Hungarian Goulash with Poppy Seed Dumplings

Dear Michelle,

New York is at its best right now, but I'd trade cities with you in a second. Who needs a food processor when you have such incredible ingredients! I can't wait to hear about it when you start cooking.

Though today was beautiful, we had a cold spell last week, and I was moved to make goulash. I make it at least once a year now, but happened upon it by accident. Maybe five years ago I was making a birthday dinner for my friend Kate, and asked her if she had any requests. She said that her favorite Winter dinner was goulash, and I agreed to make it, never even having had it before. I came home after work and did the shopping, started the stew right away, drank some of the left over beer and thought, "this does not look very good." My dutch oven was full of onions and peppers, beer, meat, and a full half cup of paprika. It was all very. . . red. It smelled of raw onions and peppers, and seemed to be overwhelmed by the paprika.



We didn't eat that night till very late, and by that time I no longer doubted Kate's choice of birthday dinner. The meat fell apart, the onions and peppers melted, and the rich, spicy, smokiness of the paprika pervaded the stew, bringing it all together. We ate this deep red savory deliciousness over egg noodles tossed with butter and poppy seeds, as per Kate's request. I was won over.



Now every year when Winter descends and the windows close, I wait for the radiators to turn on and start thinking about what needs to cook for a long time in the stove or the oven, and I think of goulash. This year I tried a mix of pork and beef stew meat, and I've decided that beef works best. I did add a smoked trotter (pig's foot or ankle; a ham hock would work too) for some extra flavor and gelatin, to make the stew really glossy. I've made the mistake before of using mostly hot paprika, and I'd advise against it unless you're one of those masochistic people who eats hot sauce by the gallon. I also tried making dumplings instead of noodles, with success.



I think paprika is produced in Spain, as well as Hungary, so you should get some! I bet chorizo would be an amazing addition to this dish.




Hungarian Goulash with Poppy Seed Dumplings, '97 Joy of Cooking, not verbatim

Notes:

A smoked trotter or ham hock tossed in works well. I've tried just beef stew meat and a mix of beef and pork, and I think just beef works best. The last time I made this I only used 2lbs meat and the same amount of vegetables, but for carrots which I increased. I've always used beer instead of wine, and beef instead of chicken stock. GO EASY ON THE HOT PAPRIKA. Seriously. It is really easy to make this too hot. Start with all sweet, then add more for extra heat later if you like. The JOC calls for the caraway to be added with the rest of the herbs/spices, but I think I read somewhere that it becomes bitter if cooked too long, so I add it at the end. The first taste I had of the dumplings I thought they were a bit paste-y, but they quickly became addictive. Egg noodles are also a classic pairing, with poppy seeds and butter. I've never used the sauerkraut, or the sour cream, but I bet both are delicious.

4 oz bacon, smoked ham, or Hungarian paprika sausage, diced
3 lbs beef chuck, or half beef, half pork or veal shoulder
3 c thinly sliced onions
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 c (2 oz) sweet Hungarian paprika, or a mix of sweet and hot
3 bell peppers, diced
1 c diced carrots
1 T dried marjoram
1 t caraway seeds
1 t ground black pepper
3 bay leaves
2c beef or chicken stock
1 c dry white wine or beer
1 lb sauerkraut, drained (optional)
1/4 c tomato puree, or 2T tomato paste
1/2 - 1 c sour cream or creme fraiche (optional)

Make sure everything is chopped, etc.- this makes the process easier. Brown the bacon or whatever in a Dutch oven, then remove to a plate or bowl. Pat stew meat dry, season with salt and pepper, and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess. Brown in batches in bacon fat, making sure not to crowd the pot. Add oil/fat as needed; the flour tends to soak it up. Remove as it browns to a plate.

Add onions to pot, and cook till soft and lightly browned (you could go further towards caramelizing if you like). Add garlic and peppers and saute till just soft. Add tomato paste and cook a few minutes, then stir in carrots and all herbs but caraway. Add liquid, scraping up the burned bits on the bottom. Add sauerkraut if using. Cook on stovetop or in oven at 300F for several hours, until meat is fork-tender. Stir in caraway. Add dumplings (recipe following), or serve over egg noodles tossed with butter and poppy seeds, or rice. If using sour cream, stir in at the last minute.

Poppy Seed Dumplings

2c flour
1T baking powder
3/4 t salt
3T poppy seeds
3t butter
1c milk

Bring milk and butter to a simmer on the stovetop. Meanwhile, mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add simmering liquid to dry ingredients, stirring with a fork or kneading by hand until the mixture comes together. Divide dough into 18 dumplings. Roll each piece into a rough ball. Gently lay dumplings on top of stew and let simmer for 10m.

Venison Stew

Dear Devon,

I apologize for my long silence. And to my downstairs neighbors, I apologize for the resounding bass reverberating through your ceiling. THE PIANO IS HERE!! I haven't done much in the kitchen since its arrival. The move was full of excitement. Picture three unimposing men carrying a 45 inch piano up a narrow staircase. Turns out moving a piano is just like dragging your groceries upstairs - step by step - only a lot slower.

Though my bedroom is chaos, my kitchen is almost perfect (minus the Viking range and dishwasher). Sigh, a girl can dream. The kitchen is equipped with the most anxious smoke detector. Let’s call it the Woody Allen of smoke detectors. Preheating the oven causes general panic; a robust voice booms "fire fire" in 15 second intervals. There is no exhaust fan. I've resorted to propping the front door open with my shoe. I can't stand the heavy smell of oil that lingers in the air after cooking. It soaks into fabrics and into your hair. Febreeze might be the only solution.

Into this kitchen, enters a nice piece of venison. My experience with venison is limited. I've only eaten it three or four times. It's a rarity where I grew up, but I'm starting to hear a lot more about it. The shoulder came frozen and dated courtesy of a friend, who suggested that I prepare it in a stew. I was shocked by how lean the meat was. There were no traces or suggestions of fat. As for the color, it was a shocking dark red. I had never seen meat this shade of dark violet red, almost purple.

I read through a bunch of cookbooks, but no one really had a venison specific recipe. Because I wasn't sure what to expect, I conflated two recipes for beef stew from the Joy of Cooking and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. You know the one that tells you to marinate the meat in a bottle of red wine for eight hours? That's what I chose. I had this bottle of red wine, a Malbec from Argentina, that I received as a present this Christmas. I'm not in the habit of buying wine to bathe meat, so it seemed natural to use this bottle. Because the meat was so lean, I added sausage and bacon for tasty and needed fat. I perfumed the stew with lots of wonderful flavors like garlic, bay leaf, and onions. Black eyed peas and a bag of frozen green peas tossed in the last half hour of cooking added to this flavorful and rich stew.

In total, it takes three days to prepare. I marinate the meat along with carrots and garlic in red wine for 24 hours. The meat emerges almost black and completely wine soaked. The next evening, after finishing my dinner, I begin the cooking process. The stew simmers on the stove for 2 hours. Originally, I wanted to use the oven, but given my problems with the smoke detector, I used the stove top. The upside to the oven is the stew will basically cook itself. The stovetop requires some babysitting. When the meat is fork tender, I turned off the flame and let it cool. I want the stew to rest and to encourage all those wonderful flavors to marry and get richer. Thirty minutes before serving, I reheat the stew on the oven and add the frozen peas and the beans. I serve it on top of starchy egg noodles in wide bowls. I leave a big bowl of chopped parsley on the side for garnish.

The stew is warm, rich, and wonderfully flavorful. The bold wine is perfect for the meat, giving it a nice dark flavor, but without that overwhelming winey taste. The bacon completely melts, marking its presence through the smoky and salty undertones of the stew. Using spicy sausage gives the stew more body and makes a nice contrast to the fork tender venison. I love the addition of the peas. Cooked so they just retain their perky sweetness, each bite is like a bright spark of flavor. I'm in love the stewed carrots. They taste amazing, almost better than the venison. Sweet, soft and succulent, the carrots maintain their shape and absorb all the rich flavors, while still keeping their distinct sweetness. My mother always serves stews over egg noodles, so it is only natural I use them here. Egg noodles provide the perfect backdrop to rich food. They absorb all the bold juices without interfering with the intricately composed main course.

Venison Stew
serves six comfortably

1 1/2 pounds of venison, cubed into 2-inch pieces
2 sausages, sliced
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 carrots, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
1 bottle of red wine
1 bay leaf
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1 cup of cooked beans
1 package frozen green peas
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp flour

Cube venison into 2 inch chunks. Peel and cut carrots, roughly the same size as the venison cubes. Crush four cloves of garlic. In a large bowl, mix together venison, carrots, and garlic. Pour in one bottle of red wine or enough to cover the meat. Stir to combine and coat the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in fridge for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. (I marinated for 24 hours). Every few hours, give the marinade a mix.

Drain the meat and pat dry. Strain the marinade and reserve it and the vegetables separately. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook chopped bacon. Remove crispy bacon from Dutch oven. Drain off excess oil, leaving about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Cook sausages until nicely browned and crispy. Remove and set aside. Brown venison on all sides. You might want to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove and set aside. Add onions, gently cooking until translucent. Stir in vegetables from marinade and flour. When veggies have nicely browned, add bacon, sausage and venison. Add one bay leaf. Pour in wine marinade and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, until the meat is fork-tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Salt and pepper as needed. At this stage, I let the stew cool and rest. The other advantage to preparing the stew a day in advance is that it allows the fat to rise to the top and harden, making it easy to skim off. However, this stew had very little fat, so there wasn't much to skim off.

Thirty minutes or so before serving, reheat the stew. Stir in pre-cooked black eyed peas and one bag of frozen peas. Simmer with the lid on until ready to serve.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook one large bag of egg noodles.

Tuck into rich, hearty venison stew over a steamy bowl of egg noodles topped with fresh parsley.