Goulash Mom’s Way for Man Food Mondays

Good Monday to you all,

This week’s dish is one of my childhood favorites, Goulash Mom’s Way. This is one of mothers standards when I was growing up, fairly easy to do and very tasty. It’s served over elbow macaroni, the standard side was chopped spinach. We always had a salad. The reason I picked this dish today is that 5 years ago, Sunday, mother passed away. My sister and I try to get together to honor mother each year on this anniversary. Now as a side to this celebration, there is always a frozen margarita or two to toast with, but that is a discussion for next week :). So I asked my sister, Heidi, if she would join me to help me cook this and share some us time. Now the unique thing about recreating mothers cooking is that Heidi and I have different experiences of how mother cooked. Mom lived with Heidi for the last 10 years of her life, so she had more time to cook alongside mother. I believe there are things that mother did when cooking that could not be written down. I have cooked goulash many, many times, but I just wanted to check in to see if what I was doing was “mom’s way”. I am happy to say that this is the case today. The other thing I discovered is that cooking with Heidi is a lot like cooking with mom. We both laughed when we realized this. One of the traits we had to experience was mother desire that things be done correctly and if you did not do it correctly (stirring the gravy, browning the meat, etc.), she would take the utensil out of your hand to show you how to do it….. We both did this to each other today. This also generally lead to your being demoted to watching for the remainder of preparation. We did not do that.

Let’s get started.

• 1.5 lbs beef cubed
• 1.5 lbs pork cubed
• 1 tablespoon bacon drippings (canola oil may be used instead)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon Maggi
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 2 large cubes of Knorr beef bullion
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 16 ounce box of elbow macaroni

1. Cube the meat into ½ chunks and set aside.
2. Chop the onions and the garlic.in a 6 quart pot over medium heat add the bacon drippings and saute the onions and garlic until translucent, about 6 minutes, set aside.
3. In a skillet over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil and start browning the meat in small batches being careful not to let the pan burn. Add oil as needed (you may use more than 2 tablespoons of oil). As you finish a batch, add the meat to the pot with the onions and garlic. Repeat until all the meat is browned.
4. Dissolve the beef bullion in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour this into the skillet to de- glaze it. Then, pour this over the meat and onions in the pot. Add enough water to just cover the meat. Add the mushrooms, Maggi, salt and pepper then return the pot to a slow boil and reduce the heat to simmer.
5. Cook for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
6. Take ¼ cup of the "gravy" out of the pot and place in a heat tolerant bowl. Add the flour mixing the gravy to keep lumps out till well blended. Add the sour cream a tablespoon at a time stirring between spoonfuls until well blended.
7. Add this back to the pot and stir well to blend return to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.
8. While this is cooking start your elbow macaroni and cook according to package directions.

We had this with chopped spinach and a red leaf lettuce salad with an oil and vinegar dressing. We laughed, told stories, toasted mom and her two sisters that have passed on before us. We thank mother for her love of us and her love of cooking. I am thankful for her old cookware that one day I will pass on to my kids.

It was a wonderful day, and I got to spend it with Heidi the best sister ever!

Y’all take care of yourselves. Hug each other and check back.

Next week we talk frozen margaritas!

Steve

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