Today we will cook not a "replica", not an "adaptation" and not a "dish based on..." but the real Hungarian Goulash!
No compromise so to speak :).
In general, for Hungarians, Austrians and Chekhovs, goulash is in the sacred sense the same as for Ukrainians, Russians and Lithuanians - borscht ... There are so many options for its preparation, and disputes about which one is more correct have been going on for so long that I I will not even try to talk about this topic, but I will simply cook my favorite version of this dish from those that I have ever tried.

First, let's figure out what goulash is.
Everyone who lived in the Soviet Union knows for sure that goulash is a stew in a brown gravy that is usually served with pasta or mashed potatoes. Sometimes it even turned out delicious, but ... I have to disappoint you, this is not goulash!

Traditional Hungarian goulash is a soup. Very thick, really more like gravy, but still soup! Soup, the main "stars" of which are meat and paprika.
So what do we need:
- Meat.
Traditionally, this is beef, and you can take not the most expensive cuts. Meat with a large amount of connective tissue, intended for long-term stewing, goes very well.
It is advisable to take meat with a bone so that there is something to cook the broth from.
If there is about a kilogram along with the bones, then this is just right.
- Onions - a couple of medium onions.
- Potatoes - to taste, but certainly not less than meat.
- Red sweet pepper - a couple, three pieces.
- Smoked lard hundred grams.
- Hot peppers.
- Garlic - a couple, three cloves.
Dry spices:
- Paprika - three tablespoons with a slide!
- Cumin - grind half a teaspoon in a mortar.
- Marjoram and raikhon for a small pinch.
- Black pepper to taste.
And... Oh Horror!
- Two tomatoes (Why "horror", I'll explain later).

So, admit it right away, who was afraid of the terrible word Raikhon?
There is nothing to be afraid of him, you still be afraid of Regan's words :).
It's all actually dried green basil and nothing more!

Yes, I almost forgot, you will also need flour, an egg and some fresh spinach if desired.

So, well, let's get started...
First you need to go through a few preparatory steps.

First of all, we will separate the bones and put the broth to boil. In fact, of course, this is not at all necessary, you can cook goulash with ordinary water, but you understand that it tastes better with broth! And if we already have meat with bones, then God himself ordered the broth to be cooked.

Then another moment - despite the fact that the goulash soup itself is very thick, fatty and satisfying, the ever-hungry Hungarians (I love Hungarians with all my heart! - it's just a figure of speech!) They came up with the idea of ​​​​adding CHIPS to it. These are such small Dumplings or to say our Dumplings :). In general, small pieces of dough, which is better to prepare in advance, so that for the time being the essence and the matter, it distances itself and acquires the elasticity appropriate to any decent dough.
Basic dough:
Let's take an egg, but not a simple one, but the very first category.


Add a good pinch of salt to it and, purely for beauty, a couple of teaspoons of finely chopped spinach.


Why spinach?
Yes, it’s very simple - this wonderful herb, for all its usefulness, has practically no pronounced taste and smell, and most importantly, during heat treatment, it not only does not lose its emerald color, but, on the contrary, it only becomes brighter.

Now we gradually add flour and knead a stiff dough, such that it is convenient to pinch off tiny pieces from it, the size of a thumbnail and roll miniature sausages from them between the palms, which are actually chips.

Chipettes do not add any flavor to goulash and are added only to make the dish even thicker and more satisfying, so it is perfectly acceptable to cook them separately in boiling salted water, which I did to show you the final result.

Well.
The dough is ready, the broth gurgles, you can finally start cooking the actual goulash.
For real goulash, meat with onions is fried in smoked lard.
Yes, just like that - beef is fried in lard, and even smoked!
In many descriptions of goulash cooking, you may come across a strong recommendation to use Hungarian smoked bacon breaded in a mixture of hot and sweet red pepper. My advice to you is don't bother! The fact is that this wonderful breading will still have to be washed off first, otherwise it will burn during the cooking process, which will have an extremely detrimental effect on both the taste and aroma of the finished dish. So take the usual smoked lard and do not worry about anything.

Traditionally, goulash is cooked in a pot on an open fire, and at home it is best for us to use a cauldron, but if there is no cauldron, you should not be upset, a deep thick-walled frying pan and a good powerful goose are perfect.
Well, then we take a cauldron or whatever we have, put it on such a medium fire, and in the meantime we ourselves cut the fat into a cube about a centimeter in size and put it in a well-heated bowl.


You do not need to immediately mix the fat, the path will first highlight the fat, then you can mix it. You need to fry the fat until it stops "spitting" and then take out the finished "greaves" with a slotted spoon and use them for their very direct purpose - for a snack with fresh, cold, aromatic, foamy, amber beer :). Well, if you want, of course.
But in the melted lard we lay the onion cut into quarter rings.
In fact, in principle, it doesn’t matter in the slightest how exactly to cut the onion - during the cooking process, it will almost completely dissolve in the sauce, it’s just customary - quarter rings.
Saute the onion, stirring occasionally, until it starts to turn a little golden.

And right on it we spread the meat cut into a cube about three centimeters in cross section, as they say - with a walnut :).
In general, cut the meat so that it is convenient for you to eat it later with a spoon - goulash is a soup after all.

The story is the same as with bacon - you don’t need to mix everything at once, let the meat first grab well on one side, and only then you can mix it.
During frying, the meat will certainly give juice. Don't worry, that's how it should be. Continue frying until the juice is completely evaporated and the meat is browned on all sides.

And now, the most crucial moment comes - add paprika.
You need to reduce the heat to a minimum and stir the meat for a while so that everything cools down a bit - the most important thing is not to let the paprika burn.
We lay two tablespoons with a slide of ground paprika and, with constant stirring, heat it for about a minute so that the paprika gives off its color and aroma, after which, with a pure heart, pour it all with broth so that the meat is covered by three centimeters and mix well again.
Here, look how orange everything turned out!

Add salt, bring to a boil and adjust the heat so that a calm stew is obtained.
Peel the potatoes, cut them to the size of the meat and lay them in a cauldron. In this case, it is not necessary to wash the chopped potatoes - the surface starch will only add density to the finished dish, and it should be thick, that's how it was intended!

We will simmer everything together until the potatoes soften a little, until half cooked, so to speak, and add the red bell pepper, cut into cubes, also under the size of the meat.
In principle, goulash should be spicy, so now is the time to add finely chopped hot peppers, but you can go the other way, giving everyone the right to regulate the spiciness of the dish on their own plate.

Mix and attention ... Drum roll!
Let's add tomatoes!
Why is everything so pompous?
And by the fact that all people on earth are divided into three categories - the first are categorically sure that no tomatoes should be put in goulash in any case, the second insist that it is possible and necessary, and the third do not know what goulash is at all and they are deeply lilac whether there are tomatoes there or not :).
I still tend to think that you need to add a few tomatoes simply because otherwise it turns out to be very heavy food - solid proteins, fats and carbohydrates are gifts from mother nature, a little tomato sourness will be very useful.
For goulash, I prefer to peel the tomatoes. Very simple - a cross-shaped incision on the ass,

for half a minute in boiling water, and then with a skimmer under a cold tap, the skin will peel off by itself.

Tomatoes in a cube and in a cauldron, cover with a lid and simmer until the pepper is ready. During this time, the tomatoes will dissolve completely and the only reminder of them will be only a slight sourness, which we needed.
Now remove the cauldron from the fire, add another tablespoon of paprika, all the other dry spices, finely chopped garlic, straighten it with salt / sugar, cover with a lid and leave to brew.
Goulash, by the way, is one of those rare dishes that the longer they stand, the tastier they become. Well, within reason of course :).
And yet, goulash is served with a special pepper sauce "Erosh pishta". It’s just convenient for them to regulate the spiciness of the finished dish, instead of adding hot peppers to the common cauldron and torturing people who don’t like spicy.
This sauce is very simple, in fact, just crushed hot pepper, so I will describe its preparation in a nutshell.


We take hot peppers, cut off the stalks and cut arbitrarily into small pieces and pierce with a blender until the most homogeneous state.
In principle, eros pishta is just grated pepper, but for better preservation, salt and vinegar essence are added to it. In addition, salt promotes better juice separation and pepper behaves better in a blender, it is easier to grind without adding water.
The general rule is this - for a kilogram of pepper, a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar essence.