>> I love cities, and Budapest is one of the most beautiful in the world.

Whenever I arrive in a new city, I always make a beeline to the local food market.

Whether it's the Boqueria in Barcelona, the Central Market in Florence, or the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, that's where you'll find me.

Today, we'll visit the incomparable Budapest Central Market, in search of paprika, the spice Budapest is most known for.

And then back in the kitchen, we'll make Hungarian goulash and pull-apart seeded bread wreath with smoked paprika butter.

I love to travel the globe in search of new food and wine discoveries.

For me, it's about more than returning home with a handful of new recipes.

It's about taking the spirit of Austria... of Italy... of Greece... and of the Danube River... and injecting some of their magic into our everyday lives.

Food has a unique ability to transport us.

plates and places on our culinary journey together.

>> "Joanne Weir's Plates & Places" is brought to you by... >> With AmaWaterways, guests can climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path while cruising on storied rivers across Europe.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

>> Our winemaking is the result of teamwork and patience.

Working together, we dedicate our best efforts with every vine, grape, and bottle.

Washington Vintners.

>> Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes, only Mutti.

>> For baking, cooking, and snacks, California Figs from Valley Fig Growers.

♪ >> I've made goulash for years, and I always made it very stew-like, but then I went to Budapest, and it's much more soupy, and I really loved it.

But I think it's because the paprika there is so incredible.

I'm going to talk a little about that.

I heated some oil, just a neutral oil, in the pan.

It's already there.

The pan's a little bit hot.

So, I'm adding some onions, just some diced onions.

When you're making a stew like this, it's always great to use a heavy pan.

It cooks more evenly.

I'm going to cook these until they're soft and translucent, which is about 5 to 7 minutes.

Make sure you stir them periodically.

Sometimes I add a pinch of salt that draws out the moisture, and it helps them to cook a little bit faster.

Alright.

Now a little bit of garlic, and I like to add that after I've added the onions, just because you have a much fresher flavor of the garlic.

And as soon as you smell it -- and it's very aromatic -- then you can continue.

But seriously, you know, 30 seconds to a minute -- something like that.

If you cook it too long, it's going to turn golden or brown, and then it's going to taste bitter.

So, you want that sweetness of the garlic.

Oh, I can really smell it now, which is great.

Now I'm going to add some paprika, and, you know, it's interesting because my mother used to have paprika in the cabinet, and I seriously thought it was just there for color.

When you get to Budapest, it is there for flavor.

The paprika is incredible.

So, I'm adding a good amount.

This is a sweet paprika.

And I'm also adding a little bit of hot paprika.

Just a small amount -- probably about 1/4 teaspoon.

And I'm adding some celery and caraway seeds.

Those are whole.

And you're going to stir this together.

I can really smell the paprika now.

Always remember that you want to change your spices.

Don't leave them in the cabinet for two years and wonder why there's no smell to them.

I would say six months.

Now I want to take this out of the pan, and I'm going to set that aside while I cook the beef.

Oh, it smells so good!

Between the caraway seeds and the paprika, mmm!

The garlic... Alright.

I'm adding a little bit more oil to the pan.

And I have some chuck roast that I've cut up into 1-inch pieces, and this is dried really well.

Otherwise, it's just going to kind of simmer in the pan.

Instead, I want it to turn golden.

So, I'm adding a little bit of flour to it.

And then just toss that.

Also, add a little bit of salt and also, some pepper.

I'll also add a little bit of pepper later, too.

And now the pan is hot, so I'm just going to add that beef, and I want it in a single layer, with space in between.

So, I'll probably do it in two batches because otherwise, it's going to steam, and instead, what I want it to do is, I want it to brown.

See how I have space in between each piece?

This is exactly what I'm looking for.

See that nice golden brown?

What happens is, the bit's cooked on the bottom, and when you add the liquid, it melts those pieces, and it flavors the sauce, and that's what you're looking for, and that flour's great, too, because it will thicken the sauce a little bit.

Look how nice and golden that is.

I'm just finishing the second batch of beef, and honestly, the smells in this room, they're intoxicating.

Really incredible.

I'm ready to add the rest of the beef back, that first batch.

So all of it is in the pan now.

I'm also adding the onions back into the pan.

Remember, it's got the paprika, the celery seeds, the caraway seeds, the garlic.

Also, a little bit of tomato paste.

Bay leaf.

And I want to add a little bit more salt.

And I want to add at least 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

I'm taking a knife and just adding that right into the pan.

You can stir all of the ingredients together.

The smells in my kitchen are absolutely intoxicating.

I can't even tell you.

It just smells so good.

And now just a little bit of beef stock.

If you've got some beef stock that you've made, great, but you can also buy some in the store.

Just get the low sodium.

Okay.

A little bit over the beef.

And now we'll bring that up to a boil and turn that down and simmer it very slowly for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the beef is really tender.

You know, goulash is so wonderful.

I grew up having it.

My best friend, her mom always made it for us with egg noodles and butter, and I -- I-I just -- I loved it from when I was really young, but I think it's because it's, basically, just a stew, and I love any stew.

I love when the meat falls apart.

And, you know, you -- it's -- It's really a peasant dish, but when you put it in a beautiful bowl, it just -- you know, it elevates it to something else, I -- I think it's really great.

You think goulash, and it kind of sounds like a funky stew, but it's not.

It's just really beautiful and has lots and lots of flavor.

♪ Going down the Danube, you're seeing the churches and the castles.

It's -- It just takes your breath away.

And then you arrive in Budapest, and the architecture and the bridges -- it's just a brilliant, elegant, beautiful city.

And then, of course, the market.

When I went to the market in Budapest, I was really in search of the best.

I wanted the best paprika.

And I wanted both sweet and hot.

I traveled around.

I bought some at first, and then I ended up going to this one place.

It was the place that sold the best paprika.

What's this one?

>> Yeah, this is Hungarian... paprika.

>> Right.

Yes.

>> Right.

>> Well, why does it say Szeg... >> Szeged is a -- is a city where they produce and grow all these paprika products.

>> Okay.

>> This is like premium.

>> Oh, this is premium?

>> Yes.

>> I want premium.

>> Alright.

>> Okay.

I'm definitely getting this and that.

These are the best?

You think that's good?

>> Yes, yes.

It's a sweet and a hot.

>> Alright.

I'm going to take those.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you so much.

Oh, I'm so excited!

>> Yes.

>> I bought that.

I compared them.

It was so true.

That was the most pungent, aromatic paprika.

It was just delicious.

And that's what I used for the goulash.

Whenever you make goulash, you have to have bread because you want to sop up all those great juices.

Well, this one is definitely one that's a little bit more elaborate, but so worth it, and I drew in all the flavors and all the things I tasted in Budapest.

What I'm doing, I'm starting by making a sponge, and the sponge is really just the yeast and some liquid, and I'm going to add a little bit of honey to the milk.

So, I've heated the milk to about 110 degrees.

Just so you know, I know that so many of you are so afraid of working with yeast because you think that it's not going to work or you've had bad experiences.

But all you want to remember is your yeast has to be fresh, so check the date.

And number two, don't heat the liquid hotter than about 110 to 115 degrees.

If you heat it hotter than 110 to 115, you're going to kill the yeast.

So, you want to keep it alive till you get it into the oven.

So I'm stirring that together, and I'm going to check the temperature.

Just to see how that is.

Perfect.

Alright.

So now I'm going to pour that over the yeast.

This is just some dry yeast.

And then stir it together.

Now we'll let that sit until it bubbles up.

In the meantime, I have some seeds that I'm going to add to the bread -- coriander, cumin, and caraway.

And in the pan, I also have some fennel seeds.

I've already toasted these, but I wanted to just toast these fennel seeds just for a minute.

What that does is it softens the oil and really brings out the flavor.

And as soon as you can smell those -- Don't let them take on too much color -- then you can just turn off the heat.

And I'm placing those in the mortar.

If you want, you can also use an electric spice grinder, you know, a coffee grinder.

That would work, too.

So I added the coriander, the cumin, and now the caraway.

And then I just used the pestle just to grind these.

Oh, that smells so good!

Ahh!

Just an amazing combination of spices.

I love it.

Okay.

Now we're ready to add everything to the bowl.

Just all-purpose flour.

I'm adding all but 2 teaspoons of these ground seeds.

I'm saving those for later to put onto the top.

Adding a little bit of melted butter.

I'm also adding the sponge and paprika.

[ Chuckles ] I brought these back from Budapest, and this is the hot one.

I'm only adding about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of hot paprika.

And then also a little bit of sweet paprika.

And also, 2 eggs.

And about 2 teaspoons of salt.

And then what we'll do... With a dough hook, I'll turn that on and mix it for about four to five minutes.

Make sure during the mixing time, you kind of scrape down the sides of your bowl.

And then just continue to knead that.

This dough looks really wet to me, so I'm going to add a little bit more flour to it.

Okay.

Put a little bit of flour out on your work surface, and then you can take your dough, place it on the flour.

And then you can just knead it a little bit.

You don't really need to do that very much.

Just a little bit.

Just bring it into a ball, just like this, kind of gather the sides like that.

And then I have a bowl that's been oiled just using a neutral oil, like sunflower, safflower, or canola.

Just swirl it around so it's completely coated so it doesn't form a crust.

And then you can just place a piece of plastic right on the top.

And then you're going to let that rise for an hour or two until it's double in volume.

♪ This has definitely doubled in volume, as you can see.

This is the fun part.

Well, all of it is fun.

But I want to cut this into 36 pieces.

So, first, cut it into six, six equal pieces.

And then you can cut each one of these into six pieces.

You want to make sure that those are even so all are about the same size.

The first time I made this, I made it in a round circle, and I made it on Thanksgiving and everyone loved it.

I didn't put the paprika in it, though.

Now you're probably wondering, "What is this pan doing here?"

I lined this pan with parchment, and then I took a marker, and I made a 9-inch square on the parchment.

Now you don't want that marker to be on your bread, so just turn it over and just use that as your guide.

And what I'm doing now is to form these... And I put them on the inside of that square.

First of all, in the corners.

You can leave a little bit of space in between them.

Remember that your bread is going to rise, so they will eventually touch each other once they rise.

♪ I'm going to let this rise for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Nice warm place.

And what I really need to do is check the goulash.

It's still bubbling away.

Of course, you want to check this, and the best way to do that is to just take a piece of your meat, use a knife.

Make sure that it goes and comes out easily.

We know that's going to be so tender and just melt in your mouth.

Now there's a little bit of oil around the edge.

So I'm just going to remove that.

I'm just using a small ladle to do this.

It's fine if there's a little bit in there.

I think that looks good.

There.

That will keep that nice and warm.

Look how beautiful!

So, I've got a square wreath.

Of course, you can make it round if you'd like, but I kind of like this making it a square.

So take a fork, and you're going to whisk a whole egg together with some milk.

And with a pastry brush, just brush the top of those rolls.

Just lightly with a little bit of that egg wash.

This will give them a nice sheen.

But when I add the seeds to the top, those nice ground seeds, they'll stick to the rolls.

Remember those spices that I ground at the beginning, all those nice seeds.

We just sprinkle those right onto the top.

And finally, the last thing is the little bit of flake salts.

Now, put that in a 375-degree oven for about 18 to 20 minutes, until they're golden-brown on the top.

♪ I actually love to make breads.

I really, really love it.

Um, and this one, I'm really excited about it.

I made it over Thanksgiving, and I -- everybody was -- you know, loved it.

So, I thought I wanted -- I wanted to do a little adaptation that was, you know, kind of inspired by Budapest, you know, with the seeds and the paprika, and it really, really worked.

And I think, you know, you think about that as complicated.

It's really not.

You're making a dough.

And then you just roll those little balls and put them all together.

And it's fun.

And in the end, it's kind of a "wow."

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Okay.

How about this bread?

I know it was a little bit of work, but it's so worth it.

This is my kind of food.

It's just total comfort food.

Oh, this looks amazing!

So we have some egg noodles tossed with a little bit of butter.

That's it.

Mmm.

It smells fantastic.

Little dollop of sour cream on the top.

And then a little sprinkle of parsley.

And I'm ready.

Wait a minute.

Got to grab a roll.

I can't wait any longer.

Look at it.

They just pull apart.

And don't forget about that butter.

Look how beautiful.

Okay.

I love anything that's kind of stewy.

It's got a sauce.

I love it.

Braised meat's amazing.

I'm going in with a spoon.

You could use a fork, too, but I want to get all of that wonderful sauce.

Mmm.

Mmm!

That meat is so tender and so delicious and flavorful from all of those spices.

I have to try the wine with it.

That's a really beautiful Cab blend from Napa Valley.

Absolutely wonderful.

And, of course, I've got to have some of the roll.

See how I did.

Mmm!

The seeds...

It's delicious, and they're still warm.

Mmm!

I love those.

You know what excites me about cities, especially cities like Budapest?

It's the art, the architecture, the people, and the energy, but most of all, it's the food.

Here's to all things beautiful and, of course, delicious.

>> You can visit my website to find and print selected recipes, get information about each episode, learn more about the show, see behind-the-scenes photos, provide e-mail feedback, and more.

It's all at joanneweir.com/plates-places.

>> "Joanne Weir's Plates & Places" is brought to you by... >> With AmaWaterways, guests can climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path while cruising on storied rivers across Europe.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

>> Our winemaking is the result of teamwork and patience.

Working together, we dedicate our best efforts with every vine, grape, and bottle.

Washington Vintners.

>> Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes, only Mutti.

>> For baking, cooking, and snacks, California Figs from Valley Fig Growers.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪