Slow Cooker Hungarian Beef Goulash - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Hungarian goulash and regular goulash? ›

Hungarian Goulash is a thick meat and vegetable stew with a broth that's heavily seasoned with paprika, while American Goulash is a quick dish made from ground beef, tomato sauce, herbs, and elbow macaroni noodles. It also goes by the name of American Chop Suey.

Hungarian goulash is very similar to beef stew, but there are some differences. While a typical stew consists of slow braising chunks of meat with root vegetables in a seasoned broth, goulash uses spices such as caraway, cumin, paprika, and peppers which really enhance and alter the flavor from a classic beef stew.

Serving. Since this beef goulash is more of a soup, it is great with a chunk of rustic bread. It would also be good with egg noodles or even roasted garlic mashed potatoes, though there are already potatoes in the dish.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish or heavy-based saucepan. Sprinkle 700g stewing steak chunks with 30g plain flour and brown well in three batches, adding an extra 1 tbsp oil for each batch. Set the browned meat aside.

Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump. After adding the slurry, bring the stew to boil. This will cook out the flour taste and allow the starch to swell.

The Hungarian word for this delicious dish is gulyáshús, from gulyás, "herdsman," and hús, "meat." Historically, goulash was a stew cooked by shepherds using lamb or beef. The paprika came later, but today it's a vital part of an authentic goulash.

There are two kinds of goulash: Hungarian goulash, which calls for the slow-simmered beef to be served alongside egg noodles, and American goulash, which pulls in ground beef and cooks the noodles in the pot alongside the sauce.

The classic “kettle goulash” is prepared by frying cubes of beef or mutton with onions in lard. Garlic, caraway seeds, tomatoes, green peppers, and potatoes complete the stew. Székely gulyás, another Hungarian specialty, is a stew of pork and sauerkraut flavoured with tomatoes, onions, caraway seeds, and sour cream.

Originating in Hungary, goulash is a common meal predominantly eaten in Central Europe but also in other parts of Europe. It is one of the national dishes of Hungary and a symbol of the country. Its origin may be traced back as far as the 10th century, to stews eaten by Hungarian shepherds.

Beef Goulash is a rich dish that needs an equally rich red wine with high acidity. Traditionally is Beef Goulash served with a red wine from Hungary, its original nation. A general rule is to drink the same wine used to cook.

What do you drink with beef goulash? ›

Rioja pairs well with traditional goulash as it's fruity, earthy, and robust. The paprika in goulash gives it a spicy and savoury punch that needs to be stood up to, and Rioja does just that! Rioja Crianza is usually the best type of Rioja to go for with goulash.

However, some classic and popular sides include roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, and bread. What is the recipe and what exactly is in the dish called goulash? Goulash is originally a Hungarian dish.

Browning Is Better

And if you dredge the meat in flour before you brown it, your sauce will thicken up to make a gravy. You should always brown ground beef or any ground meat in a skillet before adding it to your slow cooker to prevent the meat from clumping up or from adding excess grease to your cooked dish.

Season the Ground Beef

When it comes to seasoning your ground beef, wait until after it has been browned and drained. Adding salt to raw ground beef pulls out moisture, drying the meat out and creating steam while it cooks, which prevents it from browning properly.

As for why it's such a prevalent method at all, the two main reasons people will supply are that it helps create a more flavorful sear on the meat and that it thickens up the sauce or broth of the final product.

The base is a thick beef stew, water, potatoes, some vegetables(carrot, kohlrabi, parsley root, celery root) small dumplings (eggs/flour/water), salt, black pepper, paprika, cumin, bay leaves, fatty bacon or lard.

As for flavour, I describe it as a beef stew with a sauce that reminds me of chorizo flavours thanks to a big hit of paprika and savouriness from a good amount of garlic, capsicum (bell peppers) and onion. It's really, really good. Bolder than typical beef stew!