Goulash is a Hungarian beef-based soup or light stew made with paprika and onions and traditionally eaten with potatoes.

The recipe for Gúlyas dates from the 9th century, before Hungary was a state, when nomads dried cooked meat in the sun, and carried it around to be boiled in water for stew or soup when the need arose.

Although goulash recipes vary as recipes do, the purist insists that goulash should not include wine, flour or sour cream just before serving, as many modern recipes indicate (the addition of sour cream technically makes a paprikás).

Goulash is eaten throughout Eastern Europe and the goulash that Americans usually make is closer to a Hungarian stew called pörkölt, that is eaten with noodles, although the term has come to mean a muddle of bastardized neo-goulash dishes with little resemblance to their Hungarian ancestors.