Beef Stroganoff

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Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff, in its modern form, is dish of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and sour cream sauce. It is served over rice or noodles. There are many variations.

Recipes of braised meats finished with sour cream are fairly typical of medieval Russian cookery.^{[citation needed]}

Elena Molokhovets' classic 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.^[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-socialist 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.^{[citation needed]}

Beef stroganoff can also be made from adding water to prepackaged dry mixes

It is also very popular in Brazil (where it is better known as "strogonoff" or "estrogonofe"), but the recipe is slightly different there, with tomato sauce added to the cream, and strips of chicken breast commonly replacing the beef. Also, the dish is commonly served with rice and potato chips.

The dish 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.

This is apparent also in many international variations of the dish, where tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, thickening and other ingredients has been added depending on where it is served.

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

[edit] 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 the recipe and the name clearly existed before then.