Tante Rosa's Goulash
My ex-wife's great aunt would make goulash every Tuesday, and the family would gather to enjoy this delicious dish. My kids loved it, and after much trial and error, I finally perfected the recipe. It's a creamy, rich comfort food the whole family will enjoy.
My ex-wife's great aunt would make goulash every Tuesday, and the family would gather to enjoy this delicious dish. My kids loved it, and after much trial and error, I finally perfected the recipe. It's a creamy, rich comfort food the whole family will enjoy.
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat (approx 1 inch cubes)
- 3 medium yellow onions
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 3 cans beef broth (42 oz)
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 tablespoon sweet hugarian paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon hot hungarian paprika
- Carbohydrate 10.4166041662364 g
- Cholesterol 67.3255 mg
- Fat 22.0329294270701 g
- Fiber 1.6983916749109 g
- Protein 20.1627409374034 g
- Saturated Fat 8.52083318143231 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (348g)
- Sodium 850.173942708312 mg
- Sugar 8.7182124913255 g
- Trans Fat 2.14933119685027 g
- Calories 319 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add meat cubes and brown well, approximately 10 minutes.
- Finely chop onions and mince garlic. Stir onions and garlic in with the beef; cook until onions are soft and starting to become clear (don't brown the onions).
- Sprinkle in salt, pepper, paprika, and add tomato paste. Blend thoroughly.
- Pour in beef broth and add lemon juice; cover and simmer gently about 1 1/2 hours.
- In a small jar or container, shake or blend flour with cold water. Be sure to break up all lumps. Stir into pot about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
- At this point, stir constantly until sauce is thickened and bubbling (about 10 mins). Remove from heat; stir in half and half.
- Serve over German Farmer Style Egg Noodles, bow tie pasta or boiled red potato's. Add a cool cucumber salad as a side dish.
Sweet and hot Hungarian paprikas provide the foundational aromatic drive for this dish, carrying fat-soluble capsaicin and carotenoids that bind directly to the browning lipids of the beef stew meat. When cubed beef contacts the hot vegetable oil in a Dutch oven for ten minutes, the Maillard reaction creates complex pyrazines and furans that deepen the broth once the liquid is introduced. Finely chopped yellow onions release sulfur compounds and natural sugars during their sweat, softening without browning to maintain a sweet, clean background that balances the pepper spice. Acidity from lemon juice cuts through the richness of the rendered fats, while tomato paste contributes glutamates that enhance the savory umami perception across the simmering beef. Flour mixed with cold water forms a starch slurry that, when boiled for ten minutes, gelatinizes to trap liquid molecules inside an expanded matrix, yielding a glossy, clinging sauce. Half-and-half enters only after the pot leaves the direct heat source to prevent the fragile dairy proteins from curdling under high temperatures. Stored leftovers maintain structural integrity in a refrigerator for up to four days, though the starch network may thicken further and require a splash of water during gentle reheating on the stovetop.
