The Intergalatic Recipee Thread

[huckleboogie]

Hi.
i'm trying to put my gulyash recipe into proper english:-)
in fact i'm makin gulyash right now, tomorrow i'll throw a party for some friends (gulyash, like any soup, is much better the next day)

you'll find a lot of funny explanations, because i dont know the proper english terms. also, i'll use european measures (kg etc)
anyway, here goes:

hungarian gulyash (soup):

1 kg beef (preferrably from the leg of the cow-how d'ya call that??), sliced into cubes
300 grams of bacon (chopped coarsely)
1/2 kg of finely chopped onions
1/2 kg potatos,chopped in small cubes, and some carots, chopped in small cubes
about 6 tomatos
chopped garlic -to taste
3 spoons (big spoons, not tea spoons) of sweet hungarian paprika powder
2 bell peppers
red wine
salt
pepper
kümmel (they told me in english it's caraway seed)


-put bacon in a pan and fry til its golden/brown/crispy
-remove and leave some of the the fat in the pan (keep the rest in a cup)
-put onions in the fat and fry - if needed add more fat from the cup
-when onions get golden brown, add red wine from time to time (can substitute with water) and let the whole thing boil down gently, repeat couple times (usually i do it for 20 mins) , til the whole thing gets a nice thick consistence
-hardest part translationwise: take a big wooden thing and stomp on the whole thing, as to give it a smoother consistence-like a gravy. got it???
-take off the flame. add paprika powder and caraway seed, mix
-put back on the heat, fry the beef in the "gravy" til it gets nice and brown
-add tomatos, garlic, salt, pepper,
-simmer a little more
-add bell pepper (as a whole, just make some slices, it will be removed later)
-add water, just so the meat and tomatoes are covered
-do the dishes, watch a movie, you got about 1 1/2 hours time, check every now and then, refill some water, add more salt etc....
-check if meat is done,
-soon as meat is done, remove bell pepper>it's delicious> have a well deserved snack!, remove skins of the tomatos. add potatos (as much as You think makes sense to make it a nice soup) and carrots
-boil 1/2 hour more
-add more salt and pepper to taste.

done.
when serving, you might want to add some hot pepper.....

i hope i made sense. wow, that was hard:-)

[huckleboogie]

ah, btw, two points:
- quality of the ingredients is essential. first off, the meat. then, the vegetables. my gulyash over here was never as good as in Hungary (the bell pepper, tomatos, and nonetheless original homemade sweet paprika powder). still it's mighty good as for the bell pepper, the most tasteful is those pale green ones, i ont know if you got them in the states....pale, almost white, longer and "skinnier" than the ordinary ones....
- i'm writing this because i just experience it. You might as well make the 1 1/2 hours cookin time til the meat is done 2 hours. it depends. and make sure to add water every now and then. wow, i just had my bellpepper snack. AWESOME!!!!

[Donner]

You bring up a good point - spices can be different in different regions/countries

[Bobby D]

mmmmmm........goulash......i gotta try that one!

[Johnson]

Is there any hope for a Swedish Meatball recipe for the holidays?!?!

[Johnson]

Swedish Meatball BUMP

[BJF]

Hi




Here you go:
Meatballs for 6-8 people

1dl of breadcrum
1dl cream
1/2dl sodawater (Vichy or beer)
2 tsk salt
1tsk pepper
little sugar so the children like
1 onion chopped finely
800gram ground beef
1 egg

Mix crumbed bread, the egg, salt, pepper, sugar,cream and Vichy/beer and let this rest mix rest for a few minutes to swell. Then add the chopped onion and ground beef and mix again.

When mixed roll to small balls. Wash hands with cold water in between rolls to ease the rolling.

Fry in fryingpan at medium heat. Melt butter in the frying pan and begin frying balls when butter golden brown.

Sauce is easily made in the frying pan after the balls have been fried.

Pour cream into fryingpan and reduce heat a bit. Add one small spoon black currant jam, a little pepper, a knife's edge cayneepepper, one half mushroom bouillion cube and Mrs Cheng's soya sauce pour and wip sauce until colour is tan.

The key to the sauce is the balance of salt and sweet.
Taste while making the sauce to make sure.

Notice there's no salt added in sauce while that can be added if needed after tasting and this is because the soya sauce is salt.

Balancing salt and sugar in e.g. bread buns makes for a caramell taste

Serve with boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes, and lingonberryjam

*tsk= one teaspoon


Enjoy and have fun
BJ