Some years ago, my sister and I did a trip around Europe. We spent a week attempting to ski in Austria (we were learning, and there wasn’t much snow). One of my favourite things from that portion of the trip was the Gulaschsuppe that was frequently served for dinner, and that we often chose for lunch (it was pretty cold, even though the snow was sparse!) On my return, I kept meaning to investigate a recipe so I could make my own, but never did. It came to mind just recently, so I was inspired to attempt it. Google is my friend, so it was quite easy to find a recipe—of course, it is now nearly ten years since the trip, so it’s hard to be sure how accurate it was, but it was certainly tasty enough to keep making:-)

Gulaschsuppe based on this recipe from Epicurious
serves 6
4 slices bacon, chopped
700 grams steak, boneless chuck, trimmed and cut into 2 centimetre cubes
1 tablespoons oil, olive
2 medium onions, (about 300 grams) chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tablespoons paprika, (preferably Hungarian sweet)
¾ teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons flour
1 ½ dessertspoon vinegar, red-wine
1 ½ dessertspoon tomato paste
1 litre stock, beef (bouillon)
440 milliliters beer, dark, (guinness)
¼ teaspoon salt, (skip with commercial stock)
1 capsicum, red, chopped fine
2 large potatoes, russet (baking)
pepper
In an 3-4 litre heavy pot cook bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp and transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. In fat remaining in pot brown beef in small batches over high heat, transferring it as browned with slotted spoon to bowl.
Reduce heat to moderate and add oil. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden. Stir in paprika, caraway seeds, and flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Whisk in vinegar and tomato paste and cook, whisking, 1 minute. (Mixture will be very thick.) Stir in broth, beer, salt, capsicum, bacon, and beef and bring to a boil, stirring. Simmer soup, covered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes.
Peel potatoes and cut into 1 centimetre pieces. Add potatoes to soup and simmer, covered, occasionally until tender, about 30 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper.

It was pretty good, but I’d like to try wine instead of beer, and possibly a little more paprika (or maybe a little hot paprika as well as some of the other recipes suggested). It may be worth adding some carrotsand celery, just for a more balanced meal. It’d probably also be worthwhile trying longer, slower cooking (perhaps in the oven?) to try and get the meat more tender and shreddable.