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| Type | Soup |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Hungary |
| Main ingredients | Beef,vegetables,paprika and otherspices |
Gulyásleves (gulyás'herdsman'[1] andleves'soup' inHungarian), is aHungariansoup, made ofbeef,vegetables, groundpaprika and otherspices. It originates from a dish cooked by the cattlemen (Hungarian:gulya'cattle herd',gulyás'cattle herder'), who tended their herds in theGreat Hungarian Plain (known as theAlföld orpuszta in Hungarian). These Hungarian cowboys often camped out with their cattle days away from populated areas, so they had to make their food from ingredients they could carry with themselves, and this food had to be cooked in the one available portable cauldron (calledbogrács) over an open fire.
The wordbogrács is a loanword from Ottoman Turkishباقراج (spelledbakraç in modern Turkish), meaning a cauldron made of copper; from the word "copper" inOld Turkish language (spelledbakır in modern Turkish).
The original dish calledbográcsgulyás was a stew, not a soup. Traditional Hungarianbográcsgulyás'cauldron goulash' is often still cooked outdoors over an open fire in a cauldron, giving the appearance of abarbecue. Later on when the dish left the peasant cuisines and became popular even in the town,[1] it started to be cooked more like a soup. Nowadays the dish served in the majority of Hungarian restaurants is a soup, but the locals cook the dish calledgulyás as a stew andgulyásleves like a soup. They should differ only in the amount of water used in preparation. The official vocational cookbook for Hungarian restaurant trainees still contains recipes for both and lists the core ingredients as finely diced onions, peppers, tomatoes, meat, garlic, salt, caraway seeds, potatoes and homemade noodles calledcsipetké.[2]
There are different variations of the recipe. The meat is beef, but often mixed meats are used (e.g. beef, pork and mutton or lamb). Tomatoes, carrots and fresh peppers (often hot chilies) are also added. Onions, paprika and caraway seeds provide its flavour. Cubed potatoes or pasta squares are typically added to this spicy soup. This dish is not to be confused with other dishes, likepörkölt orpaprikás.
