BEEF PAPRIKA STEW VIENNESE STYLE (GULASH)

Steps:

• Chop the onions and press the garlic (garlic press). You can cut it in very tiny pieces too if you don't have a press, just make sure you cut them tiny. The onions should not be cut in to big pieces either.
• Cut the meat in smaller pieces (we want to reduce the cooking time, as beef takes forever to get tender), about 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch. I chose extra-lean beef already cut in little pieces for my stew and before I cooked it I made sure the meat is clean (not too much fat, but don't cut everything away as it gives flavor).
• Add some oil (any veggie oil maybe not necessarily something with too much flavor, like olive oil) and sear them until the get some color.
• Add the garlic and add some more color to the onion-garlic mix (don't burn though). I would recommend medium-high heat for this step (depends on your range though).
• Now remove the onions-garlic mix and put it in a bowl and let it sit on the side. You keep the pan on the range meanwhile because we want to sear the meat in that same fat we used for the onions. If you have to add some oil you can do that. But be careful with the oil as we don't want a too oily stew in the end.
• Now add the beef and sear it in there a lil (2-3 min).
• Add the onion-garlic mix, the cayenne pepper, paprika powder, caraway and majoram, salt and pepper. Stir it a lil bit. You don't want to do that too long, cause if the paprika powder just burns a lil bit it get very bitter and we don't want that.
• Add the broth and let it cook (not like heavy boiling but more than simmering) for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• After 40 minutes add the wine and the tomato paste and stir well (to make sure the tomato paste doesn't clumb or anything). Cook for another 20 mintues. Stir occasionally. Done.
• I would recommend not to serve the Gulash right after you made it. Best thing is to let it cool down (best thing over night in the fridge) and warm it up again the next day. You will see that flavors will come out even more after that. In Austrian we say a good Gulash needs to be warmed up at least twice before its really really good. So you see that could be an awesome dish to cook in advance.
• If you should be concerned that your gulash is too liquidish just let it sit over night and warm it up again, its going to be way more creamy than the day before (it propably is going to be very stiff after putting it out from the fridge it will get softer again after warming it up. :) ).
• You can serve it with potatoes, german or french rolls, any kind of german style dumbling, pasta, german style pasta (spaetzle), etc.