You’ll need a large, oven proof pot with a tight-fitting lid for this – a cast-iron dutch oven / casserole pot is ideal.
To max the flavor of the beef, you first need to give batches of it a good browning in the lard - so that’s where we’ll start.
Melt the lard in your big pot over a high heat until it begins to shimmer, but has not yet started to smoke. Stir in a third of the cubed beef so it gets a coating of the lard, and drop the heat to medium-high. Let the cubes sizzle away with a few turning stirs for about 7 minutes until the beef takes on a good brown – but not charred - color all over.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the browned cubes to a plate - leaving as much of the hot lard as you can in the pot. Now repeat the process with the next two batches of the beef. Why do this in three batches? Well, if you add too much beef to the hot lard it won’t fry hotly enough or quickly enough to seal in most of the cubes’ juices. They need to fry pretty hot and fast in a single layer in the pot, with a little space between each cube.
Once all the cubes are browned and set aside, drop the heat to medium and stir in the sliced bell peppers. Let them fry with a couple of stirs so that they just begin to pick up a little color and soften slightly – about 5 minutes on that medium heat. Remove them with a slotted spoon and set them aside on plate. They’ve done most of the cooking they need, and are only going to be added to your goulash towards the end of its cooking.
Add the onions to the pot and fry them with a few stirs for about 5 minutes on a medium heat until they also soften and take on a little browning color. Now return all the browned beef cubes to the pot – together with any juices on their plate - and thoroughly stir in the paprika, garlic, caraway seeds, black pepper, and flour. The mix needs a really thorough stir so that the flour and paprika become completely absorbed.
Now pour in the water and add the shin bones, salt, and tomatoes. Give your goulash a really good stir, and turn the heat to high. As soon as it starts to bubble, drop the heat to low, cover the pot and let it simmer gently – and I mean gently – for ten minutes.
While you’re waiting for those ten minutes of simmering to finish, turn your oven to 300 F / 150C. Once the ten minutes is up, give the goulash a good stir, cover the pot, and set it in the oven for 2 hours. Time now to make the noodles.