Authentic Goulash

I have been talking to friends, family, co-workers and strangers (yes, that's any ear I can get) for the past 3 months about making truly authentic Goulash. I have been researching over this time and trying to find the right opportunity to make it. Well...... opportunity struck last night. It was my birthday and did not want to make a big deal or go out and crush the town. I decided to stay in and with John make our next purchase on the meat counter.

When most American think of goulash, they think of ground beef, tomato sauce and elbow macaroni or egg noodles. This is a bastardization of true goulash by American cookbooks after WWII. Authentic Goulash is considered a soup. Essentially, it is an Eastern European version of the Chuck Wagon Chili of the American West. It is a hearty, one pot meal, that requires very little maintenance. Instead of cumin and cayenne that make up chili, goulash is seasoned with sweet paprika. Similar to biscuits or cornbread with chili, goulash is accompanied with dumplings or spaetzle.

Goulash is not traditionally a stew, but it is thick. The thickness comes from 2 components. The first is, it is usually made with well exercised beef cuts like shank, shin or shoulder that contain a lot of collagen. Collagen is a connective tissue that breaks down with heat. The collagen turns gelatinous and thickens any liquid it is released into. The second component is usually some form of root vegetable like potatoes or parsnips that when cooked release starches that help to thicken liquid.

Many Americans believe that the red color of goulash comes from tomato sauce when in fact it is due to the inclusion of Hungarian or Sweet Paprika. Part of the reason that I made goulash this week was that just before I came up to SF, I visited my mom and she gave me a special bag of sweet paprika directly from Hungary.

Loaded with this information, I shared my interest with John who immediately recalled his trips to Prague and confirmed, yes, traditional goulash is soup and that his favorite part was the sliced dumplings that are used to soak up the broth at the bottom of the plate. The search was on for the ingredients or components of this dumpling. Earlier in the week, our friend Lil Jon made a ragu with gnocchi (a potato dumpling) and we used this as a starting point. John confirmed that it was doughy like gnocchi but that it was more aerated like bread. A concentrated internet search the next day leads me to Wolfgang Puck's personal website and a recipe he serves with goulash called Servietten Knudel (Napkin Dumpling).

That evening after work, I picked up beautiful beef shanks from our local meat counter as well as the other few items needed for dinner. Using John's new dutch oven, I get started by adding onions, green pepper, carrots, parsnips and garlic one at a time staggered a few min apart. This gives time for veg that need to cook longer to get the cooking time they deserve (You certainly don't have to, but I do it). The next ingredient was caraway seeds that I had toasted and ground in a mortar and pestle. Immediately, the room fills with the smell of rye bread. About a minute later the paprika was added; the entire dish changed color. Everything had a bright red hue and the smell changed again; this time, to that of sweet peppers. This is not sweet like banana or wax peppers but like roasted red bells that still tickle your nose with spice.

After letting this cook for a minute or so (when the pan starts to look dry), the tomato paste is added and incorporated throughout. Because the pan is already dry, the paste will stick to the bottom of the pan. This is OK, because shortly after, you will be deglazing the pan with a little bit of balsamic vinegar, another very immediate smell change. Once the "fond" or the "stuck bits" have been lifted from the bottom of the pan, add your stock.

Usually when I braise, I brown the meat first, remove it and then start the veg. However, this recipe told me to wait. I de-boned, cubed and seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and waited patiently for this moment. I added the meat to the loaded pot and, of course, included the marrow bones. At this point, bring the meat to a boil, simmer and wait.

Now time for dumplings. This really didn't take long to prepare at all. Because I was using fresh bread, it took me 25 min longer, but you could easily prepare this portion in 25-30 min. Ideally, you would buy the bread the night before, remove the crust, cut it into 1-2" pieces and leave out on your counter. The crust is removed because the dumplings should have no color, they are supposed to look like white dough balls. I put the dried bread cubes into a food pro and made bread crumbs. To the crumbs, I added minced onion and garlic that I had sautéed in a full stick of butter. I know that it seems like a lot but the melted butter is mostly for the dough, not the onions. After the onions, garlic and butter, I added one beaten egg and 2 cups of milk. The butter and milk help to soften the dried crumbs and the egg acts as a binder.

Once this is mixed thoroughly, I cut them into 6 sections and wrapped them in plastic and then foil like fat sausages. John and I decided later that these were a bit too small and that next time we would make 3 fatter dough balls instead of 6. The foil is used to transfer heat evenly and the plastic is used as a water-proof barrier when the dumplings are dropped into salted, boiling water for about 20 min. When the foil turns from aluminum to entirely brown on all sides, removed the packages, unwrap and let cool.

After about 3 hrs, the meat will start to shred, most of the marrow will have disappeared from the bones and the broth will take on a thicker consistency. At the top of the pot, there will be a film that appears to be fat, but if using shank meat, you will realize that it is not fat and this dish does not have to be skimmed. That is truly the gelatinous thickener left behind by the collagen of the meat. At this point, I wanted my broth even thicker, so I started to mash up the parsnips to release more of the starch, immediately thickening the broth.

Aside: I was starting to get really hungry and the dumplings were just waiting on the counter....... so I pulled out the marrow bones and John and I spread the marrow out onto a dumpling slice. Man, I love marrow.

Once the goulash got to our desired consistency, we filled our bowls, layered them with dumpling slices, sat down and ate. And we ate well. The meat was tender, shredding under the fork; the veggies were well seasoned and not total mush; the plate was red and the paprika really stood out; the dumplings mopped the plate and really sealed the meal.

I wish I had used a bit more black pepper just to give the dish a bit more teeth but overall, this was one of my proudest meals. Fan-friggin-tastic.


--Rees

Dude.....

First post about another person's food. It's Sunday night after a very long weekend with a friend I haven't seen in more than a year. I'm currently couch crashing for 5 weeks with my best friend and his girlfriend in a SF 1 BR apt. Last Sunday when we saw that fabulous piece of chuck, John and I decided that we were going to eat the counter. Similar to our Sunday brunch with Danny Miller in Denver, we saw too many items to simply order 1.

I range back into John and Taria's place expecting criticism and heckling galore. However, I walk into a room filled with sound of Sam Cook and the aroma of braised beef. John found some amazing short ribs at our "meat counter" and was in the midst of creating sandwiches that people dream of. On the cover of Bon Apetit this month, there is a photo of short rib grilled cheese sandwiches... You see where I'm going here.

When I walked in the door, John had already dusted the meat with flour, browned it and had been braising for about 2 hours. As dictated by the short ribs, John pulled the braizer from the oven. When the bones of the short ribs fall out or slide away from the ribs, it's a signal that the meat is done cooking. John then shredded the ribs with a fork and layered them on freshly cut sourdough bread. On top of the shredded short ribs, John layered pickled red onions (which I could not stop eating before the beef was done).

The first version of the sandwich came with Monterey Jack cheese and a layer of arugula. Friggin great sandwich..... but missing something. We all agreed that the beef was fantastic but that the other ingredients were unnecessary and definitely back seat. When the second sandwich was made, John added about double the arugula and the flavor was enourmously improved. The bitter greens actually brought out the vinegary flavor of the pickled onions, without taking away from the strength of the beef ribs.

Well done sir.

--Rees

My first week back in an old city has been good. Crashing on a couch of a friend who loves food as much as I do. The first weekend in town, we had a hankering for chili. I've made chili many times before but not always the right way. Thanks to culinary school and meat fabrication training, I know more about how the ingredients will behave when cooked and how to make them taste better.

John and I perused the meat counter with the idea of sirloin so that we could make the chili in less than 2 hours. Sirloin is a relatively lean piece of meat that is more tender than round. However, we had to change our minds and our timing when we saw this absolutely gorgeous piece of chuck. Chuck has some great marbling and fat content. It also has a lot of connective tissue which requires a longer cooking time. When given the opportunity and care, chuck can be some of the best tasting meat there is.

To get it started, cubed about 4 oz of slab bacon and rendered out the fat on med-low heat in a cast iron dutch oven. I cut the 2 lb piece of chuck roast into 6 smaller cubes. These I dusted with flour and seared in rendered bacon fat. After browning on all sides, I removed them from the pan to rest. To the pan of rendered bacon and beef fat, I added diced onion, celery and carrot to the pan. When the onion turned translucent and the carrot and celery began to soften, I added a few oz of tomato paste and all of the spices (salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper). When the pan dried, we added several cups of beef stock and added back in the chuck pieces. Because I am not from Texas, I can put whatever I want in my chili, so we also added some kidney and pinto beans to the party.

This is when chili making gets easy. Bring the stock to a simmer, cover and find something else to do for a few hours. Other than skimming, the only thing you must do, is be patient. Although chuck takes several hours to cook, you must appreciate its ease of cooking. It tells you when it's done! Earlier, I spoke of the connective tissue that makes Chuck a tougher cut. However, with enough time and care, this connective tissue breaks down and the meat itself begins to fall apart. At this point, chuck can be shredded. I removed the chunks of chuck from the pot, shredded the pieces, added back to the pot and re-seasoned. The chili looked a bit thin so I mashed several of the beans releasing their starch to help thicken the chili.

With a pan of jalapeno cornbread and green onion garnish, the chili is worth the 4 hr wait.

--Rees

It's been awhile....

....but I'm back. 2009 was a very busy year for me. I got a job in a retail meat market for a 64 year old Scotsman who has been cutting meat for 50 years. His knowledge of meat and of small business ownership has been an opportunity for me to absorb information. He is familiar with my plan to open a restaurant and over the last year, he has helped me define what I want to do and how to do it best. This meat market is
amazing; as a part of my responsibilities in the meat market I handle the weekly deliveries. That is, I am responsible for getting the meat off the truckand onto the shelves while maintaining a FIFO inventory control. The amazing thing is that each week we get 10 to 15 thousand lb of meat delivered.

On top of school and work at the meat market, I also started my own catering company and cooking school. From interactions at the meat counter with customers, my co-workers and our customers came to learn that I am passionate and knowledgeable about cooking. These conversations have led to lengthy discussions about the appropriate cooking methods for certain cuts of meat or the appropriate meat for a certain recipe. These discussions and the desire to learn by my customers and co-workers led me to offer private cooking classes.

My mission statement is “To make everyone feel more comfortable in their own kitchen”. Using the equipment in their kitchen, I would offer several services, the most popular being a demonstration. I would come into a person’s home where they would invite guests (a whole family, a couple, girls night out, etc.) and I would prepare a full meal for everyone and talk about what I was doing and why. Because it’s a small group setting, we can be casual and I can answer questions as they come up.

I can also set up classes where we cook together and practice individual techniques or, if what makes you feel comfortable in your own kitchen is to not be in it, I can do full catering for parties. Usually my events are some hybrid of the 3 offerings.

The most recent news is that I am officially taking a step closer to owning my own place by getting out of foodservice. Yes, that is correct; I am getting out so that I can get back in bigger. While, I am learning a great deal in the meat market, retail grocery is not the greatest financial option. I need a chance to straighten personal credit and save money for a down payment or deposit. I have a fully written business plan but need the financial commitment to be able to seriously ask for a sizeable loan.

To do that, I am headed back to San Francisco and back to the world of market research. I got a job with an old boss that is doing well and hiring. This was an opportunity that I could not pass up. Because I will be out of foodservice professionally for awhile, I will be posting blogs much more often again so that I can keep in touch with the food world.

--Rees