Goulash

Goulash (Gulyás in Hungarian, which originates from the word "gulya" meaning herd of cattle) is a food originated in Hungary. In some regions of the United States, the term goulash can be used interchangeably with hot dish[?] and casserole[?].

Goulash is made of beef, onions and paprika.

It is hard to find a good gulyás in Hungary, and it is close to impossible to get one outside Hungary. "Original Hungarian" Goulash could be anything containing beef and various vegetables, sour cream or any kind of pasta; naturally these show no real similarities to Hungarian Gulyás.

The food is closely related to Pörkölt (called stew in English) which is a similar, very widespread food in Hungary, but gulyás is much easier to cook and requires less attention, thus it fits occasions when there are many hungry people and a busy cook.

There is no "official" goulash recipe, but here is one very simple one, being pretty close to the idealised version:

Take some beef (leg or stringy meat) and cut it to small cubes, cut the onions.

Put a layer of meat on the bottom of a pot or a bogrács (big pot over open fire), then a layer of onions and put paprika and salt on them. Then a meat layer again and do this until you're out of the materials.

Cover with a lid and on small fire or low heat, let it cook. The meat will cook in its own liquids, put in water only if there is not enough while cooking.

It requires almost no stirring.

When the meat is cooked put in the potato cut in cubes and water to cover it and cook for further 15 minutes.

Its color could be even nicer if you put in half of the paprika in the last 10 minutes.

If you're not afraid of fats then the "pour some paprika and salt" could be read as "melt some pork fat and put the salt and paprika in it while stirring then pour this onto the layer of onions". It doesn't really work with oil.

Origin: http://dezso.klebercz.hu/konyha-gulyas-recept.htm (hungarian)