Life-Hacks: Goulash
Admittedly I’m not an early bird. Actually, I’m always on the late side. Secretly I don’t place the blame on me, but on time itself. Time and me, we’re just not compatible. Just like Hamburg and sunshine. Charity and the AFD. Karl Lagerfeld and Cindy aus Marzahn’s sweat pants. Putting an elaborate, precise, nerve-wracking dish on the table is my personal utopia.
Maybe the Hungarians were just as modest when they delivered Pörkölt into the international cookbooks – an ancient dish known and loved by the rest of the world under the name of Goulash.
When you cook Goulash, you’re cooking time itself.
There’s so much you can take care of while the stew cheerfully bubbles away Disposing your recycling, filing your tax return, watching funny cat videos on YouTube. A recipe like an old friend – trustworthy, uncomplicated, and forgiving when you come a bit too late to stir. Fiery, hearty and scrumptiously tender. If only the day had more than 24 hours, you could wallow in pleasure for even longer.
Directions:
Remove tendons and fat from beef and cut into chunks. Sear beef and fatback in a pot with oil and remove from pot. Rinse and peel vegetables, slice into 2 cm large cubes and sweat in the pot. Add the meat and the tomato paste, allow to briefly sweat, and douse with red wine. Now let the wine reduce to half. Top up with beef stock. Bundle a faggot out of bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary and add to stew. Now cook for 2 hours at low heat. Remove the bundled herbs as soon as the meat is too tender to be skewed by a fork. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste (if needed, add water with mixed in starch to bind) and serve.
Serve with potato dumplings.
Goulash
(4 Portionen)
50 g fatback bacon
1.5 kg beef shoulder
70 g onion
2 garlic cloves
150 g carrots
1 stalk leek
150 g celery
2 tbsp tomato paste
200 ml red wine
750 ml beef stock
4 tbsp oil
1 bay leaf
1 twig thyme
1 twig rosemary
salt, pepper
Recipe by Christoph Steinhauser
