Beef Stroganoff, also spelled beef Stroganov, is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

in a sauce of mustard and smetana. It is named after one of the members of the Stroganov family. Since its appearance in the 19th century, it has become popular around the world, with considerable variation from the original recipe. Mushrooms are common in many variants.

History

The dish is named after one of the members of the Stroganov family, a Russian noble family. []Anne Volokh, Mavis Manus,''The Art of Russian Cuisine''. New York: Macmillan, 1983, p. 266, It has been debated whether it is named after the diplomat Pavel Stroganov or the politician Alexander Stroganov. According to legend, while stationed in Siberia, Pavel Stroganov's chef found the beef to be frozen so solid that it could only be cut into small strips. Another legend attributes its invention to French cooks working for the family, but several researchers point out that the recipe is a refined version of older Russian dishes. In Russian, the dish is called , from the French . Beef Stroganoff Molokhovets 1887

's classic Russian cookbook '' A Gift to Young Housewives'' gives the first known recipe for ''Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju'', "Beef ''à la'' Stroganov, with mustard", in its 1871 edition., English translation: The first edition (1861) did not include Beef Stroganoff, which first appeared in the 1871 edition (Volokh, 1983; Syutkin, 2015). The 1912 recipe mentioned by Toomre is in Alekandrova-Ignatieva, 1912, p. 611, but was also published in earlier editions. The recipe involves beef ''cubes'' (not strips) prepared in a dry marinade of salt and allspice, and then sautéed in butter. The sauce is a simple

roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or Cooking oil, oil on the stove top, blended until smoo ...

mixed with prepared mustard and

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish, or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups ...

, and finished with a small amount of sour cream: no

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s, no

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s and no alcohol. In 1891, the French chef Charles Brière, who was working in Saint Petersburg, submitted a recipe for beef Stroganoff to a competition sponsored by the French magazine ''

L'Art culinaire ''L'Art culinaire'' was a biweekly List of food and drink magazines, gastronomical magazine for professional chefs founded in Paris in 1882 by Maurice Dancourt, who later used the pseudonym Châtillon-Plessis. Its first issue appeared as a suppleme ...

''. This led '' Larousse Gastronomique'' to assume that he was the inventor of this dish, but both the recipe and the name existed before then. Beef Stroganoff-01

Another recipe, this one from 1909, adds onions and

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (; ; ) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes. In some countries the term refers to a sauce to be served as part of a dish, in others it is a condiment. Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high water content, s ...

, and serves it with crisp

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

straws, which are considered the traditional side dish for beef Stroganoff in Russia. The version given in the 1938 ''Larousse Gastronomique'' includes beef ''strips'', and onions, with either mustard or tomato paste optional. After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917, the recipe was popularly served in the hotels and restaurants of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Frank Dorn, ''The Dorn Cookbook''. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1953, pp. 126–27 The first English cookbook to include a recipe for beef Stroganoff is Ambrose Heath's ''Good Food'' (1932). The dish came to Hong Kong in the late 1950s. In 1960s United States, several manufacturers introduced dehydrated beef stroganoff mixes, which were mixed with cooked beef and sour cream. It was also available freeze-dried for campers.

Around the world

Beef Stroganoff preparation varies significantly not only based on geography, but based on other factors as well, such as the cut of meat and seasonings selected. Meat for the dish can be cut in different ways and is sometimes diced, cubed, or cut into strips. Some variations include mushrooms and onions or other vegetables and varied seasonings such as sugar, salt, black pepper, and bottled marinades (especially

Worcestershire sauce Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (UK: ) is a fermented liquid condiment invented by pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century ...

) and rubs.

Brazil

The Brazilian variant includes diced beef or strips of beef with tomato sauce, ketchup, onions, mushrooms and heavy cream. Brazilians also prepare Stroganoff with chicken or even shrimp instead of beef. It is commonly served with a side of shoe-string potatoes and white rice. In Portuguese it is called ''Strogonoff'' or ''Estrogonofe''.

France

The French encyclopedia of gastronomy '' Larousse Gastronomique'' lists Stroganoff as a cream,

paprika Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers, traditionally ''capsicum annuum''. It can have varying levels of Pungency, heat, but the peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce ...

, veal stock and white wine recipe.

Japan

Stroganoff's popularity extends to Japan, where it is most commonly served with white rice, or white rice seasoned with parsley and butter. Its popularity increased dramatically with the introduction of "instant sauce cubes" from S&B Foods. These are cubes with dried seasoning and thickening agents that can be added to water, onion, beef, and mushrooms to make a Stroganoff-style sauce. Additionally, Japanese home recipes for Stroganoff frequently call for ingredients that are outside of Russian tradition, such as small amounts of soy sauce.

Nordic countries

Stroganoff is also popular in

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

. In Sweden, a common variant is ''Korv stroganoff'' (), which traditionally uses the local '' falukorv'' sausage as a substitute for the beef In Finland, the dish is called ''makkarastroganoff'' (). Beef Stroganoff is, however, also a common dish in Finland. Diced brined pickles are also a normal ingredient in Finnish Stroganoff.

United Kingdom

Beef Stroganoff began appearing in British cookery books in the early 1930s and became widely popular by the 1970s, particularly in restaurants and at dinner parties. The dish later declined in popularity and became associated with mass-produced ready meals and buffet-style catering. Modern British adaptations often include a creamy sauce made with white wine or brandy, sour cream or crème fraîche, and additions such as smoked paprika and English mustard. While beef fillet was traditionally used, contemporary recipes frequently use alternative proteins such as pork, chicken or sausages. The dish is commonly served with rice, tagliatelle, or potatoes. In recent years, it has experienced limited revival in British food media, pub cuisine, and home cooking.

United States

In the version often prepared in the United States today in restaurants and hotels, it consists of strips of beef filet with a mushroom, onion, and

sour cream Sour cream (sometimes known as soured cream in British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, which is introduced either deliberately or naturall ...

sauce, and is served over rice or noodles. Today, the dish is generally served over wide or twisted egg noodles in the United States.

Notes

References

External links

* * Th
Food Timeline
has some quotes about the dish. {{Beef Russian meat dishes Beef dishes Meat stews