Hungarian goulash with extra paprika

I grew up just across the border from Hungary, and in general, in Slovenia, Hungarian goulash tends to be a popular not-so-fancy dish. Way back in college, I was expecting friends for a visit, and I told them proudly that I was going to make them goulash. The reaction was polite but but bursting with enthusiasm. Little did they know that I got my hands of a package of venison, and that I was making a special goulash with mushrooms and pieces of bread, no paprika. I still remember the popped eyes when I revealed my humble dish.

Little did I know that with a bit more knowledge and experience one can transform the run-of-the-mill Hungarian goulash into something truly outstanding. I recently made a particularly successful version, failed to take a picture, but it is still worthwhile to record some notes. The picture above shows the chicken drumstick version of goulash. Here are key pieces of insight:

• Use the right kind of meat. Stewing meat works well in the US (get grass-fed if you can), leg of lambs works surprisingly well (but do trim away all that fat), or any tough cut such as beef chuck. I prefer smaller chunks of meat, an inch sized or so.
• Use LOTs of sweet paprika, add smoked paprika, crushed fennel seeds, and some chili flakes to round up the flavor.
• Paprika needs to be gently fried in oil, that transforms the flavor from raw to smooth and deep.
• You need some acidity, and tomato paste does very well in this department.
• A pressure cooker works great, but do not overcook: 20 minutes with natural release seems to be hitting the spot for me.

Ingredients:

• cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped to medium
• 3-5 garlic cloves, minced
• sweet paprika - 3-6 TBS
• smoked paprika - 2-4 TBS
• crushed fennel seeds - 1/2 TBS
• meat - I tend to use one or two 1lb packages of stewing beef we get shipped from Richards Grassfed Beef, or the same amount of leg of lamb
• tomato paste - a small 6oz (170g) can
• water or dashi
• salt, peper, and/or miso to taste
• 1 tsp potato starch (cornstarch is OK) mixed with 1-2 TBS water

Method:

Note: I prefer sauteing in a pan, and using Instant pot just for pressure cooking, I feel I get more control that way. There is no need to share my preferences.

1. In a large pan, e.g. a wok, saute onions with some cooking oil until they soften. Adding a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper speeds up the process and adds a layer of flavor.
2. When the onion is soft, add the spices. Add a bit more oil of the mixture dries out completely. Fry the spices for a minute on a medium heat.
3. Add garlic, saute for 30 seconds.
4. Add the meat that you have already seasoned with salt and pepper. Sautee the meat for a few minutes and stir it around to get it well coated with the spices.
5. Add water or dashi to cover the meat, and the tomato paste and deglaze the pan, mix well to break up the tomato paste.
6. Transfer everything into your pressure cooker.
7. In my 6qt instant pot, I cook goulash for 20 minutes, with natural release.
8. When the pressure has dropped, open the pressure cooker, and add the potato/corn starch mixture. The liquid should be hot enough for the starch to cook. If not, use the saute on medium heat function to thicken the sauce.

Modern take on Slovenian refried potatoes AKA renstan krompir

 "Renstan (or tenstan) krompir" translates as roasted potatoes or better as pot-fried potatoes. I prefer refried potatoes in an homage to refried beans as the basics of the preparation are similar. Just that we go easy on spices - salt and pepper only - and we don't really mash the potatoes. We could play in both areas, but not in this post.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes: 1 medium per person. In Slovenia we would use at least 3 potatoes per person. I prefer Yukon/yellow style waxy potatoes.
• This dish can work very well with russet potatoes, but those need to be steamed whole.
• Onion: 1 per person, or more.
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and optionally pepper

Method:

1. In parallel steam the potatoes and fry the onions so that they are well on their way to caramelization:
2. I start with the onions:
1. Slice onions thinly, or chop them to a small to medium dice. 
2. Add a few TBS of olive oil to your cooking vessel. I prefer my ceramic wok or a carbon steel pal, but really any decent pan will do
3. Heat the oil on medium heat, add the onions and season with a good pinch of salt
4. Stir periodically as the onion soften and start changing the color. Reduce the heat if the onions are burning. Add more oil if the onions are drying out.
3. Prepare potatoes while the onions are cooking:
1. Add a cup of water to the pressure cooker, eg. Instant Pot
2. If you use waxed potatoes
1. Peel and cut potatoes to 1/4 inch cubes, or more traditionally into 1/4 inch slices.
2. Put potatoes into a steaming basket
3. Steam the potatoes under high pressure for 4 minutes. 
4. Use quick pressure release for the potatoes
5. Uncover the pot and take the steaming basket from the Instant Pot
3. If you use russet potatoes:
1. Wash the potatoes and add them, whole, to the steaming basket
2. Steam the potatoes under high pressure for 10 minutes. 
3. Let the pressure drop naturally, or for at least 10 minutes
4. Take the potatoes out of the steaming basket and let them cool sufficiently so that you can handle them by hand easily
5. Peel the potatoes - the skin should mostly just come off - and cut them into 1/4 inch slices
4. When onions are soft and brown, add the potatoes cooked, add the potatoes to the onions.
5. Season with salt to taste, and optionally a little pepper - note that potatoes steamed without salt.
6. On a medium heat, keep frying and folding the potato-onion mixture. 
7. Be patient, after a while the potatoes will start browning and the mixture will start resembling a nicely made potato pancake. 
8. Stop cooking before the mixture starts to burn. You can get the potatoes reasonably crispy and onions even more caramelized, but there is no need to push this too far and burn the dish.

Notes:

As with every traditional recipe there are variations, and everyone knows best what is truly traditional. In this case, variations seem rather limited - one either uses pork fat/cracklings or onions, or both. Our household was of the onion variety, and Jasna's was into cracklings.

In the modern days when common feeding methods reduced omega-3 in pork we tend to avoid pork fat despite the undeniable fact that pork fat rules and that it is tasty. Hence we switched to extra virgin olive oil, which gives the good old refried potatoes a nice flavor kick, while also likely being the healthiest oil to cook with. 

The second variation is how we cook potatoes. Our moms would cook the potato whole, then peel it, and then fry it. Since we discovered the deliciousness of potatoes steamed under pressure in Instant pot, that has been our go-to potato-cooking method.

The cooking vessel for onions and potatoes matters, though one can use pretty much anything if there are no other distractions. That is, the potato-onion mixture takes a while to cook. If I want to use less fat, I resort to my ceramic non-stick wok. With some more fat, a carbon steel or a cast iron pan works well, as well as a stainless steel pan. I tend to go with the wok because it gives me additional safety, and yes I can caramelize onions in that wok very nicely.