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A week ago made up a new batch of goulash. Having visited Transylvania recently and enjoyed the local goulash a number of times, but too few times, so decided to make my own when returning home. Lots of lovely Transylvanian and Romanian dishes when in the country, so enjoyed many different dishes of the cuisine. The Transylvanian goulash soups were less spicy than the recipe I make. Transylvania was part of Hungary for a long time. Also had a sizable German population in the Southern part of the Carpathian mountains from many centuries ago, until the people migrated away after WW1, WW2 and finally the 1990's. Many of these villages ar enow empty or only a few houses occupied, or new inhabitants having moved into the empty houses. Sizable and lovely cities now have new Romanian names.

This batch of goulash was made in the city, so no fire cooking. Also I forgot to get out the venison from the freezer, so this one was pork along with some kassler which I like adding. About a two kilogram roast of pork with the rind removed, and cut into chunks. Vegetables were in the quantity I had brought with me, so either similar to the mark II recipe or half of it. Recipes are not "painting by numbers" but changable variations. Which still work.

So I ended up with two much for a pot on the stove. So made up two lots, about half of the Mark II quantity in volume. So I used a stove top pot and a slow cooker. I thought the slow cooker would result in some wonderful result. Each had about a quarter of the paprika, hot and sweet, so about half in total. I decided to add some extra sweet paprika to both pots, a bit in the stove pot and a fair extra to the slow cooker.

How did it all work out?

Ate a meal of the stove top pot dish that night. It was lovely and thick, the "gravy" was smooth and thick. But it was HOT! Hotter than I wanted and liked. Edible, but really was wondering if I would enjoy eating it much.

Was worried about the slow cooker, as I had added more paprika to it than the stove top pot. BUT it ended up mild. Perfect for the wife, but milder than I like it. The meat was less tender and the vegetables more solid than the stove top pot. Opposite to what I expected.

After separating some of the milder spiced version for the wife, ended up mixing the two together for a quite perfect spicey result. Hot but not over the top.

So in future the quicker stove pot or fire pot method will be my choice. Not a slow cooker. Unless it is made well before needed and can cook for a long time without me having to supervise it every half hour or so.

Goulash perfect for winter and cold frosty nights. So good, there isn't much left, so another cook up might be needed this July. The next will be venison, pork and kassler. Yum.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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