My mom made a pretty authentic goulash in certain respects.  In certain other respects it wasn’t really goulash at all.  I’m now making something somewhere in between.

The Hungarians would make a sort of soup called goulash and serve that with or over cubed boiled potatoes.  The Germans like a thicker version and serve that over spaetzle.  My mom used elbow macaroni.  I have a spaetzle maker but usually just reach for a nice orzo lately.

My mom used a combination of tomato juice and tomatoes.  I skip the juice.  Feel free to include some to make a thinner version.  You could also add chicken stock to take it more into the soup dimension.  My mom used stewed tomatoes but I use just diced.  She also added “a little sugar”.  I’ve dropped this as well.

My mom used ground beef, but I’ve gone more traditional here and cube nice beef and brown that.

Finally, my mom didn’t use paprika (I know!) and I use a lot.  If I can brown the beef and sauté the onions over fire I use Hungarian sweet, but if I can’t I use Spanish smoked paprika instead.  Or maybe a combination.  I’m not too picky about this detail.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef (browned)
• 2 large onions (sautéed but not browned)
• 1 T garlic (optional, I usually skip but sweat these after the onions)
• tomatoes (2 x 28 oz cans of Muir Glen diced is typical for me)
• salt and pepper
• ¼ C paprika (yes, a lot)

Directions:

• brown beef and set aside
• sauté onions in whatever fat remains, scrap up the bits, and let them go translucent (take your time)
• add everything into the pot (except the pasta) and let that simmer for a long while, relax
• cook the pasta you chose (or potatoes or make spaetzle) (1 box of orzo is a good portion for the above)
• you can combine the starch and sauce together and server or serve portions (I usually combine in the pasta just prior to serving time so it’s a one pot stop)

That’s it.  Basic.  Easy.  Fucking delicious.