs

2 tbsp butter, divided
6 lbs 2.5–3" meaty beef short ribs (about 8) "British cut"
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 large red onion, chopped
1 1/4 cups parsnips, cut into 1/2" pieces
6 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
750 ml Cabernet Franc (1 bottle)
568 ml beef broth (2 regular size cans)
1 tbsp flour

Parsnip Rosemary Potato Mash

3 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 lb parsnips, cut into 3/4" pieces
3/4 cup milk
3/4 stick butter (6 tbsp)
salt
pepper

Instructions

Short ribs

Trim large fat from edges of ribs and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Melt better in an oven-safe dutch oven pot over medium high heat. Add ribs to pot and brown well on all sides (add ribs in at least two batches to ensure proper browning). Remove browned ribs to a large bowl and set aside.
Add onions to pot and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Add parsnips and cook until golden, another 5 minutes or so. Add garlic and rosemary, cook until garlic has softened slightly.
Add the bottle of red wine and the beef broth. Bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return ribs to the pot, cover, and place into a preheated 325° oven. Braise in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.
Remove pot from oven, and transfer the ribs to a bowl. Check for any loose bones that may have come loose and are drifting in the broth, and remove. Using a slotted spoon, remove most of the parsnip pieces and reserve in a bowl. Ideally place the broth, parsnip pieces and meat in separate containers and refrigerate until the next day.
When ready to serve, remove the layer of fat from the broth and discard. Take about 1/4 cup of the broth and add to a small blender with the parsnip pieces, blend until smooth. Add parsnip puree into the broth, and bring the broth to a simmer. Mix 1 tablespoon of butter with the flour and blend into a paste. Add to the simmering pot to thicken the broth into a light gravy. Return meaty ribs to the pot and simmer over low heat until they are warmed through. Plate and serve with mashed potatoes.

Parsnip Rosemary Potato Mash

Fill a large pot with water and add parsnips, potatoes and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 15–20 minutes, until the potatoes and parsnips are very soft. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, microwave milk and butter until the butter has melted and the milk is warm. Add to the cooked, drained potatoes and mash. Test for flavour and add salt if needed. Serve with short ribs and gravy.

This recipe was based on Zinfandel-Braised Short Ribs over at Epicurious.