Guláš

Ingredients

Stew

• 1 kgbeef shin or chuck, in 3 cm cubes
• 500 gonions, finely chopped
• 3 tbsplard
• 2 tbspsweet paprika
• 1 tsphot paprika
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 2 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 1 tspcaraway seed
• 1bay leaf
• 500 mlbeef stock or dark beer
• salt
• black pepper

To finish

• 1 tspdried marjoram
• 1 tbspplain flour, or 1 slice of dark bread, grated

To serve

• houskový knedlík
• raw onion, chopped

Directions

1. Chop the onions very fine and use half the weight of the meat, which sounds like far too much and is not.
2. The onion is the sauce. Czech goulash is not thickened with flour in the way most people assume; it is thickened by onions cooked until they dissolve completely.
3. Melt the lard and cook the onions over a low to medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring, until deep gold and collapsing.
4. Brown the beef separately in a hot pan, in batches, and set it aside.
5. Take the onion pan off the heat before the paprika goes anywhere near it.
6. Paprika burns at frying temperature and turns bitter in about ten seconds. Off the heat, stirred into warm fat, it blooms instead.
7. Stir in both paprikas and the tomato paste, then return the pan to a low heat.
8. Add the beef, garlic, caraway, bay leaf and just enough stock or beer to barely cover.
9. Barely cover it. Goulash is a thick stew rather than a soup, and it should reduce down rather than need rescuing with flour.
10. Cover and simmer very gently for 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, until the beef gives way completely.
11. If it is still thin at the end, stir in the flour slaked in cold water, or a slice of grated dark bread, and simmer 10 minutes more.
12. Crush the caraway between your fingers as it goes in, and add the marjoram only in the last five minutes so that it keeps its scent.
13. Rest the pot off the heat for at least 20 minutes, and ideally make the whole thing the day before.
14. Serve with bread dumplings to soak up the sauce and a small heap of raw chopped onion on top, which is the Czech pub presentation.
15. It came from Hungarian gulyás and was reworked in Bohemia into a thicker stew eaten with dumplings, a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Technique

• Hungarian gulyás is a soup and the Czech version is a thick stew. Confusing the two annoys both nations equally.
• Dark beer in place of stock is entirely normal and entirely Czech.
• Marjoram and caraway are the Bohemian signatures, and leaving them out gives you something generic.

Substitutions

• Any well-marbled braising beef.
• Packet bread dumplings, which every Czech supermarket sells and nobody apologises for.

Variations

• Znojemský guláš, with pickled gherkins stirred through.
• Segedínský guláš, made with pork and sauerkraut.
• With sliced sausage added towards the end.

History

Hungarian gulyás adapted in Bohemia into a thick beef stew served with bread dumplings, a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Frequently asked questions

What is Guláš?

Guláš is a main from Czechia: czech beef goulash with bread dumplings and raw onion. Hungarian gulyás adapted in Bohemia into a thick beef stew served with bread dumplings, a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

How long does Guláš take to make?

Guláš takes 30 min of preparation and 3 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Guláš?

Yes, within limits. Any well-marbled braising beef. Packet bread dumplings, which every Czech supermarket sells and nobody apologises for.

What is the most important thing to get right in Guláš?

Barely cover it. Goulash is a thick stew rather than a soup, and it should reduce down rather than need rescuing with flour.