Why, in Soviet times, in canteens and inexpensive self-service cafes, from meat dishes on the menu, goulash was most often present, while the rest were modestly absent? And everything is simple….
- The meat was brought. Normal meat was brought. But it will reach the kitchen and how much, and which - most often depended on the leadership, - said aunt Zina, my expert consultant on all issues of public catering of the Soviet period, a former woman from Odessa, who helped around The Soviet Union. - There was a manager in one of my canteens - she looked quiet and quiet, a gray mouse, you look at her and you will understand - take it like a Latvian, only... and a soul. Only in such a way was everyone stealing there that uh - it became scary. Two months later, I ran away from there, and I did the right thing, then the UBHSS came, and it opened, they said that she had gold rings rolled up in three-liter jars. True or not - who knows?
And then she worked in a youth cafe, where we had a manager - you look and you can send a check! Okay, hung with gold, so all of herself, her skirt was leopard, a leather jacket, she drove the car herself. Well, who did not know was sure - steals. And her accounting was - it's easier to strangle than to report. Ideological. True, dad is in the regional committee, her husband is a captain for a long voyage, he went to foreign countries, why steal and sell such meat? But we cooked goulash there too, we loved it so well, by four o'clock it was empty, we ate everything!
Fartsa will gather in a cafe, it's funny - from under the table into glasses with compote, someone's pouring them out of their bottles with stickers, they eat goulash with mashed potatoes... that's life. She laughed.
I have a rich imagination, I can imagine blacksmiths pouring brandy or cheap whiskey from under the table (I just can't understand why?) In a youth cafe, and eating all this with goulash and mashed potatoes, I can. The picture is funny. And, in general, he draws the customs of a seaside port city ...
But we're talking about goulash!
- How was it prepared, that even the veins there became soft? - I asked aunt Zina. - Did you extinguish it for a long time? Maybe under pressure? Did you add something? Marinated?
- What for? - She brushed it off. - Everything according to the technological maps - we had to get out of the skin and fill the bumps?
The recipe for goulash from the technological map turned out to be quite simple.
- Meat - from 1800 to 2200 grams (depending on the species, the least was pork, most of all - beef)
- Melted animal fat - 100 grams
- Onions - 300 grams
- Tomato puree - 200 grams
- Flour - 60 grams
How they cooked:
The meat is cut into pieces weighing 20-30 grams each. Ideally - in cubes, but cubes, especially if meat - veins and trimmings, cannot be achieved. Fried in melted fat until crusty at high heat. Not all of the fat is used - some is left to pass the rest of the products.
At the same time, tomato puree is sautéed - the fat is melted in a saucepan (about 5 percent of the weight of tomato puree) and this mashed potatoes are sent to it. Passing - from 30 to 50 minutes.
Then the fried meat is poured with boiling water or broth, tomato puree is sent there, the lid is tightly closed and all this is stewed for about an hour.
While the meat is stewing, the onion is chopped and sautéed in the remaining melted fat with the addition of salt and pepper - you should get a kind of sauce. As soon as the meat has been stewed for an hour (a little more is possible), it is poured with an onion mixture and stewed for another thirty minutes. 5 minutes before cooking, bay leaf is added.
An hour and a half of stewing with tomato is just enough for the meat to become soft, but not creeping.