Viennese Beef Goulash (Saftgulasch) Recipe

Goulash is a type of phrases within the culinary lexicon that has come to imply comparatively little by itself. You possibly can usually assume it’s a stew or a braise, that it entails meat, and that paprika might be on the ingredient checklist. Past that, it is anybody’s guess. That is not a shortcoming; it is only a reflection of what can occur to a meals over time because it spreads past its native land and is customized in new locations and by new folks. Whereas goulash originated in Hungary, this explicit preparation is commonest of Vienna, a metropolis with deep ties to Hungary, which was as soon as the seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Typically known as saftgulasch (“saucy goulash” in Austria), this model is constructed on a base of copious onions (roughly equal in weight to the meat), with a restrained set of flavorings, mainly paprika and typically caraway and marjoram. The stew has a beneficiant sauce—therefore the “juicy” identify—that is thickened by the onions as they cook dinner and finally break down. In contrast to many different frequent types of goulash, this one tends to not have many fragrant greens apart from the onions and a few garlic—no peppers past the bottom paprika, no celery, no carrot. It is not a stew that pops with an array of flavors and textures. It is quiet and contemplative, a low, sustained heat. If a snowy expanse is chilly however quiet, saftgulasch is the velvet mantle you throw over your self to really feel comfortable within the silence.

My recipe under is impressed by a model I ate just lately at Gulasch & Söhne in Vienna, a restaurant that specializes, as its identify suggests, in goulash. It depends on a number of core strategies that make preparation simpler and extra environment friendly whereas making certain the meat is as juicy and tender as potential.

Select the Proper Minimize

Stews are all about long-simmered meats that infuse taste into the encompassing broth. The problem shouldn’t be ending up with dry, chalky bits by the point it is able to serve. The answer comes all the way down to selecting the best lower of meat, and ensuring you do not overcook it—as a result of sure, even items of stewed meat that are supposed to be well-done can overcook if left within the simmering pot too lengthy.

The most effective cuts for a stew like this come from the cow’s harder-working muscular tissues, that are robust and difficult. These cuts are chewy when briefly cooked due to their excessive focus of collagen-rich connective tissue. As they cook dinner, nonetheless, that collagen melts into lip-sticking gelatin, yielding meat that’s supremely tender and a broth with added physique and richness.

What are these cuts? Beef chuck is the go-to for a stew like this, providing glorious taste, texture, and, often, a comparatively inexpensive price ticket. Boneless brief ribs are additionally nice, although usually fairly a bit dearer. You possibly can learn extra in my article on the finest cuts of beef for stew in case you need to think about your choices, however for this recipe, chuck is what I am calling for.

When braising the meat, the secret’s a really light simmer, solely lengthy sufficient for it to achieve fork-tender, which often takes about two hours. Prepare dinner it past that, and it’ll dry out and shred. “Falling-apart” might seem to equate with tenderness, however it’s usually an indication you’ve got gone too far.

Beef: Brown Strategically for Most Taste and Tenderness

There is a trade-off when constructing a stew between the flavour enhancements gained from browning the meat and the textural harm it causes. While you sear meat, its exterior darkens and crisps because the Maillard response builds more and more complicated flavors and aromas—roasty, meaty, fire-kissed. However the situations that drive that response do not happen simply within the presence of water, which is why the formation of a crispy crust is a part of the browning course of: First, you drive off water by way of intense warmth, clearing the trail for browning reactions.

Whereas a crisp, roasted crust is greater than welcome on a steak, it could actually produce stews wherein every bit of meat leans a bit of extra towards being robust and dry than it will have been if browning have been skipped fully. On this stew, we would like these flavors of browning. The answer is straightforward: Brown solely a portion of the meat. On this recipe, half the meat goes into the pot to sear, the opposite half by no means does. This develops the roasted flavors that make the stew extra complicated whereas leaving loads of absolutely tender, juicy beef cubes within the completed stew.

Onions: Manipulate pH for Browning and Melting Pace

The onions on this stew are arguably simply as necessary as the meat itself. They not solely present the flavour base but additionally play a key position within the stew’s texture, serving as the first thickener moderately than a starch like flour. To perform this, they must be sautéed till browned and really tender—tender sufficient to soften into the stew liquid and thicken it. Many recipes even name for a blender to assist incorporate them. However all of this takes time and/or additional gear and washing up. None of that’s vital if you recognize one thing critically necessary about how pH can have an effect on cooking: Meals brown sooner, and greens break down extra quickly in an alkaline atmosphere. That is only a technical manner of claiming that it’s best to add a tiny little bit of baking soda to the onions.

Onions cooked with baking soda have at instances been touted as a worthy shortcut to deeply caramelized onions. I’ve been clear in my prior recipe writing that I don’t agree with this. What you acquire in velocity, you lose in consequence: Baking soda–spiked caramelized onions flip right into a puddle of off-tasting mush that’s by no means akin to onions caramelized correctly over a for much longer time frame. However that does not imply the trick has no advantage; it simply will depend on the context. And this is the proper context.

On this stew, we would like the onions to interrupt down in order that they thicken the sauce moderately than simply float in it. We additionally need them to brown effectively, bringing out their candy taste. And whereas I do not love the flavour of alkaline “caramelized” onions on their very own, I’ve no downside with them as the bottom of a wealthy and flavorful stew—it is a element you could detect when tasting the onions alone, however not when consuming the completed stew.

The baking soda does a lot for us right here, dashing the browning reactions we would like whereas melting the onions so we do not have to cook dinner them eternally or haul out a blender to complete the job.

On Spices and Flavorings

Saftgulasch, as I described, is wealthy and flavorful from the meat and onions, however not loaded with many different robust flavorings. The paprika is, after all, key, however the typical selection right here is Hungarian candy paprika, offering an earthy heat with none warmth. You possibly can, and a few do, work in a smaller quantity of sizzling paprika, however the objective of this stew is not to hit you with robust, assertive flavors. It is gentler than that and really grounded in these deep bass notes of browned beef, candy onions, and gentle dried peppers.

On high of that, cooks usually add a reserved number of different spices. Marjaram is one, and floor caraway is one other (I even noticed a recipe throughout my analysis wherein a caraway-flecked rye bread was melted into the broth). I am calling for each right here, although I will notice that for the marjoram I opted for dried. I really like the flavour of contemporary marjoram, which I might describe as oregano-like however extra delicate and fewer deeply woodsy. However I fear that on this stew, contemporary marjoram might simply overpower the opposite flavors. The dried sort is milder, however it nonetheless delivers taste, as marjoram is in that household of heartier herbs that retain an excellent quantity of taste even when dehydrated (not like, say, dried parsley or basil).

I add the entire spices to the onions, shortly after working in a small quantity of tomato paste, permitting all of them to fry briefly within the fats to develop and infuse their flavors earlier than including the meat and broth into the pot.

Serving

As soon as completed, this stew would not want a lot. A tiny splash of cider vinegar provides only a contact of brightness to steadiness the stew’s main deep and comforting flavors. Alongside the goulash, you’ll be able to serve some hearty brown bread, or boiled potatoes, or buttered egg noodles. Austrian dumplings (knödel) are equally applicable right here, and really filling.

Largely, although, I like to recommend maintaining issues easy. Do an excessive amount of and you may solely overshadow the quietly considerate message this goulash needs to ship.