Cookbook:Traditional Beef Stroganoff

Traditional Beef Stroganoff
Category	Beef recipes
Servings	6
Time	1 hour 20 minutes
Difficulty

Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Recipes

Beef stroganoff, in its simplest form, is simply tender beef with a mushroom and sour cream sauce. It is very popular as a basic food service dish as it is very easy to produce it in large quantities. It is also very popular in Brazil (where it is better known as "strogonoff" or "estrogonofe"), but the recipe is slightly different there.

The current accepted history of this dish dates back to the 1890s when a chef working for Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov (the famous Russian general) invented the recipe for a cooking competition in St. Petersburg. After the fall of Imperial Russia, the recipe was popularly served in the hotels and restaurants of China before the start of the Second World War. Russian and Chinese immigrants, as well as U.S. servicemen stationed in China, brought several variants of the dish to the United States, which may account for its popularity during the 1950s. It is commonly served with noodles or rice.

Despite the allusion of the name "stroganoff" to Count Paul Stroganoff, a 19th century Russian diplomat, the origins of the dish have never been confirmed. Larousse Gastronomique notes that similar dishes were known since the 18th century but insists the dish by this specific name was the creation of chef Charles Briere who was working in St. Petersburg when he submitted the recipe to L 'Art Culinaire in 1891, but the dish seems much older. It did not appear in English cookbooks until 1932, and it was not until the 1940s that beef stroganoff became popular for elegant dinner parties in America.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (900 g) beef chuck roast
• ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
• ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground black pepper
• 8 tablespoons (110 g) butter
• 4 green onions (white parts only), sliced
• 4 tablespoons (60 ml) all-purpose flour
• 10.5 ounces (300 ml) condensed beef broth
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) prepared mustard
• 6 ounces (150 g) sliced canned mushrooms, drained
• ⅓ cup (160 ml) sour cream
• ⅓ cup (160 ml) white wine
• Salt to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Remove any fat and gristle from the roast, and cut into strips ½ inch thick by 2 inches long. Season with ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and brown the beef strips quickly, then push the beef strips off to one side. Add the onions and cook slowly for 3 to 5 minutes, then push to the side with the beef strips.
3. Stir the flour into the juices on the empty side of the pan. Pour in beef broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and stir in mustard.
4. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is tender.
5. Five minutes before serving, stir in the mushrooms, sour cream, and white wine. Heat briefly then salt and pepper to taste.

Notes, tips, and variations

• Green onion and canned mushrooms can be replaced with white onion and fresh mushrooms, respectively. Fry both until soft.
• Add a dash of Worcestershire Sauce.