March 31, 2005
Hungarian Pan-Fried Pork Steak
If you want to know the whole story behind this recipe, you might want to zip on over to my webpage for Boiled Irish Dinner and check out the bottom of the page. I'll pick up the story midway through.
I did indeed get the winning bid for The Frugal Gourmet cookbook on eBay, but I was disappointed when it arrived. Had I seen the book before purchasing it, I never would have bought it. It was a hard back book, no pictures of the food that was prepared -- a bit indimidating as cookbooks go. I set the book on the dryer in the laundry room and went about my business.
A couple of days later I had a few minutes to spare so I grabbed the book for a quick look. I randomly opened it up to Pan-Fried Pork Steak and was hooked on the book from that moment on! I couldn't believe how many recipes I wanted to try, and the commentary before the recipes is quite entertaining! The old adage is definitely true: Never judge a book by its cover!
I'm sharing the recipe as modified by me. I'm not one to follow a recipe precisely but I like to think the result is mostly the same!
Hungarian Pan-Fried Pork Steak
4 large pork steaks, deboned
1 1/2 tablespoons celery seeds
Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
4 tablespoons lard (I trimmed the meat and cooked the fat to make oil)
Paprika gravy (see below)
Pound the deboned steaks to 1/8" thickness. Sprinkle both sides of meat lightly with celery seeds. Dredge the pork in seasoned flour. Fry in oil over medium heat until golden brown and tender. Serve with Paprika Gravy.
Paprika Gravy:
1 tablespoon meat drippings
1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup green peppers, sliced
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp chicken bouillon
6 cups beef stock
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup flour
Heat drippings and paprika over medium heat for a moment, then add garlic, peppers, onions and tomatoes. Fry until tender. Add chicken base and beef stock with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
In a metal bowl, mix sour cream and flour with whisk. Add 1 cup of the gravy broth and stir quickly into cream.
Using slotted spoon, remove and discard solids from broth. Remove gravy from heat and stir in the cream mixture, whisking well. Return to heat and simmer at least 15 minutes, or until meat is tender and ready to be served.
Original recipe is from The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes you should have gotten from your grandmother by Jeff Smith. I invite you to read my book review.
