Is catsup a must?
It’s not my mother-in-law’s goulash, rest her soul.
I could be wrong about this, and I can no longer verify it with her, but I think her recipe went something like this. Boil macaroni and drain. Add browned ground beef and maybe some onions? Drown the whole mess with a bottle of catsup. Add a lot of cheddar cheese and stir it up good. My husband loved it. But that’s a lot of sugar, so I resist.
When I recently saw a recipe for “American Chop Suey” in Cook’s Illustrated, I was mystified. I’ve never heard a mixture of beef, tomatoes, sauce, and macaroni called such a thing. Then again, maybe you’ve never heard it called “goulash,” which is only a distant relative to “Hungarian Goulash.” But I recognized the food in the picture as a first cousin of my husband’s beloved goulash, so I immediately began to gather the ingredients.
I followed the recipe fairly closely with these exceptions:
- I used cheap ground beef and drained the grease, which means I ended up with a little less beef but more flavor. I’m OK with that.
- I used red bell pepper instead of green–a standard substitution in this house.
- I substituted pasta sauce for the tomato sauce.
- I used some Parmesan cheese, but I also added some cheddar.
When I tasted the end product, something was missing. You guessed it. It needed some catsup, but not the whole bottle. Just a couple of glugs brought back all kinds of memories, added some sauciness, and a touch of sweetness I crave way too often.
I didn’t add it this time, but next time I’m going to throw in a squirt of Rooster Sauce (Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce) just to make things more interesting.
- 12 ounces elbow macaroni
- Salt and pepper
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup frozen, chopped onion
- ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
- 2 celery ribs, chopped finely
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 (29-ounce) can tomato or pasta sauce
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup catsup
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- Boil pasta in salted water for 3 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
- Brown ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Drain off excess grease. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Saute onion, bell pepper, and celery in same pan until softened and lightly browned. Add tomato paste and stir, continuing to cook for about 2 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes along with tomato sauce, tomatoes, water, and cooked ground beef. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from heat, stir in macaroni, cover and allow to sit about 10 minutes.
- Stir in catsup and cheese. (If you don’t have Parmesan, we like cheddar too.)
- Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with additional Parmesan if desired.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Paula! My kids grew up on this and my in-laws had it at every back yard cook-out. But, it has been YEARS since I made it and clear forgot about it.
Wow – look at that yummy photo! I can almost taste it : ) I’ll pass on the Hot Chili Sauce but will add the catsup. That is how my mother-in-law pronounced it too. We say ketchup.
My dad made this growing up and wished I had his recipe. Yours looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks Paula!!
Hi Pam,
Sounds like goulash is comfort food for you too. If you try it, hope it brings back lots of good memories.
Paula,
I know three little people (and two other people ☺) that would love this! I ditto your 2. substitution. It is standard in my house as well.
Paula, who else could make goulash look so delicious!? I didn’t think I liked it but I just changed my mind! Love this photo!
My family made this with stewed tomatoes and called it goulash. Later on, I lived with a Hungarian (who escaped during the ’56 Revolution) and discovered that REAL goulash was really a stew made with dried beef and little else – no macaroni, or cheese, or much beyond paprika – which is dried sweet or hot red peppers – and probably onions or garlic.
I discovered that some people call it Chili-Mac – which is more suggestive of its ingredients. As an extension educator I used to teach folks to use the same ingredients in a single pan (Yes, a one-pot meal) and it became “skillet lasagna” and it worked pretty well. People sometimes substituted other meats – like venison – for the ground beef and a can of spaghetti sauce was easier for some than straight tomato sauce. You browned the meat and onions, poured on the sauce and some extra water, dumped in the pasta, covered the pan over low heat and cooked it covered for as long as it took to make the pasta tender.
This is the original hamburger helper recipe and how it got to be called goulash is beyond me – but it still works and still tastes just fine.
Very interesting Nancy. I knew that my goulash not Hungarian since it has no paprika but didn’t know about the red peppers. What we used to call Chili-Mac had chili powder in it. My sister once made Chili-Mac for her boyfriend when he asked for chili. He was astonished to find macaroni in his chili.
Thanks for taking the time to write.
I had Goulash alot when I was little, and loved it!
I really need to make it more often. =)
Love your recipe! thanks so much for sharing!
Sometimes all you need is a little catsup…or a bbq sauce…or yes, Hot Chili Sauce!
Thanks for the recipe..I really appreciate this recipe..I cant wait to taste it..Hope you can share more..
My mama used to make this and I loved it! Thanks for the blast from the past!
My father in law makes something very similar to this, it’s so yummy!
Nice sharing of recipe..I cant wait to try this..Thanks for sharing with us..
My mother in law makes something similar and calls it slum gum. My mom also had a version that used tomato soup. What memories!
Mimi
Mimi, Slum gum? Haven’t heard that one before. Tomato soup seems like a pretty good idea–if you don’t mind the extra salt.
I use tomato soup in my tamale pie and love it. Have a great day! pr
When I taught school, this was standard fare in the school cafeteria. I always gobbled it up (it was a small town and those ladies could cook!). I think they may have used tomato soup . . .
I’ve been fixing my salad in a jar ever since I saw your post and it has been just great until the last few times. I’ve been getting brown edges after less than a week – top is tight and well sealed. Any suggestions? There were a couple pieces of chard in this jar – do you think that would have made a difference?
Martha Ann,
The chard is indeed suspect. That’s why I do not add anything else to my lettuce because it will usually shorten the time you can use it. The only other thing I can think of is that your lettuce was not as fresh as you hoped when you bought it. pr
Paula, I didn’t know the name of this but this is what my mother in law makes all the time, but she throws in peas but no other vegetables. I can’t even say that I tired hers since I was a vegetarian for many years, but your recipe def. seems much healthier than the ketchup version or the no veggie version
.
This is such a comfort dish for me. My Grandma used to make this, something between this and your mother-in-law’s recipe. It was simple and fantastic. My Mom always went to exotic and ethnic extremes (weird in the 70′s) but Grandma always made this and it was just what we wanted. I need to do this. THIS is goulash to ME!
Hi Paula,
I’ve spent the last 15 or so years trying to find my mother’s recipe for her goulash. We couldn’t get enough of it when I was a kid. I just stumbled on yours and couldn’t believe just how close it was to hers. However, she used a loaf of bread and a lot of tomato paste in hers and she did it in a 12 qt stock pot. The rest seemed basically the same so I tried it. A couple of variations such as an xtra 1/2 cup of water and 2 large cans tomato paste and…….PERFECTION. It was exactly what she used to make. I had tears in my eyes the first time I tried it. It brought back the days when we came home to a hardy bowl of Mom’s goulash. I can’t thank you enough. Peace be with you and thank you very much.