Taste With The Eyes: Hungarian Goulash

10.11.2007

Hungarian Goulash

"Look for paprika imported from Hungary and buy a new container from the market, throwing out that musty tin that's been sitting for years in your pantry." Wolfgang Puck

A Wolfgang Puck/Austrian Inspired Dinner Party

Hungarian Goulash and Homemade Spaetzle - it was delicious thanks to Wolfgang's inspiration and Merisi's input all the way from Vienna!

Ingredient Still Life.

Start by caramelizing the onions in olive oil, then add garlic.

Toast the caraway seeds then grind them in a spice grinder and add to the onions.

Smokey! Add the two paprikas...sweet and hot.
I took Merisi's advice not to make a "California Goulash" as she says there are no fresh herbs in her experience...so I added only dried marjoram.

Andrew, the butcher at Bristol Farms cut the beef shanks into cubes and advised me to put the bones in the stew for more flavor.

Deglaze the pot with balsamic vinegar then add the chicken stock, bay leaves and tomato paste, and the meat and bones.

This Le Creuset French Oven is perfect for this dish. Merisi's advice was to put it in the oven at 195 degrees not to let it boil and cook even longer than the original recipe for a very tender meat.

Later that day:
Side Bar - The cook's treat. Remove the bones from the stew. Marrow anyone?

At the Dinner Party:
The goulash is served in Pat's beautiful China "Evesham" made in England.

Sally kicked off the dinner party with a pizzette appetizer, her interpretation of Wolfgang's famous pizza from Spago with smoked salmon and caviar.

Pat's scallop dish: Scallops, Cauliflower Cream, Balsamic Reduction. See 10/09 post for details.

One course, two salads: Lauren made Wolfgang's couscous salad while Gail prepared sliced roasted beets and mache in a butter lettuce cup with Wolfgang's mustard dressing.

Salzburger Nockerln: Patrick made his with cherries, Wolfgang's recipe calls for raspberries. "Salzburg is a wonderful town on the Bavarian Border famous for its small hills called 'Nockerln'. This dish celebrates the hills of Salzburg with its hills of heaped Meringue. It’s rich, indulgent and utterly delicious. This is a true Austrian dessert that brings back memories of good times and loved ones. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. " WP

Elegant dinner party with friends who love to cook!

The Hungarian Goulash with Spaetzle.

Detailed recipe at wolfgangpuck.com

Why a blog is so neat:
We are having an Austrian inspired dinner party in Southern California and I get excellent authentic advice and support from a woman in Vienna whom I have never met. Isn't that something? Thanks Merisi!

Lori Lynn

P.S. That said, you may want to visit the Foodie Blogroll, of which I am a proud new member.

Julia Child Quotes - TOUJOURS BON APPETIT!

“You should never apologize at the table. People will think, ‘Yes, it’s really not so good.'"

"In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport."

"It's easy to get the feeling that you know the language just because when you order a beer they don't bring you oysters." Paul Child on speaking French

"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. "

"Life itself is the proper binge."

"It was a Morsel of Perfection."

"I was in pure, flavorful heaven at the Cordon Bleu."

Julia Child sees herself on TV, July 1962, she saw room for improvement, and still she can say it was fun : "There I was, in black and white, a large woman sloshing eggs too quickly here, too slowly there, gasping, looking at the wrong camera while talking too loudly and so on...But it had been fun."

She has her own opinions on kitchen equipment: "Clairborne sniffed at our use of a garlic press, 'a gadget considered in some circles to be only one cut above garlic salt or garlic powder.' I happened to like garlic presses..."

Understanding Julia's captivation by French food: "This is the kind of food that I have fallen in love with: not trendy souped-up fantasies, just something very good to eat. It was classic French cooking, where the ingredients have been carefully selected and beautifully and knowingly prepared. Or, in the words of the famous gastronome Curnonsky, 'Food that tastes of what it is.' "

"You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made. Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always." Julia's instructor, Chef Bugnard at Le Cordon Bleu

"Oh, 'crise de foie,' that French sole was so delicious!"

Julia's passion comes through loud and clear as she describes a fish dish: "La Truite's true glory was the Sole a la Normande, a poem of poached and flavored sole fillets surrounded by oysters, and mussels, and napped with a wonder-sauce of wine, cream, and butter, and topped with fluted mushrooms. 'Voluptuous' was the word. I had never imagined that fish could be taken so seriously, or taste so heavenly."

Julia's unique way with words, on Crepes Suzette: "The creature named Suzette may or may not have been the mistress of the Prince of Wales, but whoever she was, she long ago inspired a magnificent dessert that is still one of our favorites."

"I am probably one of the few people around who saw the real Caesar Cardini making his salad. I was about 9 when my parents took me to his restaurant in Tijuana. They were so excited when big jolly Caesar himself came to the table to make the salad. And it was dramatic: I remember most clearly the eggs going in, and how he tossed the leaves so it looked like a wave turning over."

"With a handsome package such as Jacques's, you can neatly cut the top open at the table with a pair of scissors..." Julia on Salmon en Papillote

"There's no reason to be intimidated by the idea of making pâté. You can just think of it as meat loaf."

From Julia's dear friend Jacques Pepin, "You are what you cook."

"Understanding egg yolks will make you a master of hollandaise sauce."

Julia encouraging us not to be intimidated: "When you know how to saute your meat so it browns rather than steams, you're cooking. What's difficult about that? You heat the pan, you dry the meat, you don't crowd it into the pan, and you're browning it. Is that difficult?"

Food Quotes

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."

Orson Welles

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

"Chefs, as a whole, say yes to any project, fundraiser, or tasting because they have such a generous spirit."
Charlie Trotter

"Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore. "
Thomas Keller

"I love to make people happy."
Wolfgang Puck

"Fish sauce is to Vietnamese cooking as olive oil is to Italian."

The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le

"I wish, I wish lunch could last forever...waiter, bring us one more bottle of wine..."

Jimmy Buffett

"My philosophy from day one is that I can sleep better at night if I can improve an individual's knowledge about food and wine, and do it on a daily basis."
Emeril Lagasse

"Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh because he knows that I'm not a chef."
Nigella Lawson

"You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else."
Mario Batali

"I always knew the importance of it, since I was three or four years old my mother used to feed me wine and water. I grew up with wine as liquid food."
Robert Mondavi

"No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at his/her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, and the wisdom of cookbook writers."
Laurie Colwin

"Food is a central part of our lives. It provides the body with fuel and raw materials for maintenance, growth, and repair. It draws together family and friends, anchors celebrations and rites of passage, and sometimes soothes the soul."
Ethan Becker