This is a minor variation of the "chicken paprika" recipe from "The Joy of Cooking."

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1.5 tbsp butter
• 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onions
• 2 tbsp Szeged paprika
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 2 tsp flour
• 1 cup sour cream

Method

Cut chicken into largeish chunks. Heat butter and oil in pan. Add onions and paprika, fry till glossy and red. Add chicken and broth. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Simmer uncovered till liquid reduces a bit. Add flour to sourcream. Add sourcream to pan a bit at a time and stir it in. Don't bring to a boil, but let the sauce thicken.

2020-03-28: This was my first attempt. I'm pretty pleased with it. Definitely a repeater.

The original recipe called for a 2.5 pound fryer, but I just used chicken breasts. I wanted thighs, but the store was out of them thanks to the coronavirus lockdown. If find myself wondering whether it would be better just to simmer it uncovered. I'll try that next time.

Noreen's chicken paprikash?

Meat prep

• 8 chicken thighs with bone
• 3 chicken breasts with bone (6 half breasts)
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp paprika (sweet, not hot)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp safflower oil (This is a hi-temp oil, so it won't burn.)

Sauce

• 2 medium onions, slice
• 1/4 cup of Hungarian paprika (sweet, not hot)
• 6 cups of chicken stock
• 4 cups of sour cream
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Method

1. Put 2 tbsp of safflower oil in a pan.
2. In a large ziplock bag put the dry ingredients from the meat prep sections. Dredge the chicken pieces.
   Put the chicken in the pan skin-side down. Do it in batches so that the chicken browns, not steams. The chicken will let you know when it is time to turn it because it will release from the pan. Turn. When brown, remove from the pan. If there is too much fat, pour the excess off.
3. Add the onion, halved and sliced, to the remaining fat. Cook till soft. Add paprika. Cook briefly, stirring to bring up fond.
4. Add the chicken back on top of the onions.
5. Add chicken stock. Simmer for one hour.
6. Remove the chicken to a plate. Turn the heat off from the broth.
7. Put the sour cream in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of flour. One ladle at a time, add the broth to the sour cream so that it doesn't clump. Do this for three ladles. The purpose is to raise the temp without causing clumping. Then add the sour cream to the broth. Mix well.
8. Add the chicken back into the broth and let it simmer while the noodles simmer. Once the nokedli are ready, serve with the chicken.

Notes

2016-03-06: I made this for the first time this weekend. Issues...

• I made it full size, which was ridiculous for my eating needs.
• Next, I made it in three stages. I did the browning one day, the main simmering the next, and the addition of the sour cream the third. Actually, I think it makes a lot of sense to do the browning a day ahead of time because it is labor and time intensive, whereas it would be reasonably easy to setup the rest of it.

Turned out great flavorwise. This really is Hungarian comfort food again. Works great with the nokedli. Definitely make a half recipe next time. And I would probably like it better using, say with 6-8 boneless thighs, no breasts, and halve the rest of the recipe. And definitely do major trimming of the skin, although really the skin helps the browning process and renders some great chicken fat.

Blurb from the website:

"A flavorful stew, Pörkölt is redolent with the fragrance of paprika and bell peppers. It has few ingredients, and is surprisingly easy to make. Save time by using boneless pork chops and cubing them after they are browned. There should be enough salt in the canned tomatoes to season the stew, but if not, add more to your taste. Use best-quality, real Hungarian paprika for best results. We prefer to serve it with noodles, but galuska (Hungarian dumplings) or rice are good, too."

Don's comments: Pörkölt is probably the most stereotypical of Hungarian dishes and is often called goulash in English. Essentially it is a thick meat stuff season with Hungarian paprika. The recipe linked above makes way too much food for me, so essentially I am cutting it in half here. This will be my template for experiments with it.

Ingredients

• 3 slices of bacon, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/8 cup of Hungarian paprika
• 3/4 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp of ground black pepper
• 2.5 pounds of boneless pork chops
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes, with liquid
• 1/3 cup of beef broth
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 6-oz package of wide egg noodles

Method

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain, and reserve the drippings. Add the onions to the bacon and cook together until the onion is translucent. Remove skillet from heat and stir the paprika, garlic powder, and pepper into the bacon mixture. Transfer the mixture into a large stockpot.
2. Heat a small amount of the reserved bacon drippings in the skillet again over medium-high heat. Cook the pork chops in batches in the hot drippings until evenly browned on both sides. Use additional bacon drippings for each batch as needed. Remove the pork chops to a cutting board and blot excess fat off the surface of the chops with a paper towel; cut into bite-sized cubes and stir into the bacon mixture.
3. Heat a small amount of the bacon drippings in the skillet; cook and stir the bell pepper in the hot drippings until softened and fragrant; drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Stir the cooked pepper into the bacon mixture.
4. Pour the tomatoes with liquid and beef broth into a stockpot and place the pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the stew begins to thicken, stirring occasionally, about 90 minutes. Stir the sour cream into the stew just before serving.
5. Bring a pot with lightly-salted water and bring to a rolling boil; add the egg noodles to the water and return to a boil. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink. Ladle the stew over the drained noodles to serve.

2016-02-27: This is my first attempt at the recipe. I ended up using two onions and five strips of bacon out of brainlessness. I used pepper bacon, so I didn't add pepper to the stew. It took for-freakin-ever to brown the meat; I'm skeptical it is worth the effort in a stew. By the time all was said and done, it was too late to really cook the stew, so I put the stewing pan in the fridge and I'll start it stewing tomorrow.