Tony Jackman’s beef Stroganoff. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Beef Stroganoff is a beef dish, obviously, only sometimes it isn’t. Which begs the question: at what point should a variation of a dish no longer be known by the name it is called by?
If you’re still with me, there’s more confusion up ahead.
The French might add paprika, veal stock and white wine. Japanese cooks add a touch of soy. In Norway and Finland, you may find your Stroganoff made with sausages instead of beef strips. In Brazil, it may be made with chicken or even shrimps.
Historically, and even the name Stroganoff itself is disputed, it is a Russian dish of strips of lean beef sautéed in a sour cream sauce to which mustard has been added.
Is Stroganoff even the correct name for it? Not quite. The Russian aristocratic family it is named after was the Stroganov clan.
Wikipedia is fairly instructive on the subject, though in typical Wiki style they steer clear of anything emphatic. In their familiar meandering style of providing “facts”, they sort-of-confirm that:
“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.”
Now let’s just say that does sound somewhat apocryphal. Or lucky.
“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 Бефстро́ганов, from the French Bœuf Stroganoff.”
A recipe by Elena Molokhovets from 1871 calls for beef cubes, rather than strips, and allspice. Two decades later, proffers Wikipedia, a French chef called Charles Brière entered a recipe for beef Stroganoff into a competition, adding: “This led Larousse Gastronomique to assume that he was the inventor of this dish, but both the recipe and the name existed before then.”
Yeah: have a go at Larousse when you can’t quite figure it out yourself.
Things started falling in part in 1909, when people started adding tomato sauce. Which sounds like a very bad idea.
All of which means it’s best to bring it down to its historical basics. Let’s make one with strips of beef fillet, cooked gently in a creamy, mustardy sauce and served over pasta. And let’s add a glass of wine, because it just makes sense.
Tony’s beef Stroganoff
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped finely
250g button mushrooms
150ml dry white wine
2 heaped Tbsp flour
A few gratings of salt and black pepper
500g fillet steak (at room temperature), sliced into strips of about 0.5cm
250ml sour cream
100ml beef stock
1 heaped tsp Colman’s Hot English Mustard
Salt and black pepper to taste
Handful of parsley, finely chopped
Pasta, to serve, cooked according to the packet instructions
Method
Peel the onion, cut it in half and slice thinly.
Cut the stems off the mushrooms, then slice the caps thinly.
Heat the cooking oil in a large, deep cast-iron pan and add the butter.
Add the onion and stir. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes or so, but stop cooking before it takes on colour.
Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring.
Add the sliced mushrooms and turn the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms have released their juices.
Add the white wine and simmer until the mushrooms have reduced in size.
Remove the contents of the pan to a bowl or tub and reserve.
Spoon the flour into a bowl and grate in a little salt and black pepper. Stir.
Slice the fillet and toss the strips in the seasoned flour.
Add more butter and oil to the pan and heat.
Fry the steak strips until just seared on all sides, then return the mushrooms-onions back to the pan.
Pour in the beef stock, stir, then add the sour cream. Whisk in the mustard. Stir and cook on a moderate heat. Let it bubble gently for a minute or two. Taste, and season with salt and black pepper as necessary.
Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more, stirring now and then, and stop cooking when it has thickened and turned beautifully creamy.
Scatter chopped parsley over and serve with a pasta of your choice. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.
This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.