Beef Stroganoff

One of my all time favourite dishes (when made right) is this one here. Awesome with nearly every kind of starch and pretty simple to make.

The key to a good stroganoff, though, is the quality and cut of meat you use. Use a cheap cut and you’ll have a final product that will have you chewing and chewing for hours. Another key point is how the meat is cut, you need the strips to be cut AGAINST the grain (meaning you need need strips that are through the meat and through the muscle fibres). In the restaurant world we use whole fillet and cut the strips ourselves. The reason you want the meat to be cut across the grain is that it prevents the meat from cramping and becoming tough.

Beef stroganoff is a Russian dish and traditionally its made using sour cream. At school we were taught to make it using white wine but I’ve kept that out of this recipe. I’ve also found adding a little cream cheese makes for an even better tasting dish. I used to make this in the oven but I learned over the years that for a softer and more tender final product making it all on the stove is better.

Ingredients

1kg Lean Beef strips (preferably from fillet)
250g Brown mushrooms, sliced
200g Onions, sliced
45g Butter (not margarine)
350ml Beef stock
20g Flour
250ml (1 cup) Sour cream
75ml (5 spoons) Cream cheese
20g Garlic, finely chopped
1tsp Sea Salt
1tsp Bovril
1tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Pepper

Method

Cut the meat across the grain (if it has not been cut into strips already)
Place the butter in a pan and allow to melt on a high heat, add the mushrooms, onions, garlic and reduce the heat. Cook until tender
Remove from the heat and scoop out the pan.
Using the same pan back on high heat, add the meat and allow to brown to a dark brown. Remove the meat from the pan.
Add the flour to the pan and then add the stock, bovril, worcestershire sauce and beef stock. Stir until thick and reduced.
Return the other ingredients to the sauce. Stir in the cream cheese and sour cream. Do not boil.
Season.