Hungary

Menu: Gulyas and almás rétes | Recipe Source: budapestcookingclass.com, daringgourmet.com

The gulyás (goulash) was smoky, fragrant, and overall such a perfect winter stew. The vibrant red color was absolutely stunning, and I’ll absolutely be making this one again when it starts snowing! Unfortunately, the apple strudel didn’t turn out very well for me. There weren’t many recipes for it on the internet and one of the two that I found was missing a key step. I tried to split the difference between the two recipes, and while that’s a move that works flawlessly for cooking (art), I think it’s doomed to fail for baking (science). The dough was raw and undercooked, and the apples didn’t really soften up! Pastry + apples + brown sugar is a delicious combo though, and I’d love to try this again at some point.

Ready to cook?

Gulyás: (link): Instead of pork lard, I used frozen duck fat that I rendered last month. I ended up needing an additional 1.5 cups of beef broth, I swapped fresh tomatoes for 3 tbsp tomato paste, and I added some parsley for a pop of green, but otherwise, I followed this recipe exactly!

Almás rétes (link): I can’t offer any advice on this one because it didn’t turn out very well for me!