Hun­gar­i­an Goulash

Serves 6 to 8

Though the Fenves fam­i­ly lived in Yugoslavia dur­ing the war, their culi­nary her­itage was pro­found­ly influ­enced by Hun­gar­i­an tra­di­tions — a nat­ur­al influ­ence giv­en they lived in Sub­ot­i­ca, right on the bor­der. Goulash was on reg­u­lar rota­tion in their home, a com­fort­ing, every­day dish that’s espe­cial­ly hearty in the win­ter­time. Tra­di­tion­al­ly, it might be paired with spät­zle or crusty bread, but the egg noo­dles are a dis­tinct­ly Jew­ish touch, the same noo­dles that appear in chick­en soup and kugel. Maris always had a vari­ety of pick­led veg­eta­bles on hand, and here, they cut through the rich­ness and bright­en it both in col­or and fla­vor. Dur­ing the war, such a dish would have felt like a rare lux­u­ry. Steven’s request that we include it at every Res­cued Recipes din­ner speaks vol­umes about the sig­nif­i­cance it holds.

2 ¼ pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1‑inch cubes

1 table­spoon plus ½ tea­spoon Mor­ton kosher salt, divided

1 tea­spoon ground black pepper

¼ cup neu­tral oil

1 large head fen­nel, trimmed, cored, and rough­ly chopped

1 medi­um onion, cut into ½‑inch dice

2 to 3 Hun­gar­i­an wax or poblano pep­pers, seed­ed and cut into ½‑inch dice

3 cloves gar­lic, thin­ly sliced

1 table­spoon sweet paprika

1 table­spoon smoked paprika

1 table­spoon ground car­away seed

¼ tea­spoon onion powder

¼ tea­spoon gar­lic powder

⅛ tea­spoon cayenne pepper

¼ cup toma­to paste

4 cups Oxtail Broth (see recipe) or beef broth

2 fresh bay leaves

1 table­spoon chopped fresh oregano

1 table­spoon liq­uid aminos or soy sauce

1 ½ pounds Yukon Gold pota­toes (4 to 5 medi­um), peeled and cut into 2‑inch pieces

14 ounces smoked sausage (about two 8‑inch links), cut into ½‑inch half-moons

1 tea­spoon sher­ry vinegar

But­tered Egg Noo­dles (recipe fol­lows), sour cream, and chopped fresh pars­ley, for serving

1. Sea­son the beef shoul­der all over with 1 table­spoon salt and 1 tea­spoon pepper.
2. Set a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over high heat and add the oil. When it begins to shim­mer, start brown­ing the beef, work­ing in batch­es so you don’t over­crowd the pan. Set the cubes in a sin­gle, even lay­er and cook, undis­turbed, for 3 to 5 min­utes, until that side is a dark gold­en brown. Flip the pieces and cook for anoth­er 1 to 2 min­utes. Trans­fer to a large bowl and con­tin­ue with the remain­ing beef.
3. Decrease the heat to medi­um; if there’s a lot of mois­ture in the pan, allow it to reduce for a minute or two, leav­ing behind the oil and ren­dered fat. The bot­tom of the pot should be a deep brown from sear­ing all the meat.
4. Add the fen­nel, onions, and wax pep­pers and sauté for 8 to 10 min­utes, or until the veg­eta­bles are gold­en brown and soft; as you cook, use the edge of your spoon to scrape up any brown bits from the bot­tom of the pan and let them mix into the vegetables.
5. Add the gar­lic, sweet papri­ka, smoked papri­ka, car­away, onion pow­der, gar­lic pow­der, and cayenne pep­per; stir and let them toast for 1 minute. Add the toma­to paste and cook for 2 min­utes, or until it starts to smell cooked and toasty.
6. Add the broth, bay leaves, oregano, liq­uid aminos, and pota­toes along with all the meat (be sure to scrape in any ren­dered juices). Bring the liq­uid to a sim­mer over medi­um-high heat, then decrease the heat to low and cov­er the pot. Cook until the meat is fork-ten­der, 1 ½ to 2 hours. (You can make the egg noo­dles while the stew cooks.)
7. Add the sausage to a pot and let it sim­mer for anoth­er 4 to 5 min­utes, just to warm it through. Remove the pot from the heat and add the sher­ry vine­gar and remain­ing ½ tea­spoon salt to finish.
8. Serve the goulash over egg noo­dles and fin­ish with sour cream and parsley.

But­tered Egg Noodles

Serves 6 to 8

The nutri­tion­al yeast in this recipe is option­al but gives the noo­dles a but­tery, cheesy, and deeply savory fla­vor that goes a long way. It’s a lit­tle trick to take some­thing already so per­fect in its sim­plic­i­ty and make it even better.

2 table­spoons plus ½ tea­spoon Mor­ton kosher salt, divided

1 pound egg noodles

4 table­spoons (½ stick) unsalt­ed butter

⅓ cup chopped fresh pars­ley, plus more for serving

2 tea­spoons nutri­tion­al yeast (option­al)

1 tea­spoon ground black pepper

1. Fill a large pot with water and add 2 table­spoons of the salt; bring to a boil over high heat. Cook the noo­dles accord­ing to pack­age instruc­tions. Ladle off 1 cup of cook­ing water before drain­ing the noo­dles and set aside.
2. Add the drained noo­dles back to the pot over medi­um-high heat. Stir in the reserved cook­ing water along with the but­ter, pars­ley, nutri­tion­al yeast (if using), pep­per, and the remain­ing ½ tea­spoon salt. Toss until the but­ter has melt­ed and the pas­ta water is ful­ly incorporated.

From Mem­o­ries of a Good Meal: Recipes of Resilience Inspired by Sto­ries of World War II Sur­vival, by Alon Shaya with June Hersh, pub­lished by Har­vest, Octo­ber 6, 2026. Reprint­ed cour­tesy of Harper­CollinsPub­lish­ers.