A few months ago, our friends Ron and Vanessa invited us over for dinner. Vanessa recently had twin girls – Carmel and Julia – aka the cutest little darlings in the history of children. I was really excited to spend some time with the babies (and Ron and Vanessa, of course!).
After dinner, Ron showed me a family recipe manuscript that his mother had given him. Ron’s family is Hungarian Jewish. When Ron started living on his own, his mom wrote down their family recipes so he could teach himself to cook the food he’d grown up with. He knew this manuscript would be right up my alley.
Traditional Hungarian Jewish recipes? I was thrilled! I took the manuscript home and scanned it, then began to study the dishes. It’s a colder than usual February here in Los Angeles, so a hearty beef stew called Marha Pörkölt seemed like the perfect dish to try.
Ron, Vanessa, and the twins
Marha Pörkölt translates from Hungarian to “Beef Stew.” What sets this dish apart from other beef stews is the paprika. Hungarian cooking is all about paprika; the spice is used liberally in many dishes. This particular paprika dish is quite common in Hungary. It originated with cattle herders, who made the dish in the fields in cast iron kettles and cooked it over an open fire. Marha Pörkölt is similar to another dish you may have heard of – goulash – which has the same origin and ingredients, though the texture of goulash would be slightly more soupy. You can actually make this recipe into a goulash by adding more liquid for a thinner sauce and adjusting the seasoning to taste.
Ron and his mother Eva
I asked Ron to tell me a little about his family background, so we could understand exactly where this recipe came from. Ron’s family tree is pretty fascinating! Here are some of the highlights, in Ron’s words:
My mother was born Eva Neuwirth in Budapest, Hungary in 1929 to an affluent family. Her father Mihaly was a diplomat and in the import export business. Her mother Julia was of the famed Wertheimer family whose patriarch Samson Wertheimber, a wealthy banker, was given a rare title in the year 1510 by King Maximilian I, of the German Holy Roman Empire, for loans he provided the King. This bestowed family crest made the Wertheimbers “Koenigliche Yuden,” meaning “Noble Jews.” My mother, together with her sister Vera, were the embodiment of a happy pre-war Hungarian Jewish family. My father David Kenan was born Ivan Klein in Budapest Hungary in 1926 to Asher and Eta Klein. Eta is from the Schonberger family. Both families have numerous rabbis in their ancestry – the Kleins are Cohens.
The Klein family, 1927. Ron’s great grandmother is holding his father on the left, and his grandparents are the third and fourth adults from the left.
Both of my parents are Holocaust survivors. My father escaped out of a Nazi labor camp, joined the partisans and made his way to Israel where he was in the Hagana and then had a long career in the Israeli Air Force. My mom survived the Nazis by hiding with false papers (she and her sister Vera had the same papers so they separated, one hiding in Buda and the other in Pest). She stayed in Budapest into the Communist era. There she married Dezso Steiner, the father of my brother Michael. After their divorce, she received permission to emigrate to Israel but when she got to the border, her name was crossed off the list and only her mother Julia, sister Vera, and son Michael were able to leave. She was left behind and couldn’t get out for several years until she escaped Hungary underground. This was extremely rare and dangerous. To this day she will not reveal the circumstances of her escape in order to protect a highly placed accomplice. She arrived in Israel where she met my father.
Ron as a baby in Israel
I was born in Tel-Aviv Yafo Israel in 1960, though we lived in Haifa most of my years there. My brother Michael, 12 years older, moved out of the house when I was 4. With my father generally in another city or country for military service and later his company, it was mostly me and mom and her cooking. In 1974 we moved to the US, 6 months in Columbus, OH, then 6 months in Bolivia where my father was working, and back to Columbus. Again in Columbus, it was me, my mom and her cooking.
Little Ron enjoying his Ima’s food
When I was 20 I joined a carnival to head out west to Los Angeles to pursue my music career. A few months before leaving, I had my mom write all of her recipes into an old Israeli school notebook (called a “machberet”). Every time she would make something, it had to go in the notebook. She adorned them with illustrations of steaming pans and pots to show the correct sized cookware. So cute! Fortunately, 20 years later, mom joined me in LA and the cooking celebration continued. To this day, she’ll grace my wife and I with an occasional fabulous creation of hers. Just this week she cooked her chicken liver recipe for our 1 year old twin girls Carmel (named after Carmel Mountain in Haifa where we lived) and Julia (after my grandmother). They liked it!
Of course they did! I’m not at all surprised. Little Carmel and Julia have very sophisticated taste. 🙂
Here is the original Marha Pörkölt recipe in Eva’s handwriting:
Click here to print the original recipe
I transcribed the recipe below, giving amounts and cooking times where needed. The original recipe said 1/4 green pepper and 1/4 tomato– I took that to mean a 1/4 lb. of each, since using only a quarter of a tomato and a quarter of a pepper wouldn’t add much flavor to the dish at all. 1 large tomato would be about 1/4 lb., and 1/2 a medium green bell pepper would be about the same. I used the remaining bell pepper and some sliced fresh tomato to garnish the stew. The resulting dish was tender and flavorful, the perfect dinner for a winter evening. This would be served over a traditional spaetzle or potatoes. Having neither on hand, I served it over rice and garnished it with parsley. It would also be great over egg noodles. It’s a pretty mild dish. For more heat, you could add a touch of spicy paprika or cayenne.
For some reason I can’t find the step-by-step photos I took of this recipe, but it’s pretty self explanatory– you shouldn’t have any problems. Next time I make it I’ll take pics and post them here.
Thank you to Ron Kenan, Eva Kenan and family for this wonderful taste of traditional Hungarian Jewish cooking!
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Marha Pörkölt - Hungarian Beef Paprika Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used canola)
- 1 large onion, minced
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 pound beef stew meat (I used lean beef)
- 2 tablespoons sweet (mild) paprika - Hungarian paprika is best
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 large tomato, cored and chopped
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large saute pan, heat canola oil over medium. Add minced onion and saute for about 8 minutes till softened. Add the garlic and green bell pepper. Continue to saute for another 5 minutes till garlic is fragrant and bell pepper is tender-crisp.
- Add the beef to the pan and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-6 more minutes, stirring twice, till meat is browned.
- Sprinkle paprika and caraway seeds evenly across the top of the meat. Add diced tomatoes to the pan. Pour 4-5 cups of hot water into the pan, till the meat is almost covered. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cover to pan. Let the mixture simmer slowly for about 90-100 minutes, replenishing the water as needed to keep it from getting dry.
- The stew is ready when the meat is fork tender and the sauce is thick. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste before serving, if desired.
- Serve over spaetzle, potatoes, rice or noodles. It would also be great over quinoa. Kosher for Ashkenazi Passover when served over a KFP starch (ex: potatoes). Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Hi
I made this but fou d that 4-5 cups of water too be too much. I don’t see how this simmers down to thick consistency. Has potential but I’ll try to add half the liquid next time to start. Make sense ?
Not bad of a recipe for marhaporkolt but try to add red wine and bay leaves and you’ll have an out of this world experience I guarantee. :)) Thank you for loving and sharing Hungarian food, it makes me proud of being Hungarian. 🙂
This is a delicious recipe, I am making it for the second time today and had to come back to the website to print it again. Since we are in the midst of COVID and getting bored with my own cooking I was looking for a variation to beef stew. I thought of the dishes we had when my husband was working in Budapest for a while and searched for paprikash. This is perfectly delicious and easy. I love the photo you included of Ron as a baby and reading the original text of the recipe. As I read it I heard my Grandmothers voice (she grew up in Vilna) describing how to make kreplach. “little water” brought back those experiences for me even though she has been gone 40 years.
I made this today (it is still cooking)…..I added baby bella mushrooms and also added some red wine….
This is a great recipe! My (Hungarian) mother in law had told me this recipe and like the note above was a bit vague in the measurements and method. This has helped clarify this for me. The only thing I had differently when she’s cooked it for me is adding eggs in. While it is simmering away whole eggs are placed into the mixture and cooked in their shells. When served the eggs are removed from their shells and their flavour is something you’ve never experienced before.
Wondering if this could be done in a slow cooker. Suggestions on adapting for slow cooker?
I can’t seem to find caraway seeds in my local shops, is there anything I can use to substitute them with?
I wonder if fennel would work?
I’ve been searching for a recipe similar to a dish I get at my favorite Biergarten.. this IS IT! So delicious! I served with egg noodles this go around, but will find spaetzle for the next time. Thank you so much for posting!!
I searched for an authentic Hungarian pork recipe and found it and also a wonderful story of your family – Thank You!
Beginner’s tip? Do you put the meat in diced (step 2)? Thank you!
Hi D, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Stew meat comes pre-cut so yes. Or if you are using a whole piece of meat you can dice yourself first. Hope that helps!
This dish really shines when made with tougher, less expensive cuts and simmered a long time to get that awesome flavor and tenderness. You can use lean beef, but you’re missing some of the true flavor this dish should have.
Adding caraway directly can overpower the dish and more importantly, make your stomach burn or feel acidic later. Try steeping the caraway seeds in a bit of boiling water (a cup or so) to make a strong tea. Then add a few tablespoons of the tea to the pot to your taste.
Definitely a cold weather favorite!
This is the best recipe I’ve tried for authentic porkolt. Wonderful family history too. Thanks Tori
So glad you enjoyed it Polly!
The jewish family stories are moving. I live in Israel since 1957 (basically from Banat) and do regret anyone who moves then further to other places like the US, Australia, etc. There is another variant of the marha porkolt, in which the meat is fried first in oil, taken out and added back to the pot when the onions are fried. The meat being fried in its own moisture, adds supposedly some extra taste. The point of the porkolt is to prepare a stew in a strong, concentrated sauce. Otherwise it becomes a paprikas, more diluted. It goes de rigueur with dumplings (nokkedli) and cucumber salad.I wonder whether the jewish hungarian and the hungarian recipees for marka porkolt are different indeed. The added sour cream isn’t an organic part of the hungarian version.
For others that might be reading through comments, I have a recipe for nokedli (aka spatzle) here: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/nokedli-spatzle/
I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. I remember well my Hungarian grandmother making this dish, and while I broadly remember the ingredients, your recipe just solidified what I remembered. As a side note, during the war and for quite a few years after it (WWII), meat was scarce so many times amount of meat would be reduced significantly, and substitutes like potatoes would be used to create a filling and delicious dish.
I LOVE your recipe. I serve it at many holiday gatherings when I have friends over. I am re-checking your recipe so I can cook it again in my sukkah this Sukkot. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing the story and the recipe. This is almost identical to a recipe my grandmother used as far as ingredients except she used cumin seed instead of caraway seed in hers. She also used beef ribs for the meat which made for a very rich dish. I still make this dish these days, in fact I am going to be teaching one of my grandnephews how to make this for himself now that he is living on his own away from home.
Grandma and Grandpa were from Maureni a small village now in Romania near Timosoara. But when they left it was still part of Austro-Hungary. They went to Budapest and then from there to Berlin and Chicago although it took them around 10 years from start to finish.
Although I was born and raised in Canada… I grew up in a traditional Hungarian home…. learning to speak Hungarian and even a little reading at times….but most of all I learned to cook at an early age….watching my mother day in and day out cook our family some of the best meals ever. There are a number of porkolt (pork or beef) recipes on the internet which are very similar to one another. The main ingredient when cooking whether it’s Hungarian or Italian or whatever your palette desires is to cook with love. I’m sure anyone who reads this understands me when I say cook with love. My wife has never experienced Hungarian cooking before until she met me and now she cant get enough of it. So remember….a recipe is just a recipe unless you add the key ingredient…….love. Enjoy and egeszsegedre!
I currently cannot eat tomatoes. Do you think this would taste ok without tomatoes?
Yes you can omit tomatoes and it will still taste great. I do however suggest using beef broth.
Recipe was fantastic, but what was really special was the background story to this delicious meal. I’m a huge believer in that food tastes different depending on who’s hands have touched it, what their thoughts and how much love they put into it. I am very honored to have learned of personal story while making this dish, and it was delicious and soul-soothing. I was looking for a good goulash to make with the paprika from Hungary that my friends had given to me as a gift. Thank you!
I’ve been looking for the ultimate goulash recipe for ages. My husband, having spent several years in Austria and Hungary, loves it but I’ve never been able to get it quite right. This one meets his approval. My only changes were to put a little red bell pepper in, in addition to the green, and a couple of squirts of porkolt izesito paste (we got it in Hungary last time we visited. Oh yes, I cooked in the slow cooker, absolutely fab!
My mother is Austrian and Grandmother was Hungarian Austrian. I grew up with my best friend whose mother, Lily Radford, was Hungarian and father Transylvania, both Jewish Holocaust survivors. This lovely wonderful beautiful woman , Lily , made the most incredible Hungarian food! Whenever anyone walked into her spectacularly clean and nicely decorated home, given how kind, warm hearted and generous Mrs. Radford, I was always welcomed to one of her delicious paprika dishes. Thank you for adding the story it was very thoughtful and touching. I have been looking for the perfect Hungarian recipe and this is delicious! Thank you!
I’m family, presumably related. I lived in Transylvania till 1984, then in Israel, then Ifinally settled in Sydney. The Marha Pörkölt was always part of our menu, my wife cooks it too. Thaks for sharing your story.