Background

This Hungarian pork and sauerkraut goulash is one of the most popular traditional Hungarian dishes. I’s called Székelykáposzta, which is wrongly translated by many as “Transylvanian cabbage”.  Actually, it’s  named after József Székely who was a friend of the poet Sándor Petőfi. According to legend, one day they went out for a late lunch, but the restaurant was running out of food. Székely asked the chef to mix together some goulash stew with sauerkraut pottage, the dishes that were still available on the menu. This was liked so much by Petőfi that every time he went back to the restaurant, he asked for this dish, referring to it as “székely cabbage”. Anyway, it’s really tasty and easy to make  -  although the cooking can take more than an hour, but if you had a pressure cooker you could reduce it to just 30 minutes. Serve it with sour cream and fresh bread. In Hungary this is a popular dish at Christmas time and during the summer for  garden parties and get-togethers (cooked in cauldron)