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Hungarian Goulash

A hearty stew of veal, potatoes, onions, paprika, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hungarian Goulash

Ingredients

Directions

Make the goulash

  1. Fry the onions in the butter or drippings until brown.

  2. Add the veal and fry until the meat is nicely browned.

  3. Add the water, cover closely, and cook slowly until nearly done.

  4. Add the potatoes and seasoning, and cook until the meat and potatoes are tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Mix 1 teaspoon of flour into the cream, then add it to the pot.

  2. Boil together for a few minutes and serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, covered cooking.
Onions
Browning in fat builds sweetness and a deep savory base for the stew.
Potatoes
Absorb the cooking liquid and thicken the stew as they soften.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness, and the flour mixed in helps it thicken.
Butter or drippings
Fat for frying the onions and meat, carrying flavor and encouraging browning.

The step that matters

Boiling the cream and flour mixture. Cream mixed with flour can curdle or separate if it boils hard for too long. A brief simmer after the flour is stirred in thickens it while keeping it smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, potato, pepper, cream, butter):

  1. Onionthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, potato, pepper, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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