Gulyásleves (Hungarian Goulash Soup)

About This Recipe

Gulyásleves — meaning 'goulash soup' in Hungarian — is the original goulash, a brothy peasant stew that bears almost no resemblance to the thick stews labeled 'goulash' in foreign cookbooks. Born among the Hungarian gulyás (cowherds) of the Great Plain in the 18th century, it was originally a one-pot meal cooked over open fire in a bogrács kettle: beef shin and shank simmered for hours with onions, lard, sweet paprika, caraway seeds, garlic, fresh peppers, ripe tomatoes and potatoes. The dish has a soup consistency — broth-forward, with chunks of beef, potato and a few small pinched egg-pasta dumplings called csipetke floating in a deep red-orange liquid. Authentic gulyásleves depends entirely on three things: real Hungarian sweet paprika (not Spanish or generic — the Hungarian product is irreplaceable), the patient slow-cooked onion base, and beef cuts with enough collagen to enrich the broth (shin, shank, chuck). The paprika must be added off the heat to avoid burning the precious red color into bitterness. Eaten with fresh white bread and a glass of Tokaji or Hungarian red wine, gulyásleves is the centerpiece of Hungarian Sunday lunch and continues to be cooked over open fires by Hungarians at country festivals — the smell of bogrács goulash on the breeze is, for Hungarians, the smell of weekend.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 60 glard (or 60 ml neutral oil)
• 3 largeonions, finely chopped (about 600 g)
• 800 gbeef shin, shank or chuck, cut into 3 cm cubes
• 4garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbspHungarian sweet paprika (édes paprika) — non-negotiable
• 1 tspHungarian hot paprika (csipős) or pinch cayenne — optional
• 1 tbspcaraway seeds, lightly crushed
• 2ripe tomatoes, chopped (or 200 g canned)
• 2Hungarian wax peppers or yellow bell peppers, sliced
• 2 Lbeef stock or water
• 600 gpotatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tspsalt, plus more to taste
• 100 gall-purpose flour (for csipetke pasta)
• 1egg
• 1 pinchsalt (for csipetke)

Instructions

1. 1

   Soften the onions in lard

   Melt the lard in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over low heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 20–25 minutes until soft, golden and very fragrant — but not browned. This unhurried onion base is the foundation of real gulyásleves.

   Cooking onions in lard, not oil, gives the soup its proper rich body. Don't shortcut this step.

2. 2

   Add the beef

   Raise heat to medium-high. Add the beef cubes to the pot and brown lightly with the onions for 6–8 minutes — you're not looking for deep caramelization, just light color. Stir in the minced garlic and crushed caraway and cook 1 more minute.

3. 3

   Add paprika off the heat

   Pull the pot off the heat. Sprinkle in the sweet paprika (and hot paprika if using). Stir vigorously — the paprika must be added off the heat or it burns and turns bitter, which ruins the soup. The paprika dissolves into the rendered fat, coating the meat in deep red.

4. 4

   Build the broth

   Return the pot to medium heat. Add the chopped tomatoes, sliced peppers, bay leaves and stock. Bring to a simmer, partially cover, and cook 75–90 minutes until the beef is fork-tender. Skim any foam in the first 15 minutes.

5. 5

   Make the csipetke

   While the soup simmers, mix the flour, egg and pinch of salt in a small bowl with a fork into a stiff dough — add a splash of water only if needed. Knead briefly. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. Pinch off pea-sized pieces and pinch flat between thumb and index finger to form little pasta shapes.

6. 6

   Add potatoes

   When the beef is tender, add the potato cubes. Cook 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but still hold their shape.

7. 7

   Add the csipetke

   Drop the pinched pasta pieces directly into the simmering soup and cook 4–5 minutes until they float and are tender. Taste and adjust salt — the soup should be deeply savory, with the paprika red-orange and the broth slightly thickened by the potato starch.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Pull off the heat and let rest 10 minutes — the flavors settle and the soup thickens slightly. Ladle into deep bowls. Serve with crusty white bread, pickled peppers on the side and a glass of Hungarian wine. Sour cream is sometimes offered for stirring in, though purists frown on it for true gulyásleves.

Variations

• •

  Bográcsgulyás — cooked outdoors in a traditional kettle (bogrács) over open fire; smokier and more rustic.

• •

  Székely-gulyás (Szegedi) — adds sauerkraut and finishes with sour cream; a Transylvanian variation.

• •

  Pörkölt — same paprika-onion base but stewed dry (no broth), the thicker dish often confused with goulash abroad.

• •

  Vegetarian gulyásleves — substitute beef with portobello mushrooms and white beans; the paprika carries the flavor.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 4 days — flavor deepens. Freeze up to 3 months. Reheat gently on the stovetop. The csipetke can get a bit soft after storage — make and add fresh when reheating for best texture.

Frequently Asked Questions