Beef Stroganoff
I should have known better than to skimp on a dish
with such an illustrious past. I guess I just didn’t think it would
matter so much. The result? Disastrous Stroganoff. I could blame the meat,
but as Cassius would say, “the fault, dear (Ginger) is not in our stars,
but in ourselves that we are underlings.” Or in other words, I really
have to learn more about beef.
I have
studied - on several occasions – instructive charts illustrating the
various cuts of meat, their pros and cons, and which methods of preparation they
best serve. These efforts, I’m sad to say, have been fruitless. To the
realm of the slaughtered beast, my mind is a closed door, and I always approach
the meat isle with some anxiety.
So what
if the recipe called for tenderloin? I’ve seen plenty of recipes for beef
stroganoff that use ground beef. After all, this dish had its American hey-day
in the 1950’s, when the average housewife wasn’t dropping $50 on a
cut of meat - surely not one that was getting chopped up in a stew! And in my
defense, I did NOT use ground beef. I used some sort of round. Was it top?
Was it bottom? Who can say? I felt it was an acceptable middle-of-the-road
choice. Plus, it came thin-sliced for my
convenience.
I cut the beef into strips,
seasoned and very-quickly browed it, and set it aside. I then sautéed a
diced onion and quite a few sliced white mushrooms, and when they were soft and
brown, added a cup of beef-broth and a splash of wine and let it all simmer for
a while. When it had reduced enough, I stirred in about two-thirds of a cup of
sour cream, a dollop of Dijon, and the beef, complete with any juices that had
collected as it sat. We ate it spooned over egg
noodles.
It would have been delicious -
with its luscious creaminess and slight tang, the buttery noodles, and that
pleasant earthiness that mushrooms suggest - except that the beef was like
chewing on sawdust. I know, I know, it’s my own fault. I shouldn’t
have let Count Stroganoff down, and if I had been cooking for him, perhaps I
would have taken the time to figure out a better cut of meat to use. Of course,
that would require revealing the real
Stroganoff...
There is great controversy
about the origins of this dish. Most food historians believe that it was
created in the 1890’s by Count Pavel Stroganov (or his chef) for a gourmet
competition in Saint Petersburg, where its mouth-watering combination of beef,
mushrooms, cognac, and sour cream took first prize. This Count Stroganoff was
the last scion of the great Stroganov dynasty, a dignitary in the court of
Alexander III, a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and a gourmet.
However, his claim is dubious since the recipe was first published in an 1871
edition of the Molokhovets Cookbook – predating the competition and the
Count’s reputation as a gourmet. It is more likely, then, that it was a
refined version of an even older Russian recipe that had been in the Stoganov
family for some time and became well known through Pavel’s love of
entertaining.
Another theory claims that
is was named for a different Russian count, Grigory Stroganove (1770-1857), who
was a wealthy nobleman and diplomat. Being a great lover of food, he was known
to employ the best chefs, one of whom created the dish in question and named it,
as was the fashion, after his boss. Legend has it that while this Count was
stationed in Siberia, the beef was frozen so solid that the chef could only
scrape it into very thin strips. He then used the ingredients at hand to create
the meal. Other rumors agree that it was named for Grigory but dismiss the
Siberia story for this one: when Stoganove was old and missing his teeth, he
could chew only the very thin slices of beef used in this
dish.
Yet a third camp insists that
boeuf à la
Stoganoff must have been created by the French,
being
très
français
in concept and character. Larousse
Gastronomique notes that similar dishes were
known since the 18th century but insists the dish by this specific name was the
creation of chef Charles Brière who was working in St. Petersburg when he
submitted the recipe to L 'Art
Culinaire in 1891. Well, that date is a bit
late in the time-line and suspiciously does not involve a Count, but it is
possible that stroganoff was created by a French person: around the probable
time of the creation of the dish, there were many French chefs in Russian
homes.
For myself, I prefer the following
tale I stumbled across on the Internet, purportedly relayed by a Hungarian
woman. It lacks specific dates and names, but it does a nice job of combining
all the other theories. Also, it has a kind of nostalgic charm I would choose
over fact any day.
“When my mother
got married, papa’s orchestra was playing in one of the large Hotels in
Moscow. The chef there had been with the Stroganoff family for years before the
Revolution, and his father had been chef for the Stroganoffs before him.
Knowing that papa's favorite meal was Beef Stroganoff and not having anything
else to give them as a wedding gift, the chef gave mama an ancient hand written
recipe for Stroganoff on a piece of parchment with burnt edges tied with a silk
ribbon. The recipe was not in measurements but rather in proportions, so we can
cook it for 2 people or 102. He also wrote the story of how his ancestor
happened to create it. It seems that Count Stroganoff was out riding with some
friends and decided to stop off at his Hunting Lodge as they were close by. He
had not been expected and therefore not much was available to feed the large
group of guests. The chef was in a panic as the gentlemen wanted things
“bistro, bistro.” The meat was hanging outside on the rafters since
it was winter, and there were onions available along with the ever present
mushrooms and sour cream. The chef slivered the frozen meat, added the onions
and mushrooms, and dressed it with the sour cream. Voila, Boeuf à la
Stroganoff! Count Stroganoff and his slightly inebriated guests called the chef
in. He was sure that the Count would be upset with the meager fare, but instead
he was complimented and rewarded with a gold piece.”
Posted: Fri - October 1, 2004 at 12:23 PM