Mela's magical mead goulash

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 3 kg beef goulash
• 1.3 kg onion(s)
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 kg mushrooms
• 1 ½ liters mead (honey mead)
• 2 tbsp clarified butter
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp paprika powder, hot
• 2 tbsp paprika powder, sweet
• 1 liter beef stock
• e.g. salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 4 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 5 hours 45 minutes

braised in the oven, aromatic-intense and buttery tender

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan). Finely chop the onions and garlic, fry them gently in clarified butter in a large roasting tin, and simmer until golden yellow. This will take a good 20 minutes, but it’s worth the effort. Then add the tomato paste, roast everything together, and deglaze with a good amount of mead. Pour in the beef stock, add the paprika, and mix everything well. Transfer the goulash to the pot, fill with mead until it’s just covered, and bring to a boil. You shouldn’t use all of the mead by this point, as it’s worth adding more as you go. Place the lid on the roasting tin and simmer in the oven for around 2 hours. Finely chop the mushrooms and add them after the simmering time. Mix everything well and add more mead to taste. Reduce the heat to 160°C and simmer for a further 2 hours. It should now smell very aromatic and the meat should practically fall apart. The mead gives the goulash an incredible flavor; it doesn’t taste like alcohol, but it has a wonderful, intense honey note. It’s important that it’s genuine mead and not honey wine. It goes well with dumplings and red cabbage, of course, but we especially like to eat it this way: pita bread, herb sour cream, red cabbage, and then the delicious goulash on top. It’s a real treat, I promise! This recipe is perfect for parties, so use these quantities.