Usually the pancakes are made around 6-7cm in diameter, here each one is made the size of a breakfast plate around 18 – 20cm in diameter.
Try and made the pancake as thin as possible ( I think mine were a bit too thick!)
Serve with a portion of your favourite Hungarian style gulasz on top and a large dollop of soured cream and a sprinkling of sweet ground paprika.
Ingredients – Kartoflane placki
4 large starchy potatoes such as King Edward or Maris Piper
1 medium or large onion
1 egg or just the egg yolk
Plain flour
Salt & pepper
*
Oil for frying
Method
Peel the potatoes then grate them using the fine size of the grater into a large bowl – this is the part that takes time – I have tried using the coarse grate but they are not as good.
Leave to stand for a few minutes and the water from the potatoes will rise to the surface. If the potatoes are very watery pour of some of the water. The easiest way is to tip up the bowl slightly over the sink and hold down the potatoes with the palm of your hand.
Peel the onion and also fine grate it and add to the potatoes. This is the part that would often result in the grating of my knuckles as I tried to use every last bit of onion – I now often use some form of electrical mini-chopper to get a pulp of onion.
Add the egg, salt & pepper.
Add enough plain flour so that the mixture is thick.
Heat some oil in a frying pan, a thick cast iron one is ideal.
Place large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the hot oil and flatten it out to make a large circle.
Fry till golden on both sides.
It should be thin and slightly crispy at the edges.
Do not have the pan too hot or it will burn on the outside and be raw in the centre.
Do not have the pan too cool or it will end up too greasy and not crispy.
To Serve
Have ready your favourite Hungarian style gulasz – cooked and hot.
Place a portion in the centre of the pancake.
Add a dollop of soured cream.
Sprinkle with sweet, ground paprika.
Served on Meakin – Topic plates – from the late 1960s.
This is an old Yorkshire recipe in which the beef is cooked slightly differently to a gulasz (goulash). It is cooked with the minimum amount of liquid and the meat is sort of semi-steamed.
Ingredients
500g braising steak – try and buy in big pieces – not cubed.
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
100g of mushrooms
3 carrots
¼ of a celeriac
1 parsnip
4 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
Freshly ground nutmeg
150 ml of dry Vermouth or Sherry
Salt and pepper
Plain flour for dusting
Oil for frying
Method
You need a large oven proof dish with a lid.
Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 325°C.
Remove the skin from the onion but keep it whole.
Stick the cloves into the onion and place it in the dish.
Chop the mushrooms into quarters and add to the dish.
Peel and chop the carrots, celeriac and parsnip and add to the dish.
Peel and chop the garlic and add to the dish.
Add the bay leaves to the dish.
Pour the vermouth or sherry over the vegetables.
Cut the steak into strips.
Mix the flour with lots of freshly grated nutmeg, salt and ground pepper.
Roll the beef strips in the flour mixture.
Fry the beef strips on all sides and put them on top of the vegetables.
Put on the lid and place in the oven for around 2- 2 ½ hours.
Check on the progress, you may find you need to add some more vermouth or sherry.
I came across this recipe recently which uses Gouda cheese with soured cream to thicken the sauce – it works really well and I will be trying this in other recipes.
Ingredients
400g – 500g braising steak – cubed
200g – 250g of mushrooms (chestnut type are good) – sliced
2 large onions – chopped
300ml of chicken stock (can be from a cube or concentrate)
3 tablespoons of caraway seeds
1 -2 tablespoons of plain flour
50g of Gouda cheese – chopped into small cubes.
3 tablespoons of soured cream
Sunflower oil for frying
Salt & pepper to taste.
Flat-leafed parsley to garnish – chopped
Method
Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 – 1600C
On a large plate mix together the flour, salt and pepper.
Coat the meat cubes lightly in the flour mixture and brown these in the oil in a hot frying pan.
Place the beef into a casserole dish.
Lightly fry the onions and mushrooms in the frying pan and then add them to the beef.
Caraway Seeds
Add the stock and caraway seeds to the pan.
Put on the lid and cook in the oven for around 3 hours until the beef is tender.
Before serving stir in the cubes of cheese and the soured cream and mix well into the sauce.
Garnish with flat-leafed parsley.
Served here with mashed potatoes on Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998.
A Polish gulasz (casserole) is often very simple and besides onions may just contain one other vegetable; however though simple they are very tasty!
This one is made with shoulder pork and kohlrabi and at the end I have given suggestions for several other similar vegetables which can be used instead.
Kohlrabi
Ingredients
500g Pork shoulder
1 large or 2 small kohlrabi
2 medium onions
250ml chicken stock – can be from cube or concentrate
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
Salt & Black Pepper.
Oil for frying
Chopped dill or flat leafed parsley to serve
Caraway Seeds
Flat Leaved Parsely
Dill
Method
You will need a lidded casserole dish.
Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 – 160°C
Roughly chop the onions.
Peel and chop the kohlrabi.
Cut the pork into cubes and coat the pieces in a mixture of flour, salt & ground black pepper.
In a frying pan heat the oil until it is hot and fry the pork until all the sides are sealed.
Add the chopped onions and fry them all together for a few minutes.
Place the pork and onions into the casserole dish.
Add the chopped kohlrabi and the stock and place the dish into the oven.
After 2 hours add the caraway seeds to the dish and stir.
Add more stock if you think it is evaporating too much.
You will need to cook this in the oven until the meat is tender which will be between 3 to 4 hours.
The serving dish is by Alfred Meakin with a lid with lovely blue cornflowers & wheat on it. The pattern is called Jayne and is from the 1950s.
The gulasz is here served with mashed potatoes on Carnation by Royal Doulton. 1982 – 1998
It also goes well with hefty style pasta, boiled rice or cooked buckwheat.
Tip
You can make this a day ahead and then re-heat the next day for at least one hour with extra stock if needed.
Alternatives to kohlrabi
You can use the following in place of the kohlrabi:
If served on top of a large, breakfast plate sized potato pancake this is known as a
węgierski placek – Hungarian pancake.
Tip
Make this a day ahead of when you need it, cook the dish for at least 3 hours and leave it to cool.
The next day cook it again for at least 1 hour, you might have to add a little water or stock but not too much, the sauce should be thick not watery.
Using a slow cooker
Nowadays I often make gulasz using a slow cooker instead of the oven.
I made a gulasz using pork shoulder and cooked it in the slow cooker for 8 hours.
Pork gulasz served in a dish by J & G Meakin Studio Pottery
Unknown Design Name
Luxury Style Gulasz
All houses in Poland have cellars and even people living in block of flats have a cellar area of their own; if you ever get the chance to look in these you will find that they are filled with: jams, preserves, bottled fruit and vegetables, sauerkraut and salted gherkins.
Bottled sweet red peppers in brine are often found amongst these jars. The addition of the peppers from one of these jars to the gulasz makes it even better.
Of course if like me you do not have the home-made variety you can buy these from most delicatessens or supermarkets now.
One Of My Two Cellars
You can use fresh red peppers and I use these when they are plentiful, either will make a delicious gulasz but I think I like ones with the bottled peppers best.
The recipe is a variation on the classic gulasz but you have to use less stock or you will end up with it being too watery due the water content of the peppers – especially the fresh ones.
Ingredients
500g stewing beef or shoulder or spare rib pork
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of tomato purée
150ml chicken stock – can be made from stock cubes
2 teaspoons of (sweet) paprika (not smoked)
1 bay leaf
Jar of bottled red peppers or 3 to 4 fresh red peppers
2 -3 tablespoons of soured cream
2 tablespoons of plain flour
Salt & ground black pepper
Oil for frying
Paprika to dust on the top
Method
Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 – 1600C
Roughly chop the onions and crush the garlic
Mix the tomato purée and the paprika in the stock
If using the bottled peppers cut them into long strips and then cut these into halves
If using the fresh peppers, cut them into long strips, de-seed them and cut these into halves
Cut the meat into cubes and coat the pieces in a mixture of flour, salt and ground pepper
In a frying pan heat the oil until it is hot and fry the meat until all the sides are sealed
Place the meat into a casserole dish
Fry the garlic and onions in the frying pan, adding some oil if necessary but trying not to use too much or the dish will be greasy
Add the onions to the meat then add the bay leaf and some more ground pepper
Add the peppers to the dish and mix the contents together
Pour the stock mixture into the casserole dish and put on the lid
Cook in the oven until the meat is tender, this could be about 3 ½ to 4 hours but often I find it needs longer.
When you are ready to serve the gulasz, mix in one to two tablespoons of soured cream and then put the other tablespoon of soured cream on top in the centre and dust some extra paprika on this.
Serve as for the classic style gulasz.
Here served in a dish by J & G Meakin – Topic from 1967
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 