the topic of this article.
It was told to me that it is originally an Hungarian
dish and the following recipe is one from the
Transylvania region.
They started with an approximately 45 liter or about
47.5 quart metal cooking dish. This batch was one of
about of about 30 liters or 31.7 quarts. You can see that
a barrel was altered so that the dish would fit into it.
The wood is placed at the bottom and you can see the
chimney in the picture below.
This batch was made from pork and the best they said
is when gulaş is made from a 50% pork and 50% beef
mixture.
Onions are added in an approximately 20% quantity of
meat. So, for every 10 lbs of meat one would add
2 lbs of onions.
Wine was added ( a homemade red ) and that was
till the desired taste was achieved.
Tomatoes or tomato sauce/juice was again added
until it arrived to the preferred taste.
Chili powder was introduced till the sauce becomes
a nice red color. In picture below.
This is the next door neighbors making this and they
have many chili pepper plants behind their house.
Here is a picture of some harvested peppers that have
began to dry out.
It is dried well and then made into powder.
Salt and …
‘Foi de Dafin’ ( Bay Leaf) are added.
After that kidney meat was added.
Of course one needs to stir it every so often and below
you will be able to see the chef as he stirs the pot.
It is cooked until the sauce thickens and
the meat is tender.
This chef’s preferred gulaş is made from pig’s
ears, kidney and feet.
There are gulaş cooking contests where usually
10 or more pots are cooking at a time. I have to
say that it smells great. I can just imagine that
magnified by 10 times.
The best tasting is from a tripod with a hanging pot
above a wood fire. It is probably because it gets a
‘smoked effect’.
In the end the chef says that the best gulaş comes
from the ability to make it to taste. So there is the
secret.
It can probably be said that there is no fixed recipe
but I hope that this article can give you the basics on
how it is made here in our town. It is up to you to give
it that ... ‘je ne sait quoi’ ... taste.
