Ox Tail Goulash

The star of this recipe is the Hungarian paprika, no need for a lot of spices, just the right ingredients to make this freestyle goulash worth his name!

A lot of times Goulash is mistaken with Pörkölt which is a paprika stew.

Hungarian goulash is neither a soup nor a stew, it’s somewhere in between, although in Hungary it’s considered rather to be a soup than a stew,

This dish owns a great deal of flavors from the use of lard and the famous Hungarian paprika.

If the goulash is cooked in the proper way, it has a thick consistency, almost like a sauce.

Some recipes use potatoes and (or) noodles (csipetke in Hungarian).

In Hungary every Family or chef has her or his own way of cooking goulash.

The goulash is part of a family of peasant dishes, with the paprika’s and the Pörkölt that integrated the bourgeois gastronomy during the nineteenth century.

In many Western European languages, these three dishes are confusedly referred to as "goulash".

Goulash literally means “cowherd soup" since in Hungarian cowherd is gulyás.

Ingredients;

2kg ox tail, 2kg small potatoes, 2 celery sticks, 5 red and green bell peppers, 500gr strained tomatoes, ½ a bunch of parsley, 4 Greek or Bulgarian yogurts, 1 bard sheet (or 50gr lard), 1 litre beef stock, 1 tbsp caraway, 1 tbsp black pepper, 2 to 3 tbsp Hungarian paprika, 3 to 4 bay leaves, ½ bunch of chive, 3 tbsp olive oil, 6 to 8 garlic cloves, salt and pepper mill to adjust seasoning at the end.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Toast the spices lightly and ground them in to powder.

Cut the oxtail in pieces, or better: ask your butcher to do this because it’s not easy to cut.

If you use a clay pot, cover the bottom with bard, if you use other cooking ware you can just use lard.

Cut the onions in thick slices and place them on top of the bard.

Then add the oxtail, 500gr strained tomatoes, 1 litre beef stock, 2 to 3 tbsp Hungarian paprika, 3 to 4 bay leaves, 6 to 8 garlic cloves,

Put the lid on the pot and cook on a low heat for 2 ½ hour.

Seed and cut the bell peppers in large slices, place them on an oven plate with baking paper.

Coat them with olive oil and finish with a good twist of salt and pepper

Let them roast for 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C.

Peel the skin of the peppers (place them in a plastic bag for a few minutes to make it easier).

Save a few celery leaves and cut the celery in to short sticks.

Chop the celery leaves, chive and parsley, than mix with the Bulgarian yogurts, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and your sauce is ready.

After 2 ½ hours, add the potatoes to the goulash and cook for another 30 to 40 minutes

Just before serving adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

And now it’s time to fill the belly with this delicious goulash, so I bid you “bon appétit” and see you soon!