Beef Bloggers’ Delight (II): Domestic Goddess’s Maiden Marhapörkölt

In other local beefblogging news, the popular Hungarian cyberfoodie known to her fans as the Domestic Goddess celebrated this Valentine’s Day by posting a recipe for marhapörkölt (beef stew) from the cookbook widely considered to be Hungary’s favorite, Ilona Horváth’s legendary Szakácskönyv. While the recipe (which is posted below) is interesting and handy, more attention-grabbing is the author’s admission that this was the first time she had ever made pörkölt.

Needless to say, it’s more than a little odd for a self-proclaimed Hungarian goddess of the hearth to have never once made the dish that is to Hungarian beef cookery roughly what Ilcsike Horváth is to Hungarian cookbook authors. She says the reason for this “funny” lapse is that she has a small kitchen, doesn’t like to eat the same thing for a week, and otherwise has always felt it wasn’t worth the hassle to stew just for two. But apparently this recipe changed her mind.

Ilona Horváth’s marhapörkölt for Two

• 60 dkg (600 grams) stew beef, cubed
• 3 smallish onions
• 3 tbs. paprika
• 3 tbs. oil
• water
• salt

Preparation: Sauté the onions in oil until glassy, add the paprika, stirring constantly so that it doesn’t burn. Add the meat, stir, and after a couple of minutes, add just enough water to cover it, and a little salt. Cook on a low flame for one and a half hours until almost all water is gone. Then add a small glass of water and cook for another ten minutes. While marhapörkölt is traditionally served with plain boiled potatoes, the Goddess said she prefers fresh zsemle (breadrolls).

That wasn’t so hard, was it? Meanwhile, if you still think that the Goddess’s domestic divinity is put in doubt by her long absence from the temple of marhapörkölt-dom, note that she claims to have had no problem finding proper marha with which to make the pörkölt, which certainly sounds miraculous to us.