Recently in Austrian Category

Lately, I've become somewhat addicted to potato goulash. I've loved the dish for a long time (had it a lot when I was a child), but my own attempts at cooking it never totally satisfied me. Then I had a look at the Plachutta/Wagner cookbook, and it prompted me to change three things about my recipe. The result turned out to be perfectly delicious.

Here is the recipe:

• 750g floury potatoes
• 250g lightly smoked, dried sausage (Wiesbauer Bergsteiger or similar)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 300ml beef stock (or water + ½ beef stock cube)
• 20g sweet paprika powder
• 2 tbsp oil (rapeseed or a mild olive oil work best)
• 3-5 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds
• 2 tsp marjoram
• salt
• crushed black pepper
• optional: 1/4 tsp hot chili powder

Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters (or smaller, if potatoes are very big).
Heat the oil, then fry the onions over moderate heat until golden.
Reduce heat to minimum, then add paprika and mix thoroughly for a few seconds.
Add vinegar, mix for a few seconds more.
Add beef stock, stir well.
Add crushed garlic, potatoes, and all herbs and spices.
Cover pot, bring to boil, then reduce heat and let simmer over moderate heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the potatoes are simmering, cut the sausage into bite-sized cubes.
When potatoes are done, remove pot from heat and add the cut sausage.
Stir carefully to make sure potatoes don't break, let rest for about 5 minutes, then serve.

Goulash (spelt Gulasch in German), a spicy beef stew, is one of the Austrian staple dishes, which you can get pretty much everywhere. Like the Brits enjoy a hot curry when they've had too much to drink at a party, Austrians resort to goulash, which is often served at parties around midnight or in the early morning. Goulash originated in Hungary, where the dish is called pörkölt (the similar-sounding gulyas is a soup rather than a stew). A defining quality of Austrian goulash is that you take the same amount of onions as of meat.

• 500g beef for stew (called "goulash meat" hereabouts), cut in cubes
• 500g onions, chopped into biggish pieces
• 80g fat
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 rablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
• some marjoram, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 10g flour
• salt
• water

Heat the fat in a large pot and roast the onions until golden. Add the paprika and immediately pour in the vinegar and 4 tablespoons water. Add the beef cubes, salt, ground caraway seeds, marjoram and squeeze in the garlic with a garlic press. Let simmer for 2-3 hours, adding water from time to time, until the meat is tender. There should be little to no water left by then.

Add the flour, stir carefully, then add enough water so that you get a slightly creamy, but not thick sauce. Let simmer until the meat is well done.

Take care that the meat does not become too soft and that the sauce doesn't burn. Add some more paprika to get a nicer colour and to make it a bit spicier.

Usually, goulash is not served fresh out of the pot, but pre-cooked and kept warm or reheated for the meal. It is usually served with no special side dish, just a bread roll, although boiled potatoes are acceptable.

This is a local recipe from the area where I grew up, from my mum's collection of recipes. Never mind fish fingers - I used to love these potato fingers when I was a kid (minus the sauerkraut, which I hated back then). It's totally unhealthy of course, but cheap, filling and yummy, as are most of the traditional farmers' recipes from this part of Austria. Serves 3-4.

• 500g potatoes
• 100g coarse wheat flour (type 480 - in Austria, we call it "griffig")
• 60g semolina
• 20g butter
• 1 egg
• salt

Cook the potatoes, then skin them. Put them in a large bowl with the butter, semolina, wheat flour, egg and salt. Mash the potatoes, then mix and knead everything until you have a smooth mass of potato dough.

Form the dough into thumb-sized, finger-shaped pieces. Heat oil in a frying pan, then fry (or deep-fry) the potato fingers until they are well browned on all sides. Serve with hot sauerkraut.