[Sca-cooks] Re: Galloping Goulash....

[Phlip]

Ok, got a couple of responses to my query to Paul and Gene on the Goulash
question. Gene said:

> Actually in Hungary it isn't highly spiced.  It's basically beef soup,
with
> potatoes, an onion, and some paprika stirred in at the end.  Usually not
> much paprika, a nd the paprika can be very mild.  The flavor is largely
the
> beef stock, so it depends on the quality of the beef.  It's a soupy soup,
> not a thick soup or stew.
> There are, however, other goulashes.  Szekely goulash involves sauerkraut
> as well as the above ingredients.  THere are other variants with other
> vegetables and herbs.  The common thread is that it's always a simple beef
> soup with some veg.  So it's really a term for a type or class of dish.
It
> certainly seems to have arisen among cowherding people, whatever the
> etymology.
> best--Gene

And also:

Basturma is surely Turkish, but its modern form is surely modern--paprika,
to say nothing  of sodium erythorbate, being a recent addition.  The
original would have been just dried beef, with salt and often black pepper
to keep it from spoiling.  This could go into the soup.  The Hungarians
always use fresh beef for gulyas. Basturma is eaten by itself, sliced very
thin, on bread.  (The pastrami sandwich is familiar--pastrami being the
Rumanian pronunciation of basturma.)  I will be interested in the results
of all this.
Tarhonya are known as spaetzli in German, and are common in Austria.
Various variant pronunciations of "tarhonya" are applied to them in various
parts of east Europe. I believe they spread north from Greece and called
something like "trahonya" in Greek; may be cognate at some level with itria
(noodles).  Various things of this sort are indeed known out through
central Asia.
best--Gene

And Paul said:

Philippa dear, you can forward this:

Ya, the bastourma ain't exactly 100% authentic but what the hell. Using a
simple pasta sounds good. Could I suggest using tutumash noodles. They are
stuffed, but the way they are made is traditional, and they would be good in
a beef dish with spices. Or you can just make noodles the way that modern
Turks would working yogurt and cream into the dough as you make the noodles,
and rolling out "a thousand times." I suspect too that some early
"Mongolian" noodles were little more than strips of rolled dough, probably
worked in the Turkish manner, and added to the soup. Salma noodles would be
another option, but again they are stuffed. Remind me to post a recipe for
the latter if need be. Tutumash is still being made, so just look for a
recipe in a modern Turkish cookbook.

Paul D. Buell

PS: As a thickener: garbanzo beans would be the choice, but any squashed
bean would probably be OK. Don't overdo. Remember that today's potatoes
probably replace beans.

##############################################

I suspect that we won't use the yogurt in the noodles, because Margali has
allergy issues. Would Sour Cream work, from a textural POV? Need to find out
more about the various noodles....

Phlip