Beef Stroganoff
Beef Stroganoff or Beef-Stroganov (in Russian: Беф-Строганов Bef-Stróganov) 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 much of Iran, Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil, with considerable variation in the actual recipe. The dish is named after the Stroganov family, a distinguished Russian family involved in the settlement of Siberia, although the exact history of the name is unknown.
Recipes of braised meats finished with sour cream are fairly typical of medieval Russian cookery.[citation needed]
Elena Molokhovets' classic Russian cookbook (1861) gives the first known recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju "Beef Stroganov with mustard" which involves lightly flavoured 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.[1] 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-Communist China, brought several variants of the dish to the United States, which may account for its popularity during the 1950s. In the version often prepared in the USA today, it consists of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and sour cream sauce and served over rice or noodle.
In the UK and Australia a recipe very similar to that commonly found in the USA has become popular, generally served with rice.
Beef stroganoff is also very popular in Brazil and Portugal, under the name "estrogonofe" or "Strogonoff". The Brazilian variant includes dice or strips of beef (usually filet mignon) with tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms and heavy whipping cream. Stroganoff is also often made with strips of chicken breast rather than beef (also called Fricassee in some restaurants in Brazil). It is commonly served with crisp potato straws, as in Russia, but with the addition of white rice. Sometimes one can also see creative servings of estrogonofe, such as a pancake filling, topping baked potatoes or even pizzas. It is so popular among Brazil's urban middle class that there are even fast-food chains (such as Strogonophy's) dedicated to it in the food courts of many Brazilian shopping malls. Many recipes and variations exist: with or without wine, with canned sweet corn, with ketchup instead of tomato sauce, etc.
Stroganoff is also popular in Sweden and Norway. In Sweden, a common variant is 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.
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.[2] An 1890 competition is often mentioned, but both the recipe and the name existed before then.
Notes
- ^ Joyce Toomre, ed., Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' A Gift to Young Housewives, 1992; first edition of Molokhovets was 1861; the 1912 recipe mentioned be Toomre is in Alekandrova-Ignat'eva.
- ^ Oxford Companion to Food, s.v. "beef".
External links
- The Food Timeline has some quotes about the dish.