Kapitan
Beef stroganoff is one of the few Russian dishes that have taken root well and are even loved abroad. I don’t know if the legend about Count Stroganov, for whom his cook supposedly invented this dish, is true, because the elderly count had problems with his teeth. But nevertheless, it is important to remember that for beef stroganoff it is important not to use tough meat, because no amount of beating will help him. It is best to use tenderloin or other soft pieces of beef – then the meat in the most delicate sauce will simply melt in your mouth. Beef stroganoff has a small amount of ingredients, and it is difficult to spoil it. However, using some simple methods, you can make this well-known dish incredibly tasty:
- Lightly beat off the meat, even if it is a tenderloin
- Sprinkle the meat with a thin layer of flour before frying
- Fry the meat in small portions in several passes
- Fry on a mixture of butter and vegetable oil
- Use tomato paste in the sauce
Detailed instructions:
Recipe for 4 servings
- 600 g beef (beef tenderloin or sirloin)
- 1 onion
- 2 tablespoons flour
- a small piece of butter the size of 1 tbsp.
- 2 tablespoons with a heap of tomato paste
- 5 tablespoons with a heap of sour cream
- sunflower oil for frying
- parsley, to sprinkle the finished dish
Cut the beef tenderloin into layers 2-3 cm thick. Beat each layer on both sides with a meat mallet.
Cut the meat into long thin strips.
Transfer to a large bowl and sprinkle with flour so that each piece is covered with a very thin layer of flour.
Peel the onion and cut into quarter rings.
Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil into a large frying pan, heat over medium-high heat. It is very important not to put the meat in an underheated pan, because then it will give juice, and we do not want this in this dish. We will fry the meat in parts, so that there is still room in the pan when we fry each serving of meat. The fire should be medium-strong. All this, again, is necessary so that juice does not stand out from the meat during frying. I have a large frying pan, so two runs were enough.
Before putting the meat, put half the butter in a heated pan with vegetable oil and wait until it melts. Now we put the first part of the meat and fry over medium-high heat, stirring often so that each piece is fried separately. Fry for 5 minutes until a brown crust forms on the part of the meat and there is no blood left in it.
Transfer the meat to a separate plate with a slotted spoon, leaving as much oil as possible in the pan.
Melt the second part of the butter and fry the remaining meat in the same way. Transfer it to a plate with a slotted spoon.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Now fry the onion, adding a little sunflower oil if there is not enough oil left in the pan. Do not add butter to the onion.
When the onion turns golden, add the tomato paste to the pan and stir. Add sour cream, mix until the tomato paste and sour cream are completely mixed.
Now add all the meat at once and mix with the sauce. Add warm water – enough so that the sauce barely covers the meat. We mix.
Simmer the meat under the lid over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or more so that the sauce does not burn.
In the meantime, you can prepare the side dish. In this version, I serve beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the beef stroganoff with finely chopped parsley when serving.
