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FYI:

Gulasch is a German word, (pronounced "goo-lash"), and it is a standard meal in that country and much of Central Europe. But the original recipe is Hungarian, dating from the 9th century, and is often associated with a place called Szeged, which is famous for growing and drying peppers / paprika. The Hungarian word is Gulyas. It's pronounced something like "goo-ill-ya-shh", (said as one flowing word). It was originally a folk's dish, a shepherd's meal, cooked on a heavy iron kettle over an open fire.

You'll need a good quality sweet paprika for this meal. The recipe I have is from 1958, from my Hungarian mother-in-law's recipe book.

Transylvanian Gulyas:

2 lb sauerkraut
2 lb pork
2 onions
Red paprika pepper (1 heaped teaspoon)
2 fresh tomatoes or tomato paste
Salt
Sour cream
2 tablespoons lard, (or vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons chopped bacon.
flour.

Chop onions, put the 2 tablespoons of lard into a pan and when hot, add the onions. Stir until golden brown. Put in a good teaspoon of paprika pepper; stir. Now add the washed and cut up meat, the chopped bacon, the tomatoes or tomato paste, and a cupful of water. Stir, cover and cook for one hour, stirring from time to time. In the meantime cook the sauerkraut in a large pan, with enough water to cover. (note, for those that don't use sauerkraut much, it's normal to rinse sauerkraut first through a sieve, keeping the juices. Just use enough of these blended back to your taste or it will likely be too strong).

When the meat has been cooking for one hour, put the lard into a frying pan and make a roux with the flour, adding to it some liquid from the sauerkraut. Stir once, then mix the roux with the sauerkraut and add the meat too. Cook until the meat is thoroughly soft. Before serving, add sour cream or yoghurt on top.

The same meal can be made with beef and is much the same but with red wine, carrots, a bay leaf, a generous pinch of caraways, garlic clove, (crushed), and some beef stock as well as paprika.

This dish can have potatoes added, but they should be boiled separately. If re-heating leftovers, the potatoes tend to make the sauerkraut pasty. A peeled and sliced apple can (and should!), also be added to the sauerkraut, just as the onions start to colour.

I might have a German venison recipe variant for this dish, but my German hunting friend has my recipe book which he's probably forgotten about! It seems to me that, if you want to cook venison and sauerkraut, you might want to also consider Polish Bigos recipes which is another meal that is often served at communal hunts. It's equally delicious.

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