Hungarian Goulash and American Goulash are completely different, the only similarity they share is the rich tomato infused sauce.  Hungarian Goulash is basically a simple beef stew characterized by the sweet paprika, caraway seed flavor profile which is sweeter and brighter than traditional stew you are used to. American Goulash, on the other hand, is an elbow macaroni loaded with ground beef and cheddar cheese with a tomato-based sauce, more like Hamburger Helper.