SZEKELY GULYAS

We always had pork as a main dish on New Year's Day, to start the year off right. Think about barnyard animals. Chickens scratch backwards. Beef cattle forage backwards. That is, they reach a hoof forwards and drag it to the rear when looking for food. Sheep also forage backwards. To celebrate the New Year by feasting on any of these creatures is all wrong. It is symbolically equivalent to driving with your eyes glued to the rear view mirror.

But the pig roots forward. So pork on New Year's Day launches your spirit into the year to come in the right direction. That's good, peasant wisdom, and I won't have it questioned.

One delicious way to launch your spirit is Szekely Gulyas.

Around 900, the Magyars left the steppes north of the Black Sea (then mostly dominated by the Kazar empire) and crossed through the Iron Gate. They invaded and settled the area that was to become Hungary and Romania.

The Szeklers were a nomadic people racially and linguistically related to the Magyars, who were already living in the Danube basin when the ten hordes arrived. (Actually, there were seven Magyar hordes. The other three tribes were expatriate Kazars who had joined up with the Magyars.)

The Szeklers claimed to be descended from Attila and his gang of merry cutthroats. In Hungary, Attila isn’t “the scourge of God.” The Huns are considered the good guys. Attila is the hero who brought glory, power, and loot to the many tribes of steppe horsemen who united to form the Hunnish empire. Attila is still a popular boy’s name, in Magyar land. Attila based himself on the Hungarian plains between forays against the Eastern and Western Roman empires. After Attila’s death the Hunnish confederation fell apart even faster than Alexander’s empire did.

The Szeklers boast that after Attila died they were lead to settle Transylvania by Irnach, Attila’s youngest and favorite son. Modern historians are not convinced. Be that as it may, the Szeklers believe it. Once the Magyars settled down to kingdom-making, they drafted the Szeklers to help secure that eastern flank of the kingdom. The word Szekler means 'Frontier Guard', and these people are so called because they occupied and defended Transylvania and Wallachia. Defense was needed. The Szeklers eventually went head to head with the expanding Ottoman Turkish empire.

What with one thing and another, the Szeklers lived in geographic and cultural isolation from the seven—or ten—tribes. Common wisdom has it that in this isolation the Szeklers started making a pork and sauerkraut and sour cream gulyas. I used to think so myself. The fact is, the dish was not developed in Transylvania. It had nothing to do with the Szekler people. Nor is it really a gulyas. (Three strikes you’re out!)

A nineteenth century letter published in the Hungarian restaurateur’s guild told this story: In 1846 the Pest County librarian was a man named Szekely, (a common ethnic name in Hungary). One night Mr. Szekely showed up late at a restaurant called the Zenelo Ora, that is, "The Musical Clock." The kitchen had shut down, so Szekly asked the owner to serve him some leftover pork porkolt on the same plate with some sauerkraut. Szekely got his dinner, much to his relief. That might have been the end of it, except...

The incident was observed by Petrofi, the noted Hungarian poet. (Successful nineteenth century poets were the rock starts of their day.) The next day Petofi asked the owner to give him some of "Szekely's gulyas." That is, the same mixture Mr. Szekely had eaten the night before. The publican improvised to the extent of topping the concoction with sour cream, and a great pseudo-national dish was born. By now even some Transylvanians believe that they invented the stuff.

2 Large Onions
Sweet Hungarian Paprika
Half Sweet Hungarian Paprika

Chop the onions. In a large saucepan, sauté the onion until it is translucent. Reduce the heat. Add enough paprika to turn the onion a deep, dull red orange. I use mostly sweet, with a tang of half-sweet. Adjust that to your taste. Cook long enough to develop the paprika’s flavor.

2 lb. Lean Leg of Pork or...
Pork Shoulder or...
Country Style Pork Ribs or...you get the picture

While the onion sweats, trim away as much fat and gristle from the meat as you can. Cut the pork into cubes, maybe 1 1/2". Wipe the cubes dry.

Remove and reserve the onion. Deglaze the pan, add the deglazing liquor to the onions and meat. Add more oil and brown the meat on all sides. If you have trimmed away any bones, brown them with the meat. Let the bones simmer with the meat and onions, they will enrich the sauce. It's very central European to get as much sauce or stock as possible from current cooking. Pre-made stocks strikes a good Hungarian housewife as spendthrift.

Set the meat with the onions as you finish browning each batch.

2 tsp. Caraway Seed
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Water

Return the meat and onions to the pan. Add water to cover. Add salt, pepper, and fresh garlic to taste. If you don't plan to rinse the sauerkraut (infera), don't add salt at this time.

Crack the caraway seed. Use a mortar and pestle, or the butt of a Chinese cleaver and a cup, or whatever will work. You want to crack the seeds to release their flavor. Add the bruised seeds to the stew. Cover the pot and poach the stew for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

3 lb. Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut sold in plastic bags and kept refrigerated in the store seems to be the best. The next choice is that sold refrigerated in jars. Jars at room temperature come next. Canned sauerkraut is at the bottom of the list. Canned sauerkraut is already cooked, and so should be added later in the day than the others.

For a milder flavor, and less salt, rinse the sauerkraut in cold water, and squeeze it dry. Don't rinse it, and you get more flavor. Include the juice for an even stronger kick. Be cautious about pouring in all the juice. You might or might not like the flavor you'll end up with. Approach it by stages till you find your comfort level.

After the stew has poached for an hour, remove the bones. Mix the sauerkraut into the pot. Add water to cover. Stir as you bring everything to a simmer, then poach for 1/2 hour or until meat is tender.

1 qt Sour Cream

When you add the sauerkraut to the gulyas set the sour cream out to reach room temperature. You don't really need to do this, but it does make for a smoother blend. You can substitute a good fat-free sour cream to make this a healthier dish.

After the additional half-hour's cooking is up, remove the dish from the heat. Gradually mix some of the cooking liquid with the sour cream until they combine to form a creamy paste. (This is optional, you can get by with just dumping the sour cream in and stirring well. You might end up with little lumps of unblended sour cream. Tastes fine, not as pretty a show. I don’t bother unless I’m feeding guests.) Add the sour cream mixture to the pot, stirring constantly. Warm everything over a low heat until it is all heated through. Do not boil.

Serve hot. Some put it over boiled potatoes. I prefer drop noodles.