Goulash by Feldkurat Otto Katz from Švejk-Restaurant, Prague

Otto Katz played by Miloš Kopecký.

When Jaroslav Hašek wrote "The Good Soldier Švejk", many of his characters were based on real people. Among them was Feldkurat Otto Katz, a military chaplain who distinguished himself not by military valor or faithful service to the Church, but by his fondness for partying, gambling and drinking, especially good communion wine. Otto, obviously also liked to eat!

Today, in the Czech Republic there is a chain of theme-restaurants based on Hašek's novel. What Planet Hollywood is to America, Švejk-Restaurant is to the Czech culture.

Katz's goulash is a typical Viennese goulash (Wiener Saftgulasch), garnished with fried sausage, and served with flour or bread dumplings. It could also be served with spätzle, gnocchi, polenta, wide pasta, potatoes, but that would not be quite Švejk-like.

The essential ingredient of the Viennese goulash (Wiener Saftgulasch) is lots of red paprika, both sweet and hot, which gives the dish its typical flavor and color. Hungarian paprika is not hot, not even in its "hot" variety, at least when compared to ground Mexican chile. So, a palate used to Texas chili con carne may find Viennese goulash too mild, but the essence of this dish is the delicate combination of spices, not fiery Southwestern heat! Should that be desired, we have created our take on the Viennese goulash, made with with Guinness beer and New Mexican chile poblano.

Ingredients: 2 lbs stew beef (filet mignon steak works well too, Japanese wagyu steak meat even better) 3 tbsp lard 1 1/2 cups onion, chopped 3 1/2 tbsp red paprika 1/2 cup tomato paste 2/3 cup unbleached flour 3 tbsp garlick, chopped 1 Wiener Würstchen (pork-and-beef weenie), sliced and pan-fried 3.5 tbsp yellow Hungarian wax paprika, sliced 1 pint Pilsner Urquell beer Salt, pepper, marjoram, cummin or caraway seeds 1 can beef broth

Preparation:

1. Slice meat into 1/2x1/2 inch pieces. Melt lard in a saucepan and brown meat on all sides. If using steak meat, make sure the meat is browned especially well, to seal the juices inside. The higher the quality of the meat, the more thoroughly it has to be browned.
2. Remove meat from pan. Addonion and saute in the same fat. Saute until dark brown. Add the tomato paste and red paprika. Cook briefly, making sure the mixture does not burn. Pour beef broth over the mixture and stir well.
3. Bring to a boil, add garlick, cummin, the browned meat pieces, and the peppers. Add half the beer. Stir, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until everything is cooked. Steak meat does not need long to cook. The total time will depend on your judgement of the flavor. Generally, approximately 15 minutes.
4. Remove the meat and keep warm. Turn up the heat and reduce the sauce until thick. Reduce the heat. Dissolve the flour in the rest of the beer, then add to the sauce. Stir well to make sure the sauce does not burn.
5. Continue to simmer the sauce for another 20 minutes, adding water or more beer if it becomes too thick. Taste for seasoning, add garlick, salt, marjoram, and pepper.
6. Serve garnished with sliced sausage, sliced pan-fried onions, sliced Hungarian wax peppers. Serve with lard dumplilngs.

Lard dumplings:

• 1/3 cup smoked pork, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
• 3 cups stale baguette, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup lard
• 1/2 cup onions, cut into pieces
• salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

1. Soak the baguette pieces in milk
2. Melt the lard in a sauce pan and cook the pork and onions in the lard (ouch) until onions are brown.
3. Mix the baguette, milk with the onions, lard and pork in a large bowl. Add the eggs. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, flour. Work a thick dough, adding milk or flour if needed. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes
4. Boil salted water
5. Divide the dough into tennis-ball size pieces and make into spheres. Cook in boiling water 25-30 minutes. Remove 1 dumpling, slice in half and test in the center. When done, remove all dumplings, slice in half and arrange on a plate.
6. Serve the goulas mixture on the same plate, garnish, then drip the remaining lard over the dumplings.

back to Radim and Lisa's Well-Travelled Cookbook | email us

Last updated: May 20, 2014