KITCHEN PRACTICE 1 — A Full Pörkölt From Scratch
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Chapter: Hungarian Cookery 4 — Pörkölt: Building the Real Base Stew

TASK
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Build a full pörkölt from scratch — onion base, off-heat paprika,
meat stirred in directly, minimal added liquid, and a long, slow,
covered braise — until the sauce is thick and clings to the meat.

WHAT TO DO
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1. Build a full onion base as in Chapter 2, in real quantity, cooked
   soft and pale in lard.
2. Take the pot off the heat, stir in paprika thoroughly, and add a
   small splash of liquid within seconds, as in Chapter 3.
3. Return to low heat and stir in cubed meat directly, coating it in
   the base — no separate browning step first.
4. Add only a small amount of extra water or stock, just enough to
   keep the pot from drying out.
5. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1.5-2 hours or more, checking
   occasionally and adding only a small splash of liquid at a time
   if it looks dry.
6. The dish is done once the meat is fully tender and the sauce is
   thick enough to cling to the back of a spoon.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The sauce should be a deep, saturated red, thick rather than
  watery, and should coat the meat rather than pool loosely around
  it.
- The meat should be genuinely tender, pulling apart easily rather
  than feeling tough or chewy.
- The overall dish should look and feel like a proper stew, not a
  soup — a direct, tasted contrast to Chapter 6's own gulyás, still
  to come.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise runs pörkölt's own full technique end to end for the
first time, and gives a real, tasted reference point for exactly
what the chapter's own naming untangling is describing — this dish,
not the soup most non-Hungarians picture when they hear "goulash."