Random Thought Thread

tinfoil hat timmy said:
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Got a good laugh out that one Timmy. Lol

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fatfrog said:
Have you ever had a knife-related nightmare? I dreamt I snapped the tip off my Boot Dagger the other night and Nathan and I tried to fix it but nothing worked. Literally woke up covered in sweat feeling sad and stressed.
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You're not going to snap the tip off that boot dagger
 
bluemax_1 said:
Would be interested in the recipe if you don't mind sharing it.
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Hey Blue, here is a basic heirloom recipe. It's a beef goulash but you can take it any way you want--it's not fussy. I usually use sausages, actually. It's really great with harder "hunter's style" sausages that they sell in butcher shops. The basic idea is to use low heat, don't burn the onions or the paprika, cook slowly, and taste often once you put the liquid in. It's a hunter's single pot meal at heart, meant to be cooked over a low open flame.

-2 lbs beef chuck (I've always suspected that venison would be good in this recipe but I've never tried it)
-1 tsp salt (this may vary on the stock you use--I often use 1/2 to a 1/4 tsp)
-2 medium onions, yellow cooking onion type
-2+ tbs lard, shortening, duck fat, bacon grease, butter, cooking oil, or whatever (I usually use 1/4 cup unsalted vegan butter with a dash of vegetable oil but duck lard is amazing if you can find it)
-2+ tbs hungarian sweet paprika (I usually use 3tbs, 2 of goulash cream paste and 1tbs of sweet paprika paste but if I don't have those I do 3 tbs of sweet paprika powder, usually called hungarian paprika, from the supermarket. Just make sure it's very red colored. Old paprika is sort of tan-looking and doesn't taste as bright.)
-1/2 tsp hungarian hot paprika powder (optional)
-2 bay leaves
-1 qt beef-bone stock (or whatever. I usually do 2 cups "beef" bone, 1 cup water, 1 cup vegetable stock. You can use water, too)
-4-5 peeled and quartered potatoes, small russet but whatever you have is fine
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1/2 tsp caraway seeds, crushed with the back of a spoon (optional)
-mustard, dijon or regular yellow (optional)

Cut the beef into cubes about 1 inch and add 1/2 tsp salt to them. Dice the onions and soften them in the lard, oil, or whatever on low heat--don't brown the onions if you can help it. Add paprika, pepper, a bit of salt, caraway (if you're using it) to the onions. Mix and let cook slowly for a few minutes to reconstitute into a kind of paste. Add the beef and mix well. Cook on low heat for an hour, stirring often (during this time I peel the potatoes, quarter them, and put them in a bowl of cold water to keep). Add stock, potatoes, bay leaves. Mix, cover, and let simmer on low until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork. Taste during this step to add more salt or pepper if you need it.

To serve you can make egg dumplings (see below), add dollops of sour cream, or my secret step I will only share with you guys--spoon in a tiny amount of dijon or plain yellow mustard to the bowl, add stock, mix together, then finish adding the goulash. A hungarian butcher I talked to once said that finishing with a bit of mustard gave goulash a "wild" taste and it really does. I added the caraway seeds to this recipe to give it an extra depth to this finishing step. It's incredible with sausage, which is why I personally prefer it for my goulash. I should also mention that you don't have to cook the goulash as long before adding stock if you're using sausage and if your sausages are the soft italian kind you can pull them out after you add the stock, cut them up, and put them back in once the potatoes start getting close to finished. That way they won't be too soft when you serve.

Dumplings are basically:
-3 eggs
-1 1/2 cups flour
-3/4 tsp salt

Add flour to unbeaten eggs and salt, mix well, let stand 1/2 hour. Then you drop about teaspoon sized dollops straight into the goulash when the potatoes are almost done, cover, and simmer. The dumplings will float to the surface when they're ready, which will take about 5 minutes. Dumplings are how my mom used to make this and how I've had it served in Budapest, but I've also had it served without them, too, and I usually don't add them myself because I am lazy and I like potatoes.

This is just one recipe for goulash. Everyone sort of has their own way of doing it and there is no wrong way, except not adding enough paprika. Hope this isn't too crazy with notes. It's really not hard to make.
 
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