If you have been living under a rock for the better part of your life, you would not be able to conclude that beef goes well with mushrooms. Beef and mushroom!
From your everyday fast food burger steak with mushrooms and gravy to even the most luxurious dishes out there, beef and mushrooms are almost inseparable.
Because of this, cuisines from all over the globe have started to incorporate both ingredients into their respective dishes and having come up with a myriad styles and cuisines for many people all over the world to enjoy.
With all that said, let us talk about how you can cook a beef and mushroom classic at the very convenience of your own kitchen: Beef Stroganoff!
Beef Stroganoff – A Russian Classic Next To Vodka
You read that right! Beef Stroganoff is Russian in origin. It is a dish that has beef sautéed and is enjoyed alongside smetana or sour cream.
It is a type of dish that is familiar and all-too common in all restaurants due to how easy it is to cook, not to mention the availability of its ingredients all year round. Beef Stroganoff is versatile, too!
You can cook it with all sorts of vegetables, herbs and spices.
Without further ado, let us begin cooking your Beef Stroganoff by preparing the following ingredients:
- Scotch fillet steak – six hundred grams or one and one-fifths of a pound worth. Alternatively, you can substitute the meat with boneless rib eye if you prefer.
- Salt and pepper – just enough to flavour
- Vegetable oil – two separately divided tablespoons
- Sour cream – one hundred fifty millilitres or about two-thirds of a cup
- Onion – one large bulb
- Dijon Mustard – one tablespoon
- Mushrooms – three hundred grams or ten ounces. Slice them up but not too thinly
- Beef broth – two cups or about five hundred millilitres. It is recommended that you get the kind of beef broth that is less in sodium
- Butter – forty grams or about three tablespoons
- Flour – two tablespoons
- Pasta or egg noodles of your choosing – two hundred fifty to three hundred grams or eight to ten ounces.
- Chives – chopped. This is only for garnish and is therefore optional. Feel free to opt this out of your grocery list if you do not prefer having chives.
Read my other article on beef roast here.
Instructions on how to cook your Beef Stroganoff:
Step 1:
Flatten the steaks to about three to four centimetres or about a third of an inch thick by using a rolling pin, mallet or if you do not have either of these, your fists to punch them down to flatten them.
Afterwards, slice them into strips of about a fifth of an inch or five millimetres thick strips. Cut the longer ones in half. If you encounter any fat, put them away.
Step 2:
Drizzle some pinches of pepper and salt onto the meat to season.
Step 3:
In a large pan, skillet or wok, pour a tablespoon of oil and heat it over high flame. Spread about half of the beef into the pan, ensuring that you do so quickly so as to prevent them from sticking onto the pan. Leave them there to fry for about thirty seconds until they turn brown.
Immediately turn them over so as to sear the other side. Wait around for about thirty seconds or until they turn brown the same way the other side did. Remove the meat out of the pan and place them into a plate. Worry not about if you still see some spots on the meat that are still raw and uncooked.
Step 4:
As for the remaining one tablespoon of oil, pour it over the pan and repeat the step with the other half of the beef.
Step 5:
Lower the heat down to medium-high. Place the butter onto the pan and let it melt. As the butter has melted, throw in the onions and fry for a minute. Afterwards, throw in the mushrooms.
Step 6:
Fry the mushrooms until they turn golden in colour. Using a spatula, scoop the bottom of the pan to acquire the golden bits to get as much of the flavour as possible.
Step 7:
Pour in the flour and cook. Stir it around the pan for about a minute.
Step 8:
While you are stirring, place half of the broth onto the pan and once it dissolves and mixes well with the contents, throw in what’s left of the broth.
Step 9:
Pour in the sour cream and mustard and continue to mix until the contents have melded together.
Step 10:
Let the contents simmer then lower the heat to medium-low. Once the Stroganoff begins to thicken, add some salt and pepper to taste
Step 11:
Get the plate with the beef in it and pour the contents in the pan as well as the juices, too. Let it simmer for about a minute and remove the contents by pouring them onto a large serving bowl.
Step 12:
Beef Stroganoff is best served alongside pasta or egg noodles. If you have or you prefer to do so, drizzle some chives onto the beef stroganoff to add some flavour and aroma.
In conclusion
Beef and mushrooms are a staple to any kind of meal, from a breakfast hastily prepared before going to work or school, a viand for lunchbreak or even a filing meal that you can eat for supper, anyone has in some way, shape or form enjoyed one or two iterations of beef and mushrooms sometime in their lives.
As we have discussed above, one famous and a definitely delicious and sought after iteration of beef and mushrooms is Beef Stroganoff, a cuisine of Russian origin, it is a sort of dish that has gone through various iterations and adaptations throughout the world, being experimented upon all cultures and restaurants across the globe and each one incorporating each one’s unique ingredients and subsequently being able to embrace the dish as if it was their own.
No matter where you are in the globe, you must try any dish that has beef and mushroom for you to enjoy!
Itching for noodle soup with beef? Read it here.
