Recipe: Gulaº de Inimã

A while back, I was browsing the Web for Romanian recipes, and one that I found which sounded both simple and interesting was Gulaº de inimã, or beef heart goulash. (Note: you may have to switch encoding on your browser to "Central European ISO" in order for the authentic Romanian characters to display properly.)

Now, having grown up in an Eastern European home myself, and having over the years tried all manner of recipes using organ meats, tripe soup, etc., this recipe was a natural. All I had to do was to find a butcher shop that actually sold beef heart ... and this I did quite recently.

This recipe, to my eyes, looked a bit under-spiced; therefore what I did was to modify it slightly by adding a couple of grains of allspice and less than half an organic vegetable bouillon cube. It's simmering right now as I write, and it smells really great. Another change I made was procedural: I elected to add the tomato paste not at the beginning of cooking, but toward the end, as the acidity might make the tough beef heart chunks a bit tougher still. Also, I am electing to simmer the heart chunks for an hour rather than half an hour; I can't imagine them being ready in a mere half-hour.

In any case, here is the original recipe as I found it on the Web.

Gulaº de Inimã

Ingredients

* 750 g Beef heart,
* 1/2 tablespoon flour,
* 1 Onion,
* 2-3 tablespoons lard,
* butter or oil,
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste,
* pepper, salt

Directions

1. Wash and cube the heart, fry slightly in a pan with shortening and finely chopped Onion, add flour, mix well and cover with warm water.
2. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.
3. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper and let simmer until the sauce thickens.
4. Serve with hot mashed or boiled potatoes.

I elected to add the tomato paste not at the beginning of cooking, but toward the end, as the acidity might make the tough beef heart chunks a bit tougher still.

I have usually found that acids are fantastic tenderizers.

Funny ... I normally use acidic marinade and even cook rabbit with tomato paste added early on, but had been made to think that the acidity would actually toughen organ meat.

Thanks for the thought-provoker!

Thanks Paul.

This is right up my alley as I am a fearless organ meat eater and enjoyed beef heart in Spain this summer - sort of a carpaccio/fritto treatment.

I think paprika and/or sour cream when I hear gulyas. I agree it probably needs a little zip and I wonder if a hot paprika or even a smoked piementon with reconstituted sun dried tomatoes would do the trick.

Next butcher shop trip list will include beef heart. Don't know why I've never pursued it before.

You know, Christina, I have to say that after finishing it last night with one fearless buddy who liked it and his fearful girlfriend who didn't, I came to the conclusion that next time I won't be making a tomato sauce for it - I just didn't think the flavours went very well together.

A paprika-based sauce, though, sounds much better ... as does a possible mushroom sauce.

What ARE the essential elements of a gulyas anyway? I have a wonderful book - I think the title is Cooking of Eastern Europe by Leslie Chamberlain - again - I think that is the author and remember being amazed at how different the regional recipes were and how different from what Americanized versions I had encountered.
I suspect that the soupy/stew was a vehicle for using what was on hand and that there are infinite regional variations.

Funny ... I normally use acidic marinade and even cook rabbit with tomato paste added early on, but had been made to think that the acidity would actually toughen organ meat.

Thanks for the thought-provoker!

Speaking with my (admittedly rather old and tatty) biochemist's hat on, acidity definitely is a tenderizer. Consider Coq au Vin. What do you do when the cock gets too old to do his henhouse duties properly? You replace him, of course. But then, what to do with the carcass of the old bird? It's too tough for a sautee or a roast. So you get some cheap, very acidic young wine, marinate the bird in it to break down the tough muscle protein, then you braise it for a long period over low heat to further tenderize it. With a bunch of aromatic vegetables and herbs to help tame the gamy character. And potatoes to stretch it out so it'll feed all the farm workers.

Acidity breaks down the structure of proteins. That is the crux of most marinades.

-Paul W.

Many thanks, Paul.

It makes sense now that you say it ... Once I marinated a bit of young venison in wine overnight and the next day after cooking it, it actually came out too tender - the meat began to shred, which ruined the presentation, though not the taste, of the meal.

Once I marinated a bit of young venison in wine overnight and the next day after cooking it, it actually came out too tender - the meat began to shred, which ruined the presentation, though not the taste, of the meal.

To paraphrase a remark from Paul Prudhomme (are all the great cooks named Paul ): looks like hell, tastes like heaven.

-Paul W.