Final fall, I took a press journey to Vienna sponsored by the Vienna tourism board. We spent days visiting wineries and close by wine taverns, eating places that ranged from wonderful eating locations to rustic wild recreation inns, and the town’s UNESCO-recognized sausage stands. I ducked out one night time to ensure I obtained a style of some correct kaiserschmarrn and stuffed up on all types of traditional confections (skip the sachertorte; it is nearly universally disappointing). The day of my flight house, although, I spotted I would missed one main class of Viennese meals: goulash.

I wandered the town till Gulasch & Soehne, a restaurant proper by my resort, had a seat for me, then I ordered a tasting trio. Out got here three varieties: Vienna’s personal saftgulasch, wealthy with deeply browned onions; fiakergulasch, which is the onion sauce of the saftgulasch topped with a young weiner; and szegediner gulasch, crammed with pork and sauerkraut. I beloved all three, however the szegediner gulasch transported me with its interaction of fatty pork with salty-sour kraut, all of it glossed in a evenly creamy paprika-stained sauce. Should you grew up consuming pork and kraut, as I did, because of my father’s Austro-German roots, this can be a combo that simply speaks to you. Should you did not develop up with that, it is going to in all probability nonetheless converse to you.

Szegediner gulasch is taken into account a Viennese and Austrian dish right this moment, nevertheless it comes from Hungary, the birthplace of all goulash, the place it is named székelygulyás.

It is a straightforward recipe to prepare dinner, even when it takes slightly time for every thing to turn into tender and the flavors to coalesce. I am going to shortly run by means of the important thing technical steps in my model right here:

• Begin with bacon. Not all recipes do, however that smoky observe simply goes so completely on this stew, and it offers the fats for searing the pork and frying the onions later.
• Sear the pork shoulder in steaks. Searing and browning construct taste, however additionally they dry out the meat’s floor. By searing the pork in steaks, you develop taste whereas defending extra of the meat from the dehydrating warmth. After searing, you chop it into cubes earlier than stewing. The result’s a flavorful, tender chew.
• Add the kraut later. The sauerkkraut, if added to the pot initially of stewing, grows too comfortable and mushy by serving time. Higher is to depart it apart till the stew is roughly midway by means of its 1 1/2 to 2-hour cooking time, at which level it is going to turn into silky and tender whereas nonetheless retaining some physique.
• Enrich with bitter cream; thicken with flour. The broth for this stew is evenly creamy, because of the addition of bitter cream stirred in on the finish of cooking. However into that bitter cream, we first stir in slightly flour. Simmered for a couple of minutes, this combination gently thickens the broth much more, making certain the pork and strands of kraut and onion are coated in wealthy juices. You do not have to do the flour if you happen to do not feel prefer it, nevertheless it’s a pleasant of entirety.

One other factor I like about this goulash? It is meaty and hearty, however you technically get a superb dose of greens in each chew. That counts for one thing, proper?