Hungarian Hunter’s Stew Recipe
Servings: 6 portions
Calories: 280kcal
An authentic, royal-style Hungarian Hunter's Stew (Vadas) featuring tender beef in a velvet-smooth, sweet-and-sour root vegetable sauce. A masterpiece of traditional Transylvanian cooking that balances carrots, mustard, and sour cream perfectly.
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Equipment
- 1 Dutch oven pot
- 1 hand blender
Ingredients
- 1 kg beef joint
- 4 pieces carrots
- 2 pieces parsley roots
- 4 pieces onions medium size
- ¼ pieces celery root
- 1 piece red sweet pepper
- 2 tablespoon pork lard or sunflower oil
- 3 pieces bay leaves
- 3 sprigs thyme fresh
- 2 teaspoon sea salt kosher
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon vegetable mix dried
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon French mustard
- 300 ml sour cream or double cream
- ¼ pieces lemon juice squeezed
Instructions
- I cut the meat into 2 cm (1 inch) slices. Wash the vegetables and peel them. Cut the onions, carrots, pepper, celery and parsley roots into pieces.
- Fry the beef slices in pork lard for just one minute on each side to get a brown crust, and remove them on a plate.
- In the remaining lard in the same pot, put the chopped onions for frying. Season them with a teaspoon of sea salt and saute them for about two minutes until they soften.
- Add the vegetables over the onion; season with a teaspoon of sea salt, ground pepper, and a vegetable mix for soups. Add the bay leaves, sprigs of thyme, and a spoonful of tomato paste, mix them and let them sauté for another two minutes.
- Put the fried meat slices in the pot and pour water over them to cover everything. Let it simmer with a lid at medium-low heat for one and a half hours until the meat is done.
- Remove the meat from the Dutch oven in a bowl, and so do with the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
- Mix the vegetables with the remaining juice with a hand blender until you get a homogeneous sauce.
- Add the French mustard to the sauce, sour cream, sugar, and half of the lemon juice.
- Put the meat back in the sauce and put the pot back on the fire until it boils.
- Serve the hunter's stew with potatoes, bread, dumplings or noodles.
Video
Notes
The stew can also be made with wild game meat, such as venison, wild boar, rabbit, beef tongue or pork.
Instead of pork lard, you can use duck or goose fat, sunflower or vegetable oil.
The cooking time varies depending on the type of meat used, so you should check the texture of the meat from time to time.
For the ultimate experience, serve with bread dumplings or a thick slice of my Homemade Potato Bread to enjoy every last drop of the sauce.
Nutrition
Serving: 1portion | Calories: 280kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 952mg | Potassium: 568mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1218IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 3mg
