What is beef stroganoff, sooner or later many people want to know. Cooks, ordinary housewives, and just people who like to cook and experiment in cooking are interested in this. Beef stroganoff is a rather well-known and very elegant dish, and it will not be superfluous to know how to cook it. With this meat you will surely please your loved ones and relatives, and any holiday will be special.
What is beef stroganoff?
This dish is also called Stroganov’s meat. It is very famous, it is cooked in almost all famous restaurants. By tradition, beef stroganoff is classified as a Russian cuisine, although in reality it has no folk roots and is not considered a national cuisine. Some chefs claim that this meat is cooked using the traditions of Russian and French cuisines. Beef stroganoff, whose classic recipe is actually unknown, has many cooking methods, which we will consider further.
The history of the appearance of meat in Stroganov
There are two versions of the origin of such a dish as beef stroganoff. The first of them says that the famous chef from France, Andre Dupont, invented it specifically for Count Alexander Stroganovsky. Alexander was very old, and it was difficult for him to eat solid food, which is why the cook came up with soft beef in a pan in a special sauce.
According to another version, which is more common, Count Alexander Stroganovsky was very rich and had "open tables." Their essence was that for dinner any person who was more or less decently dressed and not quite stupid could come to the count. It was for these open tables that the count's chefs invented beef fried in small slices in a pan with the addition of sauce. This preparation of meat was very convenient in that it was easily divided into portions. People who came to Stroganovsky for lunch really liked this dish, and they named it after the count.
The benefits of beef
Stroganoff meat, especially if it is made from beef, is very healthy. It has a high nutritional value, eliminates all unnecessary acids and trace elements from the body, normalizes the balance in the stomach. If beef is eaten correctly and in the right amount, it also increases hemoglobin and strengthens the heart vessels. It also favorably affects the nervous system and improves human memory. Beef is very useful for people who want to lose weight, as well as those suffering from diabetes.
Beef stroganoff: classic recipe
To implement the classic recipe, you need to take a beef tenderloin or loin fillet. The meat needs to be slightly beaten, and then cut into small pieces, about 6 cm in length and 1 cm in width. To make it easier to chew beef, you need to cut it across the fibers. Fry the meat so that it has a crisp on top, and inside it remains soft. Almost no spices are added to the dish except black pepper. All other additives depend only on the preferences of the cook. The classic sauce for this dish is made from sour cream and tomato paste. Serve a dish of beef stroganoff with potatoes or rice. The main thing is that the side dish is hot, otherwise the meat will lose its refined taste. Very often practiced cooking "Beef Stroganoff Veal."
Little secrets of cooking meat in Stroganov style
To make the meat tasty and juicy, you must adhere to the following tips:
- You can’t beat beef with great force.
- During frying, do not allow pieces of meat to touch the bottom of the pan. To do this, first put sliced onions in circles in a pan, and beef on top. Then, over high heat, the meat will quickly be fried to a crisp, inside it will remain soft and juicy and will not burn.
- The time for roasting pieces of beef should be no more than five minutes. Some cooks insist that 2-3 minutes will be enough. This will make the meat more juicy.
- Making a classic sauce of tomato paste and sour cream, the ingredients can be mixed in any quantities, according to the taste of the cook, but the second must be a little more.
Observing all these conditions, you can cook real, tasty, juicy meat in a Stroganov style, which you and your loved ones will definitely enjoy.
Beef Stroganoff with mushrooms
Having learned what beef stroganoff is and how to cook it in the classic version, we will consider several other ways of cooking this type of beef. In any meat dish, mushrooms will always be a great addition. They will add juiciness and a pleasant aroma to the meat. Consider how to cook beef stroganoff (recipe with photo) with mushrooms.
Essential Ingredients
- Half a kilogram of beef.
- 200 grams of mushrooms (champignons or any other).
- One onion.
- Vegetable oil and sour cream.
- A little flour (2 tablespoons).
- Salt and pepper.
First, slightly beat the beef, cut it into small pieces. Onions need to be cut in half rings, and mushrooms - in slices. Lightly fry the onions, add the chopped mushrooms to it and simmer until the liquid evaporates. At this time, you need to fry the meat in another pan, pour the flour to it and mix. In a skillet with mushrooms, add sour cream, add a little water, sprinkle with pepper, add fried meat there and simmer for 30 minutes.
If you want to cook this pork dish, it is prepared in the same way as beef stroganoff with beef and mushrooms, just replace the beef with pork.
Stroganoff liver meat recipe
In the preparation of beef stroganoff from the liver, you can use absolutely any liver. Only depending on its type, you need to properly prepare for frying. In general, the liver is very useful, it contains many trace elements necessary for the body. Consider a hepatic beef stroganoff recipe with a photo.
Essential Ingredients
- 800 grams of any liver.
- 200 grams of sour cream.
- 50 grams of butter.
- One onion.
- A little flour (1 spoon).
- Half a tablespoon of sugar.
- Salt pepper.
First you need to properly prepare the liver. It should be cleaned of any films and cut in the form of bars. Chicken liver can be cut into arbitrary pieces. After preparation, you need to sprinkle it with sugar, salt and pepper. Onion cut into half rings. In a dry frying pan, fry the liver for four minutes. In this case, you need to constantly mix it. After that add onion and butter and fry for another four minutes. After you need to pour flour there, mix and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add sour cream and simmer until cooked. If sour cream is very thick, you can dilute it with water.
Beef stroganoff chicken
Chicken beef stroganoff is also a fairly common dish. Chicken meat is the most affordable of all and therefore very popular. From it you can cook a huge number of different dishes.
To cook meat in a Stroganov style from chicken you will need:
- A pound of chicken breast.
- One onion.
- Two tablespoons of flour.
- Two tablespoons of sour cream or cream.
- A tablespoon of tomato paste.
- Vegetable oil, salt, pepper, greens (for decoration);
First you need to wash the chicken fillet well, remove the veins and films. Dry the meat on a paper towel. Then lightly beat it off with a hammer and cut into slices one and a half centimeters wide. Then chop the onion in half rings and fry in a pan for one minute, not forgetting to stir it. Roll pieces of breast in flour, add it to the pan to the onion and fry for another three to four minutes. At this time, you need to mix sour cream and tomato paste. The resulting sauce must be added to the pan and simmer for ten minutes. Then you need to sprinkle it all with pepper, salt and simmer another five minutes. The result is a juicy tasty meat that goes well with any side dish.
Beef stroganoff with tomato
Another cooking option for a dish such as beef stroganoff with chicken is the cooking method with tomato. For this dish you will need:
- Half a kilogram of chicken.
- One large onion.
- Butter - 4 tbsp. l
- Salt and ground pepper.
To prepare the sauce for this dish you need:
- Flour - 1 tbsp. l
- Half a glass of milk.
- Tomato juice - one glass.
- Any broth is one glass.
- Butter - one tbsp. l
- Salt and ground pepper.
First you need to rinse the chicken breast well, clean it of all the excess (bones, veins, fat). Then you need to cut it along the fibers (thickness of not more than one centimeter) and beat off the pieces with a hammer. After you need to cut the meat into strips (across the fibers). Put the sliced pieces in a plate, salt, add pepper. In this form, you need to cover and leave the meat for two hours, so that it is properly marinated.
After the fillet is marinated, you can start cooking it. First you need to chop the onions rather finely and fry it in butter until a golden crust appears. Then add meat to the onion in a pan and fry it until the breast is slightly browned.
After that, you need to prepare the sauce. In a dry frying pan, first fry the flour until golden brown, then add one tablespoon of oil there and mix. Then you need to pour milk into the pan and wait for it to boil. When the milk boils, you need to add tomato juice to the pan and wait for the boil too. When it boils, you need to pour the broth, salt it all, add pepper, cover and cook in a pan for about five minutes.
After this, it is required to pour the fried meat with onions into a pan with sauce, salt and stew for another ten minutes. The dish is ready! Prepare a side dish for it and serve.
Conclusion
From this article it became clear what beef stroganoff is, how to cook it, what options for its preparation are. As you can see, making this dish is very easy and simple, but it tastes very juicy, tender and refined. You can use different types of meat, and the variety of sauces just rolls over. It all depends on the personal tastes and preferences of the cook. Cook, experiment and delight your loved ones with culinary delights!