Large Quantities of Gulasch

10 lbs of beef.

I was planning on a total of 25 people eating the Gulasch. Some would be repeats. It turned out to be the never-ending Gulasch. It wouldn't even fit in the crockpot for serving, and the next night when I added the portion that wouldn't fit to the first night's leftovers, the crockpot was full up again. So maybe 10 lbs of meat was slight overkill. But people got to take some home, and there is some in the freezer for some time in the future when we aren't tired of it.

Of course 10 lbs of beef means 10 lbs of onions.



I tried a new tactic for dealing with the onions. I tied a wet towel around my face to keep onion molecules out.



I did all the onion cutting under running water. Of course all the slicing was in the food processor. I forgot to keep my mouth shut when I opened the food processor the first time and got a gulp of hot gas that went straight to my sinusses despite the mask. After that I remembered and did not suffer much.

Cooking that quantity of onions required a little maneuvering. I fried each processor-load of onions while cutting up the next. Shoved them aside, saw a lot of onion liquid collecint, turned it to high to dissipate this extra liquid. Some stirring. Pushed them aside again for the new lot, added another T. or two of oil. I did get a little sticking towards the end, but no problem. A little burnt onion just addes to the flavor.



I set the onions aside and browned the meat, with some salt and pepper, in several batches. I didn't need to add any oil until the last batch and then not much. Threw all the meat back in the pot then added

7 T. of Hungarian style paprika.
half a cup of tomato paste
1 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. caraway seeds
2 T. salt

Stirred it up, threw the onions and their collected liquid back in; added a tsp. of chopped garlic as an afterthought, and maybe two cups of liquid.



Cooked three hours, stirring every half hour, while listening to Don Giovanni.

It seemed to need a little more salt the second night; maybe I just didn't notice the first night. I put in maybe 1 1/2 tsp.

Served it on Spaetzele:
4 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. milk
4 eggs

beat to gooey batter; have your water already boiling (no salt needed); quickly press half the goo through something with quarter-inch holes. I use my pizza pan.



Cook them 3 minutes, then drain and cook the second half.

At this point I made a second batch of Spaetzele goo and tried to cook it in the same water. Not a good plan. You need fresh water after cooking the above recipe.