Szeged Goulash

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Peel the onion and chop it into small pieces. Rinse the meat under cold running water, let it drain or pat dry with a paper towel, and cut it into cubes approximately three centimeters in size. Bring half a liter of water to a boil. Cut the bacon into small cubes.
• 2
  Put the bacon into a pan, add two tablespoons of water, and start heating slowly over medium heat. Before the water evaporates, the bacon will render its own fat. Then you can increase the heat and fry the bacon more vigorously until golden. Remove it with a spoon into an empty pot, leaving the fat in the pan.
• 3
  Season the meat cubes with half of the salt and mix with caraway. In batches, sear them vigorously in the hot fat, ideally until golden on all sides. Set aside the seared meat with the bacon.
• 4
  Finally, fry the onion in the pan as well; you can slightly reduce the heat of the hob to prevent it from burning. Remove from the stove.
• 5
  Add ground paprika to the onion and stir so that all the paprika dissolves in the fat. Immediately pour in a little of the prepared hot water and scrape the contents of the pan into the pot with the bacon and meat. Rinse the pan again with boiling water to utilize any remaining browned bits, and pour it back over the meat. Finally, pour the remaining hot water over the meat; it should slightly protrude and not be completely submerged.
• 6
  Stir the contents of the pot, season with the remaining salt, bring to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid, and stew very slowly without much bubbling for at least one hour, preferably one and a half hours.
• 7
  Pour the cabbage into a colander and rinse it briefly under cold running water. This will remove excessive sourness, which is often very unpleasant, especially with store-bought cabbage. Squeeze out excess water from the cabbage with your hand and chop it into two-centimeter pieces on a large cutting board. Add the cabbage to the meat in the pot and stew together for another 15-30 minutes until the meat is completely tender. You don't need to stir anything; just let the cabbage rest on top, it will take care of itself.
• 8
  In a small bowl, mix the flour with two tablespoons of cold water to form a slurry, best done with a small whisk. Stir in the cream and pour this mixture into the finished goulash. Mix well, bring the goulash back to a gentle simmer, and let it bubble for the last ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 9
  If your goulash turns out well (I see no reason why it shouldn't), no one will even notice that you're serving store-bought dumplings with it. Or try fresh bread, tarhonya, or spaetzle.