Tomas’s Gulas

Heat definitions

• low heat: boiling occurs, but it does not boil much without a lid
• medium heat: boiling occurs even without a lid
• hight heat: boiling is too fast with a cover, frying is possible

Ingredients

All the quantities are for 4 servings.

• ~ 800 g of meat
  • Beef preferably
  • Choose a cheaper but more textured meat for a better flavor. However, it takes longer to cook it (4 hours+), and it can take a significant time to prepare the meat.
  • Choose more expensive but cleaner/nicer meat (steak-type). It cooks faster (< 2 hrs), and its much simple to chop. However, the gulas might not be that full of splendor.
  • Pork is also an alternative
• ~ 400 - 600 g of onions
  • white onion
• 4+ cloves of garlic
  • At least one clove per serving
  • There cannot be too much garlic
• ~ 100 g of tomato puree
  • better than fresh tomatoes, which are usually unripe and can be much sourer
  • this ingredience is optional, some people make gulas without it
• beef broth
  • is not vital, but makes the Gulas much richer
• paprika spice, salt, pepper (whole and/or powdered), 1 bay leaf, 4 allspice seeds
• vegetable oil/animal fat, butter
• flour
• 1 big pot

Preparation

1. Chop the meat to small pieces. The smaller they are, the shorter the cooking time is gonna be.
2. Chop the onions to tiny pieces. You do not need to be thorough, any size will do ;-).
3. Slice the garlic cloves to thin slices.

Making the base (Gulasovy zaklad)

1. fire up your pot on high heat and wait for it to become hot
2. add oil/animal fat, approx 2 tablespoons
3. add butter, approx 1 tablespoon (the butter should start melting instantly if you had the temperature right)
4. add the onions and 1/2 of the sliced cloves of garlic
5. stirfry the onion with the garlic till the onion becomes caramelized
6. add paprika spice: moderately cover the onions, so they disappear under the red powder, can’t go much wrong with too much paprika
7. -> medium heat
8. stirfry for ~ 3 minutes

Adding the meat

1. add the meat, + 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper per person, + 1 bay leaf, + 4 allspice seeds
2. if possible, try to fry the meat a little, but when it starts to release a juice:
3. add the broth if you have it (any amount is welcomed)
4. cover the pot with a lid and let it boil
5. the meat will release a “juice”, if your pot is of appropriate dimensions, the meat should be all submerged in approx 1/2 hour
6. add the tomato puree
7. -> low heat

Boiling the Gulas

1. boil for 2 to 6 hours depending on the meat type, your time, patience, and hunger
2. add broth/water to keep the proto-Gulash gravy level such the meat is submerged
3. add the remaining garlic approx. 1 hour before finishing
4. finishing: add salt and pepper according to your taste, add sugar if the Gulash seems to be too sour (due to the tomato puree), add water/broth if you feel you need more gravy
5. If the gravy is too runny, use any method to thicken it up. The n.1 suggestion is to add a cup of cold water with approx 2+ tablespoons of flour (thoroughly mixed in). Boil for at least 5 minutes.

Tomas’s tips and tricks

• Ideally, the consistency should end up perfect without any artificial thickening. So be careful how much water you add.
• If you have some meat cutoffs which look like white pieces of fat, use them for frying the onions instead of the oil / added fat.
• If you store the meat and the onions in the fridge, take them out in advance and let them warm up, it will make the initial frying faster and easier.
• You can add the paprika spice anytime during the cooking if you feel like its not red enough.
• Leave the Gulash in the fridge (or out) till the next day, it will be much better later.
• You can leave out most of the ingredients, the most important is the meat, the onions, the garlic, and the paprika.
• You can add beer to you gulas. I suggest a dark beer, e.g., Kozel.

Photos