re: [CH] Boo Ghoulash!
The Old Bear (oldbear@arctos.com)
Sat, 03 Oct 1998 04:24:36 -0400
In ChileHeads Digest, v.5 #64, Cameron Begg wrote:
>Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 13:39:05 -0500
>From: Cameron Begg <begg.4@osu.edu>
>Subject: [CH] Boo Ghoulash!
>
>The head of our department was in Budapest recently and brought me back a
>little bag of paprika. It says on the bag: "Eros fuszerpaprika orlemeny
>Scharf". I think the "scharf" is german for sharp which will translate to
>"hot". It is actually about as hot as a mild New Mex powder but has a good
>flavor. Any Hungarian C-H's have good goulash instructions for me? Or is
>that a bit like asking for a "chile" recipe?
Hungarian Paprika is actually a chile powder made from the mildest of
the capsicum family, and the best paprikas have the delightful property
of embodying the fruitiness and overtones which are always present in
the best hot chile powders. But, unlike New Mexico chile powder,
good paprika puts these subtleties center stage, rather than leaving
them in their usual supporting role to the dominant sensation of heat.
About a year ago, I really wanted to come up with something that would
show off this characteristic fruitiness of paprika, and concocted a
very simple recipe for Mushrooms Paprikash:
The Old Bear's Mushrooms Paprikash
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1/2 large sweet onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1/3 cup butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup sour cream
salt to taste (optional)
crusty french bread
Melt half of the butter in a deep sauce pan. Saute
onions until translucent and tender. Add the remaining
butter and allow it to melt. Add the paprika and
cayenne. This quantity of paprika will form a
roux. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender.
Do not overcook the mushrooms or they will lose their
texture. Stir in the sour cream and allow to heat
gently until warm. Serve over rounds of lightly
toasted crusty French bread.
This recipe is easy to adjust as you cook. Add more
butter or more paprika to get a nice, thick roux which looks
almost like a flour-and-butter roux. We've found the 1/4
teaspoon of cayenne is just about right, but you may want a
little more bite -- but be careful, because if you add too
much, you'll lose the paprika under the cayenne and come out
with something more akin to Tex-Mex Mushrooms, which is not
the intent.
We've served this as an appetizer at a dinner party, as a
light supper (with a small green salad and a crisp chilled
white wine), and as a family lunch. Most people who try it
are surprised by the robust flavor of the paprika because
they're used to more traditional paprikash recipes which
typically use about 1/3 of the quantity of paprika.
Cheers,
The Old Bear