【My Family Recipes 20】Two Types of Beef Stroganoff
Whenever I see sour cream in the dairy aisle, I get a craving for beef stroganoff. To me, it's the taste of home.
The recipe I once learned at a cooking class is delicious, but I remembered that the one my mother used to make was simpler and looked paler, so I asked my mother, who lives far away.
Here are those two recipes.
How to make beef stroganoff ① Cooking class arrangement recipe
Beef offcuts, about 500 grams
Salt and pepper, a little
Rice flour (or wheat flour), 1 tablespoon
Onions, 2 small
King oyster mushrooms, 2
Mushrooms (retort pouch), 1 bag (50 grams)
Butter, 40 grams
Coarse dry garlic, about 3 shakes
A: Water, 500cc
A: Consommé cubes, 2
A: Bay leaves, 2
Demiglace sauce, 3 tablespoons
Sour cream, 1 pack (90 grams) (or 1 cup heavy cream and 4 teaspoons lemon juice)
Peel the onions and slice them thinly along the grain.
Season the beef with salt and pepper, and coat with rice flour.
Put butter in a thick-bottomed pot, heat it, and sauté over high heat until lightly browned.
3. Add the beef to 3, and when the color changes, add the mushrooms.
Add A, and once it boils, skim off the scum, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Add the demi-glace sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Stir in the sour cream until incorporated, then pour over rice and it's ready.
How to make Beef Stroganoff ② Usako's mother's recipe
(I'm keeping the text as is to convey the atmosphere, so I apologize if it's hard to read.)
First, use plenty of beef—it can be cheap, lean meat is fine! Also, use plenty of onions and mushrooms (mushrooms alone are expensive, so use king trumpet mushrooms or fresh shiitake).
Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and coat thoroughly with cake flour. Sauté in a deep pot with oil, and when the color changes, add water and consommé, then simmer slowly.
Meanwhile, sauté the sliced onions and mushrooms in a frying pan with butter. Since the meat is coated in flour, stir from the bottom to prevent burning, and once it becomes tender (even if it's tough meat), add the vegetables and simmer while stirring. Adjust the taste by adding salt, pepper, or consommé. Once it has simmered and thickened, mix in the sour cream well at the end, and it's done!
If the meat and vegetables are tender but there is still too much liquid and it's too thin, add flour or cornstarch (potato starch works too) to thicken it, being careful not to let it clump.
That's the basic method. You can also add carrots for nutrition, color, and volume.
Amounts and times are just estimates❣️
If it's just for adults, you can also add white wine.
What I made this time was the former (① cooking class arrangement), but when I compare them, the only differences are "garlic and demi-glace sauce" and "lean meat and white wine." Next time, I think I'll try ② mother's recipe.
By the way, while there are various theories, it seems that beef stroganoff is likely a Russian home-cooked dish.
Its characteristics are its creaminess and subtle acidity; in authentic Russia, it has a whitish appearance, but in Japan, it is often made with a demi-glace sauce base and can resemble Hayashi rice.
Surprisingly, it turns out that my mother's recipe might actually be closer to the authentic taste!
The version from my cooking class had an orange-colored sauce. I wonder where my mother learned how to make it?
In any case, it is a dish served over rice that has a different flavor profile from curry, Hayashi rice, or stew. Looking back now, perhaps my mother often made it for my father, who loved beef but disliked vegetables. If you make a warm vegetable salad to serve on the side while it simmers, it makes for a perfect menu.
Which recipe will you try making?
Also, if you have a favorite 'taste of home,' please let me know!