Goulash

Goulash (Hungarian: gulyás) is a soup made of meat and vegetables seasoned with paprika and other spices. 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 origins may be traced back as far as the 10th century to stews eaten by Hungarian shepherds. At that time, the cooked and flavoured meat was dried with the help of the sun and packed into bags produced from sheep's stomachs, needing only water to make it into a meal. Earlier versions of goulash did not include paprika, as it was not introduced to Europe until the 16th century.
The name originates from the Hungarian gulyás [ˈɡujaːʃ] . The word gulya means 'herd of cattle' in Hungarian, and gulyás means 'cattle herder' or 'cowboy'. Over time the dish became gulyáshús ('goulash meat') – a meat dish which was prepared by herdsmen. In medieval times, the Hungarian herdsman of Central Europe made use of every possible part of the animal, as was common practice. As meat was scarce, nearly all of the animal was often used to make the soup.
Today, gulyás refers both to the herdsmen, and to the soup or stew. From the Middle Ages until well into the 19th century, the Puszta was the home of enormous herds of cattle. They were driven, in their tens of thousands, to Europe's biggest cattle markets in Moravia, Vienna, Nuremberg and Venice. The herdsmen made sure that there were always some cattle that had to be slaughtered along the way, the flesh of which provided them with gulyáshús.
In Hungarian cuisine, traditional gulyás, pörkölt, and paprikás are dishes which evolved from the food of the cattle herders of the Hungarian plains.
In present-day Hungary, gulyás is known as a soup. It is also called gulyásleves, which translates to gulyás soup, although gulyás is understood commonly as a soup without specifying. While it may have more solid parts than broth and some versions may be called by English speakers a stew, the Hungarian language makes a strict distinction between stews and gulyás. The dish called gulyás is quite conservative with very little variations through the country. The basic ingredients include beef, onions, paprika, caraway seeds, potatoes, carrots and fresh noodles added directly to the soup (csipetke). Altered versions got their own name, like babgulyás which has beans or hamisgulyás which is meatless. Bográcsgulyás means a gulyás prepared traditionally in a kettle, called bogrács, outdoors, over open fire. It can be prepared anywhere because it needs only the bogrács, an iron tripod, a chain and a campfire. Every type of gulyás is a strictly one pot dish and considered a main course, even if it is a more soupy version.
Except for paprikás, Hungarian stews do not rely on flour or roux for thickening. Original Hungarian recipes rarely use tomatoes and only in small quantities, the deep red colors come all from the authentic Hungarian paprika spice.
Modern gulyás is made from beef, while the original herdsmen had more access to mutton. Typical cuts include the shank, shin, or shoulder; in Hungary beef from older cattle is more common, which makes tastier broth but takes a longer time to cook. Meat is cut into chunks, seasoned with salt, and then browned with sliced onion in a pot with oil or lard. Paprika is added, along with water. After the gulyás is left to simmer. After cooking a while, whole or ground caraway seed, and soup vegetables like potato, carrot, parsley root are added. However, paprika and potatoes are post-16th century additions, while gulyás traces its origin back to the Hungarians nomadic past. At the end small egg noodles called csipetke can be added. The name Csipetke comes from pinching small, fingernail-sized bits out of fresh dough (csipet being Hungarian for 'pinch') before adding them to the boiling soup. Stew-like versions of gulyás are made the same way with letting the broth simmering down.
Restaurants use altered recipes, where the extreme long cooking time is replaced with broth, and the csipetke noodles is substituted by nokedli.
International Goulash is a dish closer to the Hungarian dish Pörkölt, a stew which evolved from the original gulyás. After the former herdsmen's dish became popular through the whole Hungarian society variations arose which were not following anymore the techniques used for outdoor cooking. Nokedli - which is a Hungarian version of the traditional German noodle Spaetzle - became a side dish for stews. Nokedli is made by grating liquid dough into boiling water.
Hungarian goulash variations include:
A thicker and richer goulash, similar to a stew, originally made with three kinds of meat, is called Székely gulyás, named after the Hungarian writer, journalist and archivist József Székely (1825–1895).
"Paprikás krumpli" is a traditional paprika-based potato stew with diced potatoes, onion, ground paprika, and some bacon or sliced spicy sausage, like the smoked Debrecener, in lieu of beef.
In German-speaking countries, this inexpensive peasant stew is made with sausage and known as Kartoffelgulasch ("potato goulash"). Bell pepper is sometimes added.
Thick stews similar to pörkölt and the original cattlemen stew are popular throughout almost all the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire, from Northeast Italy to the Carpathians. Like pörkölt, these stews are generally served with boiled or mashed potato, polenta, dumplings (e.g. nokedli, or galuska), spätzle or, alternatively, as a stand-alone dish with bread. Romani people have their own version of goulash.
Goulash (Albanian: gullash) is considered a traditional dish among some Northern Albanians.
In Vienna, the former center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a special kind of goulash has developed. The Wiener Saftgulasch or the Fiakergulasch (Fiacre being a horse-drawn cab) on the menu in traditional restaurants is a rich pörkölt-like stew; more onions but no tomatoes or other vegetables are used, and it usually comes just with dark bread. A variation of the Wiener Saftgulasch is the Fiakergulasch, which is served with fried egg, fried sausage, pickles, and dumplings named Semmelknödel.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, goulash (Bosnian: gulaš) is a very popular and traditional dish. Introduced during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it has become a staple with the Bosnian variant consisting of a thicker consistency, with emphasis on slow-cooked onions and meat. It is typically served with bread, mashed potatoes, or polenta, and regional variations may include veal, carrots, or beans.
Goulash (Croatian: gulaš) is also very popular in most parts of Croatia, especially north (Hrvatsko Zagorje) and Lika. In Gorski Kotar and Lika, venison or wild boar frequently replace beef (lovački gulaš). There is also a kind of goulash with porcini mushrooms (gulaš od vrganja). Bacon is an important ingredient.
Gulaš is often served with fuži, njoki, polenta or pasta. It is augmented with vegetables. Green and red bell peppers and carrots are most commonly used. Sometimes one or more other kinds of meat are added, e.g., pork loin, bacon, or mutton.
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, goulash (Czech and Slovak: guláš) is usually made with beef, although pork varieties exist, and served with boiled or steamed bread dumplings (goulash with beef in Czech hovězí guláš s knedlíkem, in Slovak hovädzí guláš s knedľou), in Slovakia more typically with bread. In pubs it is often garnished with slices of fresh onion, and is typically accompanied by beer. Beer can be also added to the stew in the process of cooking. Seasonal varieties of goulash include venison or wild boar goulashes. Another popular variant of guláš is segedínský guláš (Székelygulyás), with sauerkraut.
In Czech and Slovak slang, the word guláš means "mishmash", typically used as mít v tom guláš: to be disoriented or to lack understanding of something.
Fish goulash (Amharic: አሣ ጉላሽ; asa gulaš) is a popular dish in Ethiopia, particularly during the numerous fasting seasons as required by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is usually prepared with a spicy sauce having a tomato and onion base and served with injera or rice.
German Gulasch is either a beef (Rindergulasch), pork (Schweinegulasch), venison (Hirschgulasch), or wild boar (Wildschweingulasch) stew that may include red wine and is usually served with potatoes (in the north), white rice or spirelli noodles (mostly in canteens), and dumplings (in the south). Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup) is the same concept served as a soup, usually with pieces of white bread.
Goulash in Italy is eaten in the autonomous regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, that once had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is eaten as a regular Sunday dish. It can also, although less typically so, be found in the nearby Veneto. An interesting regional recipe comes from the Pustertal (Val Pusteria, Puster Valley) in South Tyrol. It is made of beef and red wine, and seasoned with rosemary, red paprika, bay leaf, marjoram and lemon zest, served with crusty white bread or polenta. Goulash is also quite popular in the city of Ancona, which is culturally quite near to eastern Europe.
In the Netherlands, goulash is usually prepared with beef. It is typically consumed as a stew, and is thus closer to pörkölt.
In Poland, goulash (Polish: gulasz) is eaten in most parts of the country. A variant dish exists that is similar to Hungarian pörkölt. It came to being around the 9th century. It is usually served with mashed potatoes or various forms of noodles and dumplings, such as pyzy.
In Serbia, goulash (Serbian: гулаш) is eaten in most parts of the country, especially in Vojvodina, where it was probably introduced by the province's Hungarian population. It is a pörkölt-like stew, usually made with beef, veal or pork, but also with game meat like venison and boar. Compulsory ingredients are meat and onions, usually in 50-50% ratio, paprika, and lard or oil, other ingredients being optional: garlic, parsley, chili pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, red wine, mushrooms, bacon. Sometimes, goulash is sweetened by adding tomato paste, sugar or dark chocolate at the very end. In Serbia, goulash is most often served with macaroni or potato mash.
In Slovene partizanski golaž, "partisan goulash", favoured by Slovenian partisans during the Second World War, is still regularly served at mass public events. "Partisan golaž" uses onion in equal proportion to meat; two or more types of meat are usually used in preparing this dish. The most widespread form of golaž in home cooking is a thick beef stew that is most commonly served with mashed potatoes. As elsewhere in the wider region, Szeged goulash, usually referred to as segedin, is also a popular dish for home preparation.
North American goulash, mentioned in cookbooks since at least 1914, exists in a number of variant recipes. Originally a dish of seasoned beef, core ingredients of American goulash now usually include elbow macaroni, cubed steak or ground beef, and tomatoes in some form, whether canned whole, as tomato sauce, tomato soup, and/or tomato paste. As a descendant, of sorts, of Hungarian goulash, it probably originated as a variation of the Hungarian bográcsgulyás which mixes all the ingredients together in the end. This mixture of ingredients has probably led to many variations where any mixture of meat and paprika is often called goulash. In English, the word “goulash” has an alternative meaning of "a mixture of heterogeneous elements or hodgepodge or jumble".