Its origin traces back to the 9th century to stews eaten by Hungarian shepherds. At that time, the cooked and flavored meat was dried with the help of the sun and packed into bags produced from sheep’s stomachs, needing only water to make it paprika substitute a meal.
The word gulya means ‘herd of cattle’ in Hungarian, and gulyás means ‘herdsman’ or ‘cowboy’. In medieval times, the Hungarian herdsman of Central Europe made use of every possible part of the animal, as was common practice. Today, gulyás refers both to the herdsmen, and to the soup. From the Middle Ages until well into the 19th century, the Puszta was the home of massive herds of cattle. They were driven, in their tens of thousands, to Europe’s biggest cattle markets in Moravia, Vienna, Nuremberg and Venice.
These dishes can be made as soups rather than stews. Garlic, caraway seed, and wine are optional. Goulash can be prepared from beef, veal, pork, or lamb. The Hungarian cook Karoly Gundel maintains that in a goulash recipe, meat should not be mixed with any grains or with potatoes.
Omit the potatoes and add sauerkraut and sour cream. Substitute beef bones for the meat and add vegetables. Omit the potatoes and the caraway seeds. Add sauerkraut instead of pasta and potatoes. Use smoked beef or smoked pork for meat. Use pork and thin vermicelli in the goulash instead of potato and soup pasta.
Paprikás krumpli” is a traditional paprika-based potato stew with diced potatoes, onion, ground paprika, and some bacon or sliced spicy sausage, like the smoked Debrecener, in lieu of beef. Thick stews similar to pörkölt and the original cattlemen stew are popular throughout almost all the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire, from Northeast Italy to the Carpathians. In Vienna, the former center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a special kind of goulash had been developed. Gulaš is often served with fuži, njoki, polenta or pasta.