Hungarian Food - Pork Stew (Sertéspörkölt)

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Pork Stew (Sertés Pörkölt)

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Pörkölt is one of the four pillars of Hungarian cooking. What Americans generally think of as Hungarian goulash (gulyás ) is actually pörkölt . Gulyás is a thick soup made with meat, onions and paprika and usually also with potatoes and small egg dumplings.

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Pörkölt is a meat stew also made with onions and paprika but with no potatoes or dumplings and never any sour cream as in paprikás. It is thicker than gulyás and can be served with small dumplings or spaetzle on the side.

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Pörkölt can be made from a wide variety of meats including pork, beef, veal, lamb, wild game and chicken. It can even be made with fish such as carp or with tripe. While gulyás may contain a variety of root vegetables, pörkölt is generally limited to the addition of tomatoes and green peppers. I have included both in this recipe, but feel free to leave out either one or both of them. As usual in Hungarian cooling, lard is the fat of choice, but I usually substitute equal parts of butter and oil. If you are using bacon in the recipe, you can use the bacon fat to cook with.

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Difficulty:

Moderate

Preparation Time:

30 Minutes

Cooking Time:

1 Hour

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Ingredients:

2 Lbs. of Boneless Pork cut into ¾ inch cubes

1 Tablespoon butter and one tablespoon oil

1 Large Onion coarsely chopped

1 Large, ripe tomato peeled and chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic peeled and finely chopped

1 Large Ripe Tomato peeled and coarsely chopped

1 Large Green Pepper seeded and coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon of Hungarian Sweet Paprika

1 Teaspoon Salt

Pepper to taste

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Preparation and Cooking Instructions:　

1. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy frying pan or Dutch oven and cook the onions over moderate heat until they are lightly browned.
2. Add the paprika, garlic, salt and the cubed pork and continue cooking over low heat for 15 minutes.
3. The meat should cook in the onion juices. It is best if you can cover the pan and gently stir the meat occasionally to keep it from burning. Add a few tablespoons of water if necessary.
4. Meanwhile, blanch the tomato and remove the skin before coarsely chopping it.
5. Add the tomato and the pepper to the stew and continue cooking over low heat for 20-30 additional minutes until the sauce thickens and the meat is tender. You can add a few more tablespoons of water if necessary, but the gravy is supposed to be thick
6. Serve with galuska or chipetke on the side and a good bottle of red wine such as Egri Bikaver.

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