Category: Main Course/ Secondo/Substantial

DUCK BREAST, ALCOHOL and EMBELLISHMENTS

Duck is what I cooked one night last week for dinner.

The greatest component in my diet has always been vegetables, but now and again there is a definite main dish.

Most of my cooking is about “using up” something and I chose duck because I had some left over cumquats in the fridge. Last year when it was cumquat season I preserved some in vodka, and some in brandy. When I remember that I have them I sometimes present them at the end of a meal when I have guests. There were a few cumquats in vodka left over from a dinner with friends recently.

Duck breast does not have to be a dish for important events. It is very quick and easy to cook especially if it is pan fried and the cost is very similar to free range chicken.

An advantage of pan frying duck is that you can quickly and efficiently drain off the fat either to keep for another time or to pan fry potatoes, cooked beforehand and browned in the fry pan.

Pan fried duck is versatile, and you can alter and enhance its taste with the addition of small amounts of other ingredients like pulses, nuts, fruit, herbs and vegetables. Different liquids (alcohol, flavoured stocks) used to deglaze the pan will make delicious sauces.

What is added to the duck is the embellishment and not the vegetable sides. When I cook a protein main (meat, fish, cheese, eggs), I always present it with large quantities of vegetables. On this occasion the accompaniments were sautéed spinach cooked in a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic, and some steamed green beans.

I use mostly wine, vinegar or stock for deglazing but I also like different-tasting alcohols perhaps because there are many bottles left over in my cupboard from past times when serving a nip of spirits instead of a simple aperitivo before a meal or as a digestivo after, was fashionable.  I particularly like to use different flavoured grappa, vodka, vermouth, brandy, Pernod and dry marsala. I prefer the sweeter liqueurs for desserts.

I am almost embarrassed to show you this photo but in some ways the “‘using up” priciple applies.

As well as playing around with alcohol, I am a great user of herbs and spices and I greatly enjoy selecting what could pair well with the ingredients I am using.

The recipe below may help clarify what I am discussing above.

I use a non-stick pan, to prevent the duck from sticking during cooking. I used another frypan to cook the potatoes.

INGREDIENTS

Duck – 2 pieces of breast, a couple of spring onions, a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Cumquats in vodka, star anise and some blood orange juice.

Fresh herbs were parsley and thyme.

PROCESS

Score the skin, forming a grid of fairly deep cuts. This assists the speed of cooking and the fat to melt and escape.

Heat a smear of oil in the pan and place the duck pieces on top and always skin side down first, so that the fat melts.  I added thyme.

Keep the duck on that skin fat side first and drain the fat off at least a couple of times as you are cooking that side of the duck. This may take about ten minutes.

Turn the meat over, seasoning with salt and pepper and continue cooking for another 6-8 minutes. I like my duck pink and you may wish to cook your duck for longer.

Remove the meat from the pan and rest it while you deal with the sauce and complimentary ingredients. At this stage you may notice that there is still some blood running off the meat but the duck will be added to the sauce once it is made and this will finish the cooking.

Make sure that there is still some grease in the pan (or add some oil) for the next part of the cooking. Begin with some finely chopped shallot or a spring onion or two and toss them around till softened. I then added some parsley.

Now is the time to add some partly cooked vegetable, fruit or pulses to the pan and as you see in my recipe, I added the comquats and I drained them first.

Add a glass of alcohol and on this occasion, mine was vodka, paying close attention to the height of the flame and safety issues. The vodka  had some star anise and some blood orange as flavouring I had used for the cumquats.

When the alcohol has completely evaporated, return the duck breasts back in the pan to flavour for a few minutes.  Slice the meat and serve them in the sauce.

 

It looks so elaborate for a weekday dinner, but it was quick and easy.

Preserving cumquats in alcohol is super easy:

Wash and dry cumquats well, prick each one several times with a fine skewer or a thick needle.
Place cumquats into sterilised jars, add spices, for example – star anise, cinnamon, vanilla beans; pour liqueur or spirit to cover cumquats completely. I rarely add sugar and in most cases the liqueur I add is sweet enough. If I add sugar I dissolve it in a little hot water.
Stand the jars in a cool, dark place for at least 2 months before using.
See also:

Other duck recipes:

RIGATONI CON RAGU; ANATRA (duck ragout)

DUCK AND MUSHROOM RAGÙ

DUCK AND MUSHROOM RAGÙ

Sicilian Duck with green olives and anchovies; Anatra a Papparedda cu ulivi

LEFTOVERS, PAN FRIED DUCK WITH DRIED CHERRIES, PARSLEY OIL recipes

 

 

OVEN COOKED KID (capretto)

I am writing about kid, not goat. Unlike goat, there was very little fat and the meat did not exude that characteristic, heavy smell of game that is present when cutting goat and mutton.

Capretto, Italians call it and it is a meat that is not cooked regularly, but is often cooked on special occasions. I bought it from an Italian butcher. I went in to buy  some pork sausages but when I saw what the Italian customers that were lining up at the counter were all buying, I did the same. I bought capretto.

The Italian word for goat is capra and like mutton, goat is not generally eaten in Italy.

I marinaded it overnight with extra virgin olive oil, red wine, fennel seeds, bay leaves, rosemary, onion and sage. As you can see in the photo there is plenty of marinade; I wanted the meat to be quite well covered and intended to use the marinade in the cooking.

Nothing is wasted, the herbs are discarded and replaced with fresh herbs. This is because I have herbs growing on my balcony and I can afford to do this. I added garlic when i ws ready to cook the meat.

The important thing to do in this recipe is to cook the usual soffritto base that is omnipresent in Italian cooking – onion, carrot and celery – in extra virgin olive oil and make sure that the soffritto vegetables are caramilised before combining it with the drained marinaded meat.The meat does not need to be browned before hand making the cooking process easier and quicker. I have a cast iron baking pan that is very convenient for putting directly onto the stove.

The soffritto took about 15 minutes to soften and caramilise the vegetables ad this process adds a much enriched flavour to the dish. A dash of passata or some peeled red tomatoes also adds to the taste and colour to the braise.

Once you have drained the meat  and removed the old herbs use the marinade to the capretto. Add fresh herbs and some stock. As you can see in the photo there is enough liquid to almost cover the meat.

Cover the pan with some foil or a lid and leave it to cook in a slow oven. Mine was set at 170C degrees  and because I have two similar baking trays the spare one made a good lid.

Remove the foil after an hour. Move the meat around and add more broth or water and cook it uncovered until the meat is separated from the bones. I baked mine for about two hours without the foil, but made sure that if I needed to add more liquid, I had some stock to use.

The results were delicious. The vegetables almost melted, the meat was easily detached from the bone, it smelled great and tasted even better. And yes, it was a special meal.

I presented it with baked potatoes and braised endives sautéed with anchovies.

The kid weighed 2 kilos. as you can see there was very little fat.

This is not the first time I have cooked capretto – kid/goat

BRAISED KID (capretto) in a simple marinade of red wine, extra virgin olive oil and herbs

RICETTE per capretto (e capra); Recipes for slow cooked kid and goat

RAGU` DI CAPRETTO; Goat/ kid ragout as a dressing for pasta

SPEZZATINO DI CAPRETTO (Italian Goat/ Kid stew)

KID/GOAT WITH ALMONDS (SPRING IN SICILY, CAPRETTO CON LE MANDORLE)

SLOW COOKED LEG OF GOAT WITH HOT MINT SAUCE

SICILIAN SEAFOOD COOKING, ITALIANICIOUS and READER’S FEAST Bookstore. Recipe for Slow cooked goat in Nero D’Avola

 

BAKED FISH WITH POTATOES, VINEGAR and ANCHOVIES

It is the season to begin thinking about fish and how to cook it to make it special.

Baked Fish With Potatoes, Vinegar And Anchovies Sicilian – Pisci o furno chi patati  is a recipe from my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking (now out of print), and it is so simple to cook that I could do it with my eyes closed.

The fish is a locally caught sustainable Snapper. You can see that I make slits in the fish’s sides and in the slits I insert a couple of anchovies. If you don’t like anchovies use fresh herbs; good for this fish are wild fennel, thyme, rosemary or tarragon.

I made the marinade and marinaded the fish in your baking tray for an hour before cooking.

In the marinade you can see that I have used consists of chopped parsley, quite a bit of onion and grated lemon peel. The liquid is: extra virgin olive oil, some wine vinegar and some lemon juice. Add a bit of salt and pepper also. I have included some quantities in the recipe below, but really, the fun of cooking is also experimenting.

Mix up the marinade and let the fish steep in it for about an hour. Turn it over a few times before you bake it. You can bake potatoes with it if you wish and the potatoes take on that lemon flavour that often Greek baked potatoes have when baked with lemon (usually cooked with chicken). The Greeks did settle in Sicily after all!

I usually part-cook my potatoes and put them in to bake with the fish about 15mins before I think the fish is ready. Raw slices of potatoes are used in the recipe and these will require longer cooking time, but do whatever you think is more practical for you.

 

PESCE INFORNATO CON PATATE/ Sicilian – Pisci o furno chi patati
Baked fish with potatoes (and vinegar and anchovies)
Ingredients
1–1.5kg (2lb 4oz–3lb 5oz) whole fish
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 onions, finely chopped a small bunch parsley, finely chopped
250g (9oz) potatoes, thinly sliced or par-boiled potatoes in chunks
3–6 anchovies, finely chopped (see above)
juice of 2 lemons, plus grated zest of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Suitable fish
Any whole fish or large, thick fillets of medium to firm fish, preferably with the skin on. The fish is cooked whole, filleted and portioned at the table.
Method
If using whole fish or fillets with skin, make a series of slashes in the skin. Mix
the oil with the vinegar, onions and parsley. Add seasoning and marinate the
fish for about an hour, turning frequently.
Place the fish in an ovenproof dish, spoon half of the marinade over it and bake for 10 minutes in a 200°C (400°F) oven. Arrange the sliced potatoes around the fish. Sprinkle the potatoes and the fish with more marinade, the anchovies, lemon juice and grated zest. Bake for another 20–35 minutes, depending on the type of fish. Serve hot.
To see if the fish is cooked to your liking, you can test  the fish with a fork held at an angle. Insert it at the thickest point of the fish and twist the fork. it should flake easily.
Variation
Place rosemary and bay leaves underneath the fish in the baking pan.
See:
There is a photo in this post where I used red onion and it can look quite spectacular.

THE MANY VERSIONS OF CAPONATE and grilled food

Cooking and eating is greatly influenced by the seasonal variations in weather and the available seasonal produce.

Abundant in summer are eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers/capsicum and I enjoy making the most of these vibrant ingredients during this time.  Summer is also a time for grilled food that adds both char and depth of flavor to food.

Celebrating what’s in season enhances the taste of our dishes and allows us to connect more closely with nature’s cycles.

There are recipes in this post for grilled sardines and squid. Also grilled zucchini,  eggplants and peppers and a version of caponata as baked in the oven. A celery caponata makes a perfect and easy accompaniment for grilled food.

I particularly like grilled fish, especially sardines.

And squid tastes fantastic grilled, the charring adds so much flavour and character.  The tentacles are good too and apart from having a more intense flavour they offer a different texture. Squid will not need much cooking, especially if it has been marinading beforehand for an hour or so. Cook the squid quickly – about 5 mins on one side, flip it over and cook the other side for less. The marinade can be as uncomplicated as a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and a few herbs of your choice. To the marinade this time, I also added a splash of white wine.

A simple drizzle of good, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice could be sufficient as a finishing dressing, especially it you are accompanying the squid with some flavourful side dishes.

There are also two accompanying,  Sicilian green, traditional sauces  –  Salmoriglio and Zogghiu to accompany all grilled food.

As for the accompanying dishes, I made two different Sicilian caponate (plural of caponata) and a green salad.

Caponate also make good starters and they taste better if cooked days before, making them an easy option. They are always served at room temperature: take them out of the fridge about 30 mins before serving.

Caponata as cooked in the oven

I cooked one of the caponate in the oven and used eggplants, onions, celery and peppers/capsicums. To make it different,  apart from baking the vegetables, I also added fennel seeds, plenty of basil and garlic as well as the customary green olives, capers, sugar, vinegar and pine nuts.

I definitely prefer the traditional method of sautéing  of each of the vegetables in hot oil because although I roasted the vegetables at high temperatures, they released far too many juices. I drained the liquid and evaporated in a saucepan and then pour it back into the oven tray. In the end it did taste good, but the flavour took far too long to fix.

Cool the caponata. Place the basil and toasted pine nuts on the caponata at the time of serving.

The caponata in the photo below is made with celery.  This caponata is very quick to cook and the addition of sultanas accentuate the sweet taste. The vinegar (present in all caponate) provides the sour taste and this cooked salad tastes very much like a pickle.

This celery caponata has the addition of toasted almonds rather than pine nuts.

The celery and onions are the only two vegetable ingredients and they can be sautéed in the same pan at the same time. Once they are slightly softened, add the drained and plump sultanas that have been soaking in water for an hour or so.  Add a little sugar and once the sugar begins to caramelise, add a splash of vinegar and evaporate.

Friends also enjoy the chocolate version of caponata. Pieces of dark chocolate are added in the final stages of cooking the eggplant version of caponata that is characteristic of Palermo and its region.

The caponata that includes peppers is typical of Catania and its region.

GRILLED CALAMARI (CALAMARI ‘NTA BRACI (Sicilian) – CALAMARI ALLA BRACE (Italian)

SARDINES, grilled or barbecued with Sicilian dressings

SALAMURRIGGHIU – SALMORIGLIO (Dressing made with oil, lemon and oregano)

ZOGGHIU (Sicilian pesto/dressing made with garlic, parsley and mint)

ANTIPASTO – GRILLED SUMMER VEGETABLES AND A SCOOP OF SALADS

CAPONATA FROM PALERMO (made with eggplants)

CAPONATA Catanese (from Catania) made easy with photos

CAPONATA DI NATALE (Christmas, winter caponata made with celery, almonds and sultanas)

For more recipes for different versions of Caponata, use the search button.

BRAISED KID (capretto) in a simple marinade of red wine, extra virgin olive oil and herbs

Marinating is an effective way to add flavour, moisture and to tenderize meat before cooking. I do this with all the large pieces of meat that are going to be slow cooked. Even steak, pork fillets and some fish get a short session of marinade, even if it is just a splash or rubbing of extra virgin olive oil with seasoning, garlic and/or herbs. For most of my large pieces of meat,  I often use an acid , like, wine, citrus juice or vinegar. This component of the marinade helps to tenderise the meat.  The herbs and spices enhance the flavour. Good olive oil has a multi-purpose function.  It adds a distinct taste, melds the different flavours of the marinade together and, after the meat is drained from the marinade , some of the oil that has adhered  to the meat assists in the browning process.

For this braise, I bought 3 legs of kid (capretto) and deboned it. This amounted to roughly 1.5 kg. The same marinade can be used for goat, lamb or sheep and would also be good for beef.

There were four of us for dinner and there were some leftovers that I converted into a Sardinian-flavoured sauce for gnochetti by adding a few, common Sardinian ingredients.

1.5 kg of kid, cubed
Marinade: 750g (1bottle) of red wine,1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, herbs – bay leaves, rosemary, sage, thyme, juniper berries
Leave meat in marinade for about 8 hours.

The meat is drained from the marinade before browning and braising.

For the soffritto: 1 onion, 2 carrots,1 stick of celery, all finely chopped.
Stock is added during cooking to ensure that the meat remains moist.

Pancetta or speck, about 50g bought as a whole piece and cut into small cubes, 
extra virgin olive oil to brown the meat,
salt to taste,
fresh herbs, peppercorns and juniper berries (as above) to replace the spent herbs and flavourings from the marinade.

Make the marinade, add the cubed pieces of meat and leave it to marinate for 8 hours.
When ready to cook, drain the meat, save the marinade and remove all of the herbs, peppercorns and juniper berries.

Use a heavy based saucepan for cooking.

Brown the meat, a little at a time. Do not overcrowd the meat. Remove the meat and set aside.

Sauté the pancetta or speck in extra virgin olive oil.

Add the onion first and  stir it around the hot pan to soften. Next, add the carrots and celery and slowly sauté the ingredients. This is the soffritto.

Add the browned meat.

Add the marinade, fresh herbs, seasoning and flavourings. Add some stock during the cooking process as the meat dries out. I added about 1 cup of stock. It is always easy to evaporate excess liquid at the end of cooking rather than cooking meat in too little liquid.

Cover the pan and braise slowly.

The meat I cooked must have been quite tender because it cooked in two hours.
Remove the meat and evaporate some of the liquid.

I presented the meat with braised Brussel sprouts, sautéd mushrooms and roasted, squashed potatoes. Baked polenta would have been good too.

What did I do with the leftovers?

Lamb and goat are often used in Sardinian dishes.

For the Sardinian style pasta, I sautéd a little onion in some olive oil, a added some saffron that had been soaking in stock, a little tomato paste and the meat with its leftover juices.

I used gnocchetti sardi – shaped pasta. I added shards of pecorino cheese when I presented the pasta and emulated Sardinian ingredients and flavours .

Other kid or goat recipes:

RAGU` DI CAPRETTO – Goat/ kid ragout as a dressing for pasta

RICETTE per capretto (e capra) – Recipes for slow cooked kid and goat

MAIALE AL LATTE (Pork cooked in milk)

A winter dish you could say!

Not so.  Even if it is pork, MAIALE al latte is a light, delicate and sweet tasting dish, a classic recipe from the Veneto region of Italy.

This is one of the easiest and most delicious recipes for cooking a lump of pork, either the loin or the neck. I prefer it not to be a fatty piece of meat and I trim most of the fat off.

Many like to prepare a pork dish for Christmas. Pork braised in milk could make a pleasant  change!

I always use full cream milk. The milk separates into flavourful and creamy curds that can be gently strained out and served on the side or under the succulent, cooked meat that has been sliced. The meat juices and whey are the fragrant sauce.

Fresh sage, garlic and lemon rind are the flavours. I  also like to use quite a bit of black pepper.

I used a boneless loin of pork. Ingredients for 1k.500g:

extra virgin olive oil and butter to seal the meat and brown
1 small head of  garlic,  cloves peeled and halved
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh sage,  about 10 large leaves
full cream  milk, a sufficient amount to cover up to three quarters of the meat.
lemon peel from one large lemon cut into thin, wide strips – use a potato peeler.

Trim the fat off the meat, rub salt and pepper all over the pork and leave for about 10 mins.
Use a heavy-bottomed pot that is large enough to hold pork and milk that will almost cover the pork.
Brown the pork on all sides in some oil and butter. Use medium-high heat. Add pork and cook until well browned on all sides.
Add garlic and sage and milk. Bring to a boil, add lemon zest, reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and gently simmer the meat. Resist stirring. Turn over the meat a couple of times and cook for about 3 hours.  The milk will have reduced and golden curds would have formed. It will smell like caramel.

Transfer meat to a cutting board and let it rest while you lift off the curds gently and separate them from the liquid. The garlic will have dissolved into the sauce. Remove the lemon peel and the sage leaves. Skim off any fat (I did not need to do this as my meat was pretty lean).

Slice the meat.  Serve  on a bed of curds and the caramel meat juices poured on top.

Present with asparagus for a taste of summer.

FREE RANGE PORK WITH NORTHERN ITALIAN FLAVOURS

This pork was simply and quickly cooked but delicious. The meat was tender and flavourful.

IMG_2947

This Berkshire pork  comes from Brooklands Free Range Farms in Blamfield, in the central highlands of Victoria.

IMG_2948.jpg

If you live in Victoria, the pork is sold in some of Farmers Markets – see list on the photo below, it is on the back of their business card.

IMG_2949

I used sage, thyme and juniper berries, northern Italian flavours. There are a couple of Sicilian recipes at the end of this post.

When I use juniper berries I like to deglaze the pan either with dry vermouth or gin rather than white wine. Juniper berries are a spice used in a wide variety of culinary dishes and best known for the primary flavouring in gin – you will not need much and it will enhance the taste of the sauce.

IMG_2943

A little extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of a frypan, put in the meat, a little salt, herbs and  some juniper berries. I used about 8. And look how lean and pink the pork is!

IMG_2944

Turn them over when they are coloured on one side, cover and cook on low heat for about 6 minutes.

IMG_2945

Turn again, deglaze. Turn off heat, rest for a few minutes before serving.

Thank you Brooklands Free Range Farms for producing top quality produce and what i particularly like is that these pigs not only frolic on rich volcanic soils but that other local producers contribute to feeding these pigs- local grain, vegetables and whey. The pigs also eat seasonal acorns…very European.

Sicilian recipes for pork:
BRACIOLI DI MAIALI O’ VINU (Sicilian for Pork Chops Cooked In Wine)

PORK IN RAGUSA (I Ragusani mangiano molto maiale)

 

 

MUSSELS (Cozze) IN BRODETTO (Mussels in a little broth)

IMG_2797It turned out rather well and we ate it with oven toasted bread rubbed and baked with extra virgin olive oil and garlic.

IMG_2779

There were four separate components:

  • a tomato salsa – extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic cloves, fresh oregano and a little rosemary,

  • steamed mussels (cozze), most taken out of their shells…. a little white wine and a little fish stock,

IMG_2782

  • a soffritto of celery, chopped fennel, spring onions and baby carrots,

IMG_2781

  • chopped herbs – fennel fronds and parsley.

IMG_2796

All assembled at the end to make this:

IMG_2797 Was it Italian regional?

I do not know. I used Italian methods and ingredients and I guess that it could have been made in any part of Italy. Maybe in the South a little chilli would be added.

And we liked it.

CHICKEN WITH SAUERKRAUT, from the Carso, in north eastern Italy, near Trieste

This is a simple dish with flavours from north eastern Italy, in an area between Slovenia and the Adriatic, south of Monfalcone and close to Trieste called the Carso (Karst in German, Kras in Slovenian).

The ingredients in the recipe are simple and reflect the flavours of Hungary and Germany, Russia and countries in Eastern Europe but also Trieste – chicken, sauerkraut, onion, lardo and white wine.This is not surprising as Trieste used to be part of the Austro- Hungarian Empire

I first came across a version of this recipe in Fred Plotkin’s book, La Terra Fortunata, (published in 2001). I have made versions of this dish before but have used chicken with bones as the recipe suggests, but this time I used boneless chicken and some fatty bacon that needed using. Having lived in Trieste I am very familiar with sauerkraut and cooking with smoked pork and pork fat (on the odd occasion) and I invariably have jars of sauerkraut at home, especially in winter for making dishes like iota.

IMG_2693

Lardo is an Italian salume that is eaten and widely used in Italian cuisine especially in northern Italy; it is made from the thick layer of fat from the back of a pig and cured with a mixture of salt, herbs, and spices;  the most esteemed Italian lardo is aged in the warm, fresh caves in the area of Carrara (famous for its marble) and no additives or preservatives are used.

Lardo Affumicato is Speck. This also is used widely in cooking of Trieste and Italian regions that used to be part of the Austrian- Hungarian Empire.

The rendered fat from the  lardo or bacon is the fat used in this recipe. (Pork fat, or rendered pork fat is also called lardo in Italian and is lard in English).

It is not necessary to specify amounts as this recipe and like most Italian recipes it relies on estimations and what you like, but I used roughly 1k of chicken, 5 rashes of fatty bacon and about 500g of sauerkraut (drained and squeezed in a colander). If you want more bacon use it, more sauerkraut…by all means.

Gently fry the bacon or lardo in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat and when there is sufficient melted fat in the pan sear the chicken pieces till golden.

IMG_2702

Fry the chicken in batches so as not to crowd the chicken pieces in the pan while searing.

Once you have seared the meat, add a sliced small onion and cook it gently till softened and golden.

Add some peppercorns , bay leaves and the sauerkraut and cook it gently for about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken, some white wine (about 1/2 cup) and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and cook gently for about 20 minutes. If necessary add more wine or water to keep it moist while it is cooking,

 

IMG_2716

If you are using chicken with bones cook it for longer (30-40 mins depending on the size of the chicken).

 

 

 

 

Goulash (Gulyás in Magyar) and Gulasch in Trieste

Having travelled to Tyrol, Vienna and Russia recently where I saw Goulash (Gulyás in Hungary) frequently on menus, once home I dipped into my recipe books of Hungary and found George Lang’s Cuisine of Hungary to be the most informative and detailed.

IMG_9127.jpg

I have been making Gulasch (in Triestian, dialect of Trieste) for a long time. As a child I lived in Trieste and not very far back in time Trieste was part of the Hungary – Austrian Empire and Gulasch is now part of the cooking of Trieste.

I have a fair few recipes of the cuisine of Trieste and all are made with meat, onions and paprika. Mostly the onions and meat are browned with lard and olive oil, bacon is not used, none have peppers or potatoes or any other vegetables or are thickened with flour. Some recipes suggest using caraway seeds, some a little tomato paste. None suggest adding red wine.

The main differences in my version of Gulasch as made in Trieste are:

I use wine or alcohol often in my cooking and have always added red wine to Goulash. Perhaps my mother did this and I have never questioned it.  I always use herbs in my cooking so I add bay leaves, as these seem to be the most appropriate. I also use a mixture of hot and sweet paprika.

IMG_9120

I do not add potatoes to the braise and prefer to present then separately, either Patate in teccia or creamy mashed potatoes with lashings of milk and butter. However, I am more likely to present it with Polenta, a favourite accompaniment in the cooking of Trieste. Below Goulash as presented in a restaurant in Tyrol. It was accompanied with braised red cabbage.

IMG_1732

George Lang says that that a true gulyás should contain no spice other than paprika and caraway. Lard and bacon (either one or both) and chopped onion are absolute musts.
Never use and flour, Never Frenchify it with wine, Never Germanize it with brown sauce. Never put in any other garniture besides diced potatoes or galuska (dumplings).

But many variations are possible – you may use fresh tomatoes or tomato puree, garlic, sliced green peppers, hot cherry peppers to make it spicy and so on.

This recipe Kettle Gulyás comes from “The Cuisine of Hungary” by George Lang (Penguin Books, 1971).

2 tablespoons lard (or substitute canola or other vegetable oil)

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

2 1/2 pounds beef chuck or round, cut to 3/4-inch cubes

1/2 pound beef heart (optional), cut to 3/4-inch cubes

1 garlic clove

Pinch caraway seeds

Salt

2 tablespoons paprika

1 medium-sized ripe tomato

2 green frying or Italian peppers

1 pound potatoes

IMG_9121

Peel onions and chop into coarse pieces. Melt lard in a heavy 6 to 8-quart Dutch oven. Add the beef cubes to the oil and brown. Work in batches if necessary, removing cubes as they are browned. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Add onions to the pot. Heat should be low in order not to brown the onions. When onions become glossy, add back the seared beef. Stir.

IMG_9123

Meanwhile, chop and crush the garlic with the caraway seeds and a little salt; use the flat side of a heavy knife.

Take kettle from heat. Stir in paprika and the garlic mixture. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon. Immediately after paprika is absorbed, add 2 1/2 quarts warm water. (Cool water toughens meat if you add it with the meat is frying.)

Replace covered kettle over low heat and cook for about 1 hour.

While the braising is going on, peel the tomato, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Core green peppers and slice into rings. Peel potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch dice.

After the meat has been braised for about 1 hour (the time depends on the cut of the meat), add the tomato and green peppers and enough water to give a soup consistency. Add a little salt. Simmer slowly for another 30 minutes.

Add potatoes and cook the gulyás till done. Adjust salt. Add hot cherry pepper pods if you want to make the stew spicy hot.

For my recipe of Gulasch, as cooked in Trieste see:

GULASCH (Goulash, as made in Trieste)