Melba's Jammin' > wrote:

> Victor, dollink, do you know anything about "crema" (I've no clue about
> the spelling) -- something that is an integral ingredient in Hungarian
> gulyas and the reason it (gulyas) cant be made like the real deal in
> Budapest? Maybe comes in a tube?

I rather suspect it is gulyáskrém, either csipös (spicy) or csemege
(mild). If so, it is a spice mix paste, a convenience product, which
indeed often enough comes in a tube. If you want to try it, it is
easily found online, even in the USA (look for "goulash cream"). If
someone actually told you it is necessary to produce authentic gulyás,
please tell that person to go enjoy him- or herself at a certain place
believed to be supernaturally hot. In any case, there are no
ingredients in any of the authentic actual gulyás versions that couldn't
be found elsewhere. Here is a list of what is commonly found in a true
gulyás:

beef
lard
onions
paprika (édesnemes, "noble sweet)
salt
caraway
garlic
potatoes
green peppers
tomatoes
little dumplings (either galuska or csipetke)

There are regional and other variations:

- Szegedi gulyás (Szeged-style): with fewer potatoes and with
finely-diced roots.
- Alföldi gulyás (Alföld-style): same as Szeged-style, but with no
dumplings.
- Vajdasági gulyás (Voivodina-style): Savoy cabbage is added, but there
are fewer potatoes and no dumplings.
- Koloszvári gulyás (Koloszvár/Cluj-style): white cabbage is added, but
there are fewer potatoes and no dumplings.
- Gulyás with beans: same list as above, but adding beans and removing
potatoes and caraway.
- Gulyás with mutton/lamb: beef is replaced with mutton or lamb.
- Csángó gulyás: potatoes are replaced with sauerkraut and dumplings
with rice. Before serving, sour cream is added. (Csángó are ethnic
Hungarians living in Romania, mostly Bucovina region).

Victor