Beef Stroganoff

Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream. From its origins in 19th-century Russia, it has become popular in North America, Scandinavia, and Brazil, with considerable variation in the actual recipe.

Recipes of braised meats finished with sour cream are fairly typical of medieval Russian cookery.

Elena Molokhovets' classic Russian cookbook (1861) gives the first known recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju 'Beef Stroganov with mustard' which involves lightly floured beef cubes (not strips) sautéed, sauced with prepared mustard and bouillon, and finished with a small amount of sour cream: no onions, no mushrooms. A 1912 recipe adds onions and tomato paste and serves it with crisp potato straws, which are considered the traditional garnish in Russia. The version given in the 1938 Larousse Gastronomique includes beef strips, and onions, with either mustard or tomato paste optional.

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 pre-socialist China, brought several variants of the dish to the United States, which may account for its popularity during the 1950s. In its modern American form, it consists of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and sour cream sauce and served over rice or noodles.

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Beef stroganoff can also be made from adding water to prepackaged dry mixes (here a Norwegian stroganoff product)

Beef stroganoff is also very popular in Brazil, under the names "strogonoff" and "estrogonofe". The Brazilian variant includes tomato sauce with the cream, and strips of chicken breast rather than beef. It is commonly served with rice and potato chips.

Stroganoff is also popular in Sweden and Norway. In Sweden, it is known as sausage stroganoff, which uses the domestic product falukorv as a substitute for the beef. Beef stroganoff is however also a common dish.

It is very popular as a basic food service dish as it is very easy to produce in large quantities.

Beef Stroganoff is commonly referred to in slang as "Beef Strokemeoff".

Name

Various explanations are given for the name, presumably derived from some member of the large and important Stroganov family, perhaps Alexander Grigorievich Stroganoff of Odessa or a diplomat, Count Pavel Stroganov. An 1890 competition is often mentioned, but the recipe and the name clearly existed before then.

External links

• The Food Timeline has some quotes about the dish.
• Classic Beef Stroganoff Recipe
• Recipe for Brazilian-style stroganoff
• Cooking For Engineers: Beef Stroganoff - recipe with step by step photos and discussion
• Traditional Beef Stroganoff Recipe