Austro-Hungarian Sauerkraut Goulash (Szegediner Gulasch) Recipe

Final fall, I took a press journey to Vienna sponsored by the Vienna tourism board. We spent days visiting wineries and close by wine taverns, eating places that ranged from fantastic eating locations to rustic wild sport inns, and town’s UNESCO-recognized sausage stands. I ducked out one evening to ensure I obtained a style of some correct kaiserschmarrn and crammed up on all types of basic confections (skip the sachertorte; it is virtually universally disappointing). The day of my flight residence, although, I spotted I might missed one main class of Viennese meals: goulash.

I wandered town till Gulasch & Soehne, a restaurant proper by my resort, had a seat for me, then I ordered a tasting trio. Out got here three varieties: Vienna’s personal saftgulasch, wealthy with deeply browned onions; fiakergulasch, which is the onion sauce of the saftgulasch topped with a young weiner; and szegediner gulasch, full of pork and sauerkraut. I liked all three, however the szegediner gulasch transported me with its interaction of fatty pork with salty-sour kraut, all of it glossed in a calmly creamy paprika-stained sauce. For those who grew up consuming pork and kraut, as I did, due to my father’s Austro-German roots, this can be a combo that simply speaks to you. For those who did not develop up with that, it would in all probability nonetheless communicate to you.

Szegediner gulasch is taken into account a Viennese and Austrian dish at this time, nevertheless it comes from Hungary, the birthplace of all goulash, the place it is named székelygulyás.

It is a simple recipe to prepare dinner, even when it takes a bit of time for all the things to grow to be tender and the flavors to coalesce. I will rapidly run by way of the important thing technical steps in my model right here:

• Begin with bacon. Not all recipes do, however that smoky be aware simply goes so completely on this stew, and it offers the fats for searing the pork and frying the onions later.
• Sear the pork shoulder in steaks. Searing and browning construct taste, however additionally they dry out the meat’s floor. By searing the pork in steaks, you develop taste whereas defending extra of the meat from the dehydrating warmth. After searing, you narrow it into cubes earlier than stewing. The result’s a flavorful, tender chunk.
• Add the kraut later. The sauerkkraut, if added to the pot initially of stewing, grows too comfortable and mushy by serving time. Higher is to go away it apart till the stew is roughly midway by way of its 1 1/2 to 2-hour cooking time, at which level it would grow to be silky and tender whereas nonetheless retaining some physique.
• Enrich with bitter cream; thicken with flour. The broth for this stew is calmly creamy, due to the addition of bitter cream stirred in on the finish of cooking. However into that bitter cream, we first stir in a bit of flour. Simmered for a couple of minutes, this combination gently thickens the broth much more, guaranteeing the pork and strands of kraut and onion are coated in wealthy juices. You do not have to do the flour should you do not feel prefer it, nevertheless it’s a pleasant of completion.

One other factor I like about this goulash? It is meaty and hearty, however you technically get an excellent dose of greens in each chunk. That counts for one thing, proper?