Hungarian Goulash with Sauerkraut

(Photo Credit: Jason Wyche, 2010)

From Jean Anderson's book, Falling Off the Bone

by: Jean Anderson

Serves: 6

Ingredients

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 large Spanish, Bermuda, or Vidalia onion, moderately finely chopped
1 pound boneless beef chuck, trimmed of excess fat and cut in 1½-inch cubes
1 pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut in 1½-inch cubes
1 pound boneless veal shoulder, cut in 1½-inch cubes (I substituted 1 pound sliced, sauteed mushrooms for the veal)
3 tablespoons Hungarian sweet rose paprika blended with ¼ cup warm water, 1½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup water or beef broth
2 cups sauerkraut (preferably fresh), rinsed well and wrung fairly dry in a tea towel
1 cup sour cream (use “light,” if you like), at room temperature

Instructions

Melt butter in a large heavy nonreactive Dutch oven over moderately high heat and as soon as it froths and subsides, add onion and sauté, stirring often, until limp and golden—6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, lift to a large bowl and reserve.
Brown meat in Dutch oven in three batches in order listed, allowing about 10 minutes per batch and lifting each to bowl as it browns.
Return onion and meats to pot along with accumulated juices, paprika mixture, and water, and bring to a boil. Adjust heat so mixture barely ripples, cover, and simmer very slowly until meats are tender—about 2 hours. Note: Check pot occasionally and if mixture threatens to scorch, add a little more water, turn heat to lowest point, and slide a diffuser underneath pot.
Mix in sauerkraut, cover, and simmer 10 minutes, then smooth in sour cream and bring just to serving temperature—3 to 5 minutes. Do not boil or sour cream may curdle. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.
Serve hot with buttered poppy-seed noodles or boiled and peeled redskin, fingerling, or Yukon gold potatoes.