A type of sweet and sour marinated beef; oh so tender and with a very special and distinctly-flavored sauce. Good served with cooked rice, noodles, potatoes, or dumplings of any sort.

• 4 lbs. beef bottom round or rump, approx.

For Marinade:

• 2 cups red wine vinegar
• 4 cups water
• 1 large sliced onion
• 5 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 whole cloves

For Sauce:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp sugar, or to taste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Marinate meat in fridge for 2 to 3 days, turning occasionally. Remove meat from marinade, straining and reserving marinade. Pat meat dry and dredge with flour. Brown in butter. Add 1 cup strained marinade, sugar, carrots, onion, tomato paste and salt.

Cook covered until meat is very tender (about 3 hours). Remove meat and force sauce through a sieve, and skim off fat. Add the sour cream, mix well and reheat. Slice the meat thickly and serve covered in sauce.

Slovakian Goulash (Beef stew)

• 1 lb. stewing beef
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1-1/4 lb potatoes
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• salt to taste
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1-1/2 cups water, or more
• 3/4 tsp seasoned salt

Cube the meat. Brown the meat in oil, add chopped onion, pressed garlic, salt, caraway seeds, paprika and salt. Add water and slowly simmer until the meat begins to get tender. Cube the potatoes and add them, continuing to simmer until both the potatoes and meat are tender.

Puerco en Salsa Verde con calabacitas

• 1 lb. pork loin, in chunks
• 4 peppercorns
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2 cups salsa verde (Mexican green tomato sauce with chile)
• 4 small zucchinis, cubed
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• Salt to taste

Place pork in heavy pot with water to cover, onion, pepper, garlic and bay and boil for 1 hour, skimming off foam. Remove meat, strain the broth and discard spices and onion.

Reduce broth to about 1/2 cup. Return meat to pot, add salsa verde and bouillon cube. Simmer for half an hour.

Add spinach and zucchini and continue cooking for another 1/2 hr., adding broth or water if necessary. The sauce should be quite thick by the end of cooking .Adjust seasonings. Serve with tortillas (makes great tacos!)

Pastel de Choclo is a typical corn and chicken casserole from Chile, with a sweet corn crust hiding a savory mixture of chicken, olives, raisins, and hard-cooked eggs.

Ingredients for Pastel de Choclo

• 1 lb. boneless chicken breast
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt and cumin to taste
• raisins
• black olives
• 2 hard cooked eggs, quartered
• oil

Corn layer:

• 6 medium cobs of corn, or 2 cans of sweet corn
• 1 large sprig of basil
• sugar

Saute the onion and garlic in oil. Add the chicken and cook over low flame until done. Season with salt and cumin.

Scrape corn from the cobs and grind in a blender or food processor with the basil. Cook a few minutes over low flame to thicken. If it is too thick add a little milk and if too thin, thicken with some cornstarch.

Spread the chicken in one layer in the bottom of an oven-proof casserole.  Sprinkle with raisins  and olives and then a layer of the quartered hard-cooked eggs. Spread the ground corn over top. Sprinkle sugar over the top of the corn layer.

Place in a 350 F oven until crust is golden

A Ukrainian dish

Ingredients for Braised Beef with Prunes

• 2 lbs beef
• Oil
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 lb prunes, pitted
• 2 onions
• 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 1 T flour
• 1 T oil
• 1/2 T sugar
• 5 whole cloves
• 1/3 t cinnamon
• 1 T vinegar
• salt

Preparating Braised Beef with Prunes

Cut meat into 4 oz pieces, season with salt and brown in oil.  Saute the onions and place in a casserole with the meat, cinnamon and tomato puree. Pour in a bit of the stock and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

Heat 1 T oil and add flour to brown, then add the rest of the stock and pour into casserole with meat. Add the prunes and simmer till soft. Add vinegar, cloves, sugar and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve beef and prunes with gravy.

Saged pork breakfast sausage is really not that difficult to make.

Ingredients for Pork Sausage Meat

• 10 lbs. ground pork
• 4 T brown sugar
• 3 T salt
• 8 T sage
• 2 T pepper
• 1 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp each paprika and nutmeg

Preparing Pork Sausage Meat

Mix all ingredients well and shape as desired. Can be stuffed into casings or fashioned into small patties for frying. Separate patties with parchment or waxed paper and freeze in small batches for later use.

Spice this sausage up with 1/2 tsp or more of powdered cayenne or hot pepper flakes, if desired.

This recipe, Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage 2, comes from an old Hungarian cookbook that’s almost falling apart. Dad made rudimentary translations of some of the entries that were particularly evocative of his childhood years in Hungary.

Töltött káposzta II (Cabbage Rolls)

Recipe from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

• Ground pork
• Chopped bacon
• Uncooked rice
• 1 egg
• Sauerkraut leaves
• Sauerkraut
• Browned flour roux

Wrap mixture of pork, bacon, raw rice, and 1 egg in pickled cabbage leaves. Place in large pot with sauerkraut between layers. Cover with water. Cover and cook. Thicken sauce with brown flour roux before serving.

Variation. Layer all of the cabbage roll ingredients with the sauerkraut and leaves.

A Hungarian veal stew seasoned with paprika, often served with dumplings but can also be ladled over noodles, potatoes, or rice.

• 1-1/2 lb veal, cubed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 T paprika
• 1 T salt
• 1 large green pepper, cubed
• 1 large tomato, chopped

For dumplings:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Fry onion until golden. Add paprika, stir to release aroma and then add a little water. Cook until the water has boiled off, add the meat and salt, cover, and cook over a low flame, stirring often. As the liquid boils off, continue to add a little water at a time, allowing the meat to brown and a thick gravy to form.

When the meat is almost tender, add the tomato and the green pepper. Continue simmering until the meat is tender.

For the dumplings, mix the flour with salt and egg and add just enough water to form a stiff dough. Pinch out small pieces of dough and leave in a floured bowl. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and throw in the dumplings. Cook for about 10 minutes. Drain and serve hot with the veal.

Serves 4 to 6