Hubby is very into everything German (took German in high school and still speaks German on occasion, took a trip to Germany when he was younger) so when I came across
, I could not resist – I had to have it!

I received
and
to try out the Hungarian Beef Stew (Goulash) recipe (found on page 83 if you are wondering!)

I haven’t had a chance to try out many recipes in the book, but I have bookmarked several to try, like Pfannkuchen (German Baked Pancakes) that I learned to make in junior high home ec and made when I was younger!

Hubby did, however, whip up a batch of the Hungarian Beef Stew, aka Goulash, for dinner one night.

The ingredient list was… interesting to say the least, but we did not have any troubles finding the things we need.

I did take note that the recipe on the back of the Goulash Spice package was different than the one in the actual book. The packaging called for a recipe that I felt my family would not eat (mainly because it called for chunks of tomatoes and my family is not a tomato loving family) so we decided on the recipe in the book (which used tomato paste rather than chunks).

For the record, the recipe calls for Hungarian Paprika and while I am still not sure of the difference between normal paprika and Hungarian paprika, we had no trouble finding Hungarian Paprika at our local grocer.

As for taste… I have to be honest. I did not look forward to this recipe at all.

Growing up, my mom made “goulash” quite often and it was elbow macaroni, ground beef, tomato chunks (remember up there where I said I am not a fan of tomato chunks) and who knows what else what into it. Needless to say, it was not a yummy dish and it was made far too often growing up. I honestly feared what this dish was going to be like.

I am happy to report that my mom’s goulash and this goulash are definitely different.

Hubby wasn’t as big of a fan as I thought he would be. He said it tasted “flat” but that some bread and butter made it better. He also used ground beef rather than a thicker meat and thinks that may have made a slight difference.

I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it. It did require some extra salt, but I truly enjoyed it. I can definitely see pairing it with some bread and butter to enhance it, but I didn’t eat it with anything extra and really enjoyed the flavor. I wouldn’t change anything about it.

The recipe in the book makes recommendations to serve it over potatoes, spatzle, or egg noodles. But (yes, I am repeating myself) I enjoyed it as is.

Have you tried Hungarian Beef Stew before? What were your thoughts?

Do you have a German recipe that is a favorite? What is it?

We love trying new recipes and I can’t wait to try more in
!

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