There are many types of goulashes made in the Czech Republic, and Czechs say that you can make a delicious goulash from every kind of meat. Pork goulash is one of the most popular ones. Goulashes are very popular among Czechs who either eat them as an ordinary meal or serve them not only in restaurants but also on many special occasions like village balls or celebrations. However, all Czech will tell you that the restaurant version of this dish is nothing compared to a homemade one. You can serve goulash in many ways, for example, with Czech bread dumplings or a simple slice of bread.
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Ingredients

2  1/4 lbs pork shoulder
3 medium onions
2 Tbs ground paprika
4 Tbs lard for frying
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbs marjoram
1 tsp ground caraway seeds (for grinding the seeds you can use an electric coffee grinder)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Dice meat to approximately 1 1/2 inches cubes. Melt the lard in a big skillet and fry the chopped onions. When they turn gold, sprinkle with paprika. After half a minute add meat and stir it thoroughly. The meat will color, get smaller, and start releasing the juices. You can pour a little water in the skillet so that the meat won’t burn, and roast it for a few minutes. Add salt, ground black pepper, and ground caraway seeds, pour in a little water, stir it, cover the dish, reduce the flame, and braise the meat. Continually check the meat, stir it, and add water if needed. You cannot add too much water as we would cook the meat.

Version 1
Braise the meat for two hours, then uncover, stop adding water, and stir the meat. When the liquid starts reducing, sprinkle the meat with flour and stir it thoroughly until the flour turns brown. You must do this quickly. Then pour in water and stir it, cover the skillet and braise the meat until it is soft.

Version 2
Braise the meat for two hours, then pour in water and add dark roux (to make a dark roux you must heat lard or oil in a frying pan, add flour, and heat it until it turns brown), stir, and cook it until the meat is soft.

For both versions
It is good to add more water in the end, since a goulash is better with more gravy. In the end, add minced garlic and marjoram. You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

To make it easier
You can also make goulash in a pressure cooker – it is the easiest way. Fry the chopped onions in lard, color it with paprika, quickly fry the meat, salt it, add a little water, and add ground caraway seeds and black pepper. Use more water than in the previous versions and cover the cooker for half an hour. Then add flour mixed in water, cook for a while, add minced garlic and marjoram and, voilà, you have quite a good goulash as well.

As said in the beginning, you can eat goulash with Czech bread dumplings, bread, or even with rice.

It is also possible to sprinkle your goulash with chopped onion when served.

Please Note: There are several regional variants of this recipe. This is one of them.

This post was created by volunteers. You may help and support by clicking here.

This post was created by volunteers. You may help and support Czech-American TV by clicking here.