ISO TNT Beef Stroganoff

[jeninga75]

I searched the site but didn't find much. I've already tried 4 recipies I've found online but they're just not cutting it. I don't know what it is. I just can't nail that "tang" I'm looking for. I've used from a miniscule amount of sour cream to nothing but sour cream added as the sauce and everything in between. So tell me stroganoff lovers... what do you do to make it... "just right?"

 

[sattie]

Here is my recipe that I got from my MIL... I have since made it my own, maybe you will like this one.

1 lb stew meat cut small, browned in small amount of oil. (I dredge mine in flour, s&p and brown, but you can do it with out. I like the thickened broth it produces.)

Add 2 cups of beef stock or water.
1/4 cup of chopped onion or 1 1/2 T dried minced onion works in a pinch
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 T dried dill weed

Allow to simmer for one hour or more till meat is tender. Add broth/water as needed to just cover the meat. You want about a cup of broth left when you move to the next step.

Add 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup.
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup of red wine

Allow to gently heat through. You really don't want this to simmer, but you do want it to cook enough to marry the flavors. Add salt and pepper to taste and sometimes I add a pinch or two of red pepper flakes.

Serve all this over the top of egg noodles. It is a very rich dish, specially if you dredge the meat first.

If you try this, let me know how you like it. I have really enjoyed this recipe.

 

[Andy M.]

Beef Stroganov

1 T Powdered mustard
2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
4 Tb Oil
2 Tb Butter
4 C mushrooms - sliced thin
4 C Onions - sliced thin
2 Lb Tenderloin or Sirloin
1 tsp Black pepper
1 Pt Sour cream

Trim all fat from the beef and slice into strips 0.25” by 1”.

Combine the mustard, half the sugar, and a pinch of salt with a Tb of hot tap water and stir to form a paste. Let it stand for 15 minutes.

Heat half the oil in a large fry pan or skillet. When the pan is hot, add the mushrooms and onions and stir. Cook covered over low heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and discard the juices.

Place the remaining oil and the butter in a hot fry pan or skillet. Brown the meat rapidly over high heat. Cook the meat in several small batches to ensure rapid browning.

Return all the meat to the pan along with the cooked mushrooms and onions. Add the remaining salt, pepper, sugar and mustard paste.

Add the sour cream a spoonful at a time and mix in gradually until it is all heated through.

Serve over buttered egg noodles or rice.

This is supposed to be the classic recipe created for a Czar of Russia when he visited Siberia. All the meat was frozen solid and the chef could only break off small pieces. This dish was created to present those scraps of beef in the best possible way.

 

[StirBlue]

Beef Stroganoff is very bland to begin with and serving it over a bed of rice, pasta, potatoes, will rob it of the little flavor that it has.

Try serving it over a bed of sesame crackers or even wheat crackers.

You can even serve it over saged wild rice or leeks.

You can add 1/2 cup of carrots to the stroganoff for a little more flavor and especially color.

You can add 1/4 tsp white pepper or cumin to the basic recipe.

You possibly need to marinate the meat overnight. Yum.....possibilities!!!

 

[AllenOK]

Here's my recipe. My family loves it! The key to this dish is to caramelize the meat properly, leaving a nice layer of fond in the pan to deglaze and marry into the sauce. It also helps to have some really good beef stock.

I noticed someone uses mustard powder. Hmmm, interesting. I may have to add a tablespoon or two of good Dijon after adding in the Cream of Mushroom.

Allen’s Beef Stroganoff
Yields: 8 – 10 servings

One pkg beef round steak, cut into strips ¼” wide
Oil, for sautéing
1 onion, diced
1 ½ c mushrooms, sliced
2 t garlic, minced
½ t thyme
2 c milk
One 26 oz can Cream of Mushroom soup
½ c beef stock
One large pkg egg noodles, cooked
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large soup pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 T of oil, to coat the pan. Add some of the beef and brown over high heat. You want to cook the meat in batches, so you don’t cool the pan down to much. Remove the cooked meat and keep warm. Repeat until all the meat has been browned. I like to drain the juices out of the meat at this point, and cook them until the liquid starts to caramelize.
Add the onions, mushrooms, garlic, and thyme, and sauté over medium heat until the onions are cooked and begin to turn transparent. Add the beef stock and deglaze the pan. Then, add the milk and soup. Stir to mix, then add the beef. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 – 20 minutes, to marry the flavors. Add the cooked pasta, and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

[archiduc]

Hi Jeninga75,
Beef Stroganoff is one of those classic dishes that, when they are right are fantastic and when they don`t work out, more than disappointing.

I used to make this many moons ago but can`t put my hands on the recipe right now. However, I still want to make a few comments.

1. This is really a dinner party dish.
2. Therefore you need to buy the best cuts of meat you can afford. Ideally, any meat that you would use to cook a steak: sirloin, entrecote or tail end of fillet is best.
3. The meat should be cut into strips as though you were going to make a stir fry.
4. The vegetable ingedients of the dish are sliced mushrooms and, depending on the size of the onion, halved or quartered thinly sliced onions.

The other ingredients for the dish are:
1. Oil or a mixture of oil and butter. If you can be bothered clarified butter is best with a light olive oil.
2. Beef stock - here in the UK we can buy ready prepared beef stock in the chill cabinets in our local supermarket - so much better than stock cubes if you can get it.
4. Brandy
5. Sour cream
6. Smooth dijon mustard and/or Worcestershire sauce
7. Salt and pepper.

Now I`m going to take you through how it used to be done in the restaurant I worked in and this would be the easiest way to do it for a party.

1. Heat some oil and butter in a pan, add the sliced onion and saute for about 15 minutes - THEY MUST NOT BROWN.
2. Add the mushrooms and cook until just al dente, floppy but not mushy.
3. Remove from the heat and turn into a bowl.
4. This stage can be completed in the morning. When cool, cover and refrigerate.

Prepare the meat in advance, cover and refrigerate. Remove from the fridge about 30 mins - 1 hour before using.
Remove the onions and mushrooms from the fridge. Drain any liquid and reserve this to add to the beef stock.

MAKING UP THE DISH
1. You will need a pan that will enable you to saute all the meat and add the onions and mushroom mix so for a dinner party for 6 - 8 I would be hunting out a 10 inch saute/frying pan.

2. Heat the oil and butter in a pan until hot.
3. Add the strips of beef and saute quickly until browned.
4. Turn up the heat, deglaze brandy - be careful as the brandy ignites.
5. Allow the liquid to reduce to almost nothing.
6. Next the stock is added and reduced.
7. Add the pre-cooked onions and mushrooms.
8. Add the soured cream and stir to amalgamate with the stock. Season with a touch of Dijon mustard and if liked some Worcestershire sauce.
9. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

TO SERVE: boiled rice 50-75gms/2-3 oz uncooked rice per person
A good green salad dressed with vinaigrette.

Optional ingedient for you to think about - the only other ingredient that I would advise you to consideer would be sliced red or green pepppers. Thes could be prepared in advance in the same way as the onions and mushrooms.

I hope this helps. I`m sorry that the recipe is not more exact. When I made this professionally, it was a case of the order being for a different number of portions each time.

I also used to do a variation on this dish - substitute veal for beef, chicken stock for beef stock, deglaze the pan with gin but be light handed with the mustard and omit the Worcestershire sauce..

All the best,
Archiduc

 

[*amy*]

Just thought I'd throw this one in for fun:

YouTube - Beef Stroganoff

Similar to mine - but I add a pinch of nutmeg, and mix the sour cream into the sauce at the end.

 

[Bilby]

I don't usually do beef stroganoff but do veal stroganoff pretty often. I don't consider it just for dinner parties as Archiduc suggests but it is a good one to serve at them as they are so quick and easy. I prefer to serve mine on tri-colour tagliatelle or fettucine and the version I use is based on one by Margaret Fulton (probably Australia's most acclaimed cook - every home since the 70's either has a Fulton cookbook or their mum has!) but I really only use it these days as a guide for quantities.

To serve 4 mains:
750g (1.5lb) fillet steak cut into lean strips (5mm (1/4") thick, 5cm (2") long, 5mm (1/4") wide), although I buy my strips precut and use veal, not beef
1T flour
60g (2oz) butter
2 medium onions (I only use half the amount), sliced into rings (I prefer diced)
250g button mushrooms, sliced
1T tomato paste
2/3 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
[I also add minced/crushed garlic and parsley and chives to my dish. Every so often a good dash of Worcestershire sauce gets thrown in for good measure too.]

(NB: we use metric cup of 250mL and 1 T is 20mL)

Melt butter in pan with onion and garlic, let sweat a bit and then add the mushrooms until they start to loose their raw look. Remove from pan and set aside to keep warm.

Coat strips of veal/beef in flour, shaking off excess flour before adding to pan that has some more butter melting in it. Do this in small batches as you don't want the meat to stew so you want to cook it quickly on a high heat, like you would a stirfry. You can add any removed meat to the mushroom/onion mixture. Cook meat until it has coloured on all sides. Return all cooked goods to the last batch of meat. Add tomato paste, S&P, dried parsley and chives (and WS if adding) and stir. (I often use more tomato paste than stated as I like mine to be rich.) Then stir through the sour cream, slowly so as not to over add. Should be an orangey colour. Sometimes I add a splash or two of pouring cream if it is getting a bit thick rather than more sour cream. (If you prefer to use fresh herbs, add them now instead of when stated for the dried ones.)

This dish is best when it is reheated and you may need to add more cream/sour cream/water to the meat mixture when you do.

To me this is a "throw it together to taste" dish and the only place you can go really wrong is in cooking the actual meat. Tough meat is not good and with veal it is really noticable. I usually put the pot of water on to boil for my pasta when I heat up the fry pan and then it all comes together at about the same time - about fifteen minutes all up (plus prep time).

 

[archiduc]

Hi Amy,
I like the idea of adding some freshly grated nutmeg at the end - it just happends to be one of my favourite spices.
Regards,
Archiduc