Hungarian style venison goulash

You probably know by now that I'm on a quest to cook food from at least 52 different countries this year. As well as refreshing knowledge I gained in geography classes when I was young, I'm also rediscovering dishes I have eaten in the past, but never cooked.

I was probably about 12 years old when we went to Maria Alm in Austria on a skiing holiday and had goulash one day at the hotel restaurant. As a child I was an incredibly picky eater, but that bowl of food went down well. Although I have cooked many stews over the years, I have never made a goulash, until now. When I decided to make it, what I was aiming for was the experience of the meal I had in Maria Alm 32 years ago. Yes, that's how old I am now. Now you know.

It was an almost 4 hour process, so be warned. Don't start cooking this in the evening when you are hungry. You are doing to starve to death before it is ready to eat. Pick a day when you have plenty of time on your hands and start early. You can even make it the day before and let the flavours mingle and marry in the fridge over night.

When asking my partner what it was like while eating our dinner, his reply was 'Ok, tastes like stew'. Fair enough, that's what it is. It was nice and the meat was melt in your mouth tender. Considering it how much time I had spent making it, I was a little disappointed that it didn't blow my mind like the one I remember from my Austrian holiday. Perhaps it was the recipe, perhaps it was a case of reality vs childhood memories. Nothing will ever live up to childhood memories, especially not when combined with coming into the cosy warmth of a restaurant after a day on the freezing snowy slopes.

Saying that I was disappointed may not be entirely fair. It was actually a really nice stew and I'd happily make it again. Perhaps I'll compare other recipes next time and tweak this one accordingly. Here is how I made it this time:

approx 1 kg red meat, cubed (I used venison)

salt & pepper

1/4 cup paprika (not smoked or hot)

1 jar of roasted peppers, drained

3 tbsp tomato puree

3 tbsp red wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar and a splash of rose wine)

oil

3-4 cups beef stock

10 mushrooms, roughly chopped

3 large onions, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

thyme

1 tin chopped tomatoes

4 medium potatoes, diced

4 large carrots, sliced

1. In a food processor, blitz peppers and tomato puree with paprika and 2 tbsp vinegar until smooth.

2. Chop onion and garlic.

3. Chop mushrooms.

4. In a large saucepan, soften then onion and mushrooms and add garlic and salt.

5. Add the blitzed pepper paste, thyme and chopped tomatoes and a splash of wine, if you have any and fancy it instead of more vinegar. Cook for a few minutes while stirring, then add the cubed meat. Mix well.

6. Leave to simmer with the lid on for approximately 2 hours, until the meat is getting tender.

7. Chop potatoes and carrots.

8. Add the potatoes and carrots and mix well. 

9. Leave to simmer for another hour, until the potatoes and carrots are cooked and the meat is completely tender.

I often find that potatoes don't cook too well in tomato juice. I had to increase the heat to get them to cook and as I did that too late, it took more than an hour to finish the goulash off. With the increased heat, I had to stir more often to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

The recipe said that you can use corn starch (or another thickening agent) to thicken the stew, but I didn't find that necessary. The potatoes did the job nicely and it came out lovely and creamy anyway.

10. Enjoy a bowl of heart warming goulash. 

We had ours with a sneaky slice of toasted home baked wholemeal bread.