Creamy,  delicious, and filling comfort food are the words that come to mind when I think of  a Classic Beef Stroganoff. Over the years, I can not tell you how many times my father cooked this recipe when we were children. It was the perfect winter meal on a chilly night.

Keep in mind my father was no Elena Molokhovets’ the famous author of “A Gift to Young Housewives”. Ms. Elena Molokhovets’was noted to be the first author of a known for her recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski, s gorchitseju, “Beef à la Stroganov, with mustard”, in its 1871 edition.

The recipe from the 1871 edition of her cookbook,  involves lightly flouring beef cubes and not strips sautéed, sauced with prepared mustard and bouillon, and finished with a small amount of sour cream: no onions, no mushrooms were included.

Did you know Russian and  Chinese immigrants, as well as our United States servicemen stationed in China, brought back several different versions of the dish to the United States? This may very well explain the boom in popularity of this classic recipe during the 1950’s among housewives and restaurants.

Below you will find a fusion of my father’s original recipe for Classic Beef Stroganoff  with my own subtle touches. I believe this was from an old  recipe card of my grandmothers on his side of the family.

Classic Beef Stroganoff

• 1 and 1/2 pounds of sirloin steak sliced into bite size pieces
• Montreal Steak seasoning
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 2 cups of freshly sliced white mushrooms 
• 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 of a cup of beef broth
• 1/4 of a cup of white table wine
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or to own taste
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 1 cup of almost room temperature sour cream
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• chopped parsley for garnish

Directions

1. Cut sirloin steak into bite-sized strips and thoroughly season the sliced sirloin steak with Montreal steak seasoning. Let the sirloin steak come to room temperature; about 25-30 minutes.
2. Place a large metal skillet on medium heat; add unsalted butter, and olive oil to metal skillet.
3. Once oils have heated; add sliced sirloin steak strips, chopped yellow onion, and sliced white mushrooms. Cook on medium heat for about 5  minutes occasionally stirring the meat to evenly cook.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the metal skillet and continue to stir flour and meat for about 2 minutes time. Then add beef broth, white table wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard to the metal skillet; simmer for 10 minutes before adding room temperature sour cream to metal skillet. Cook another 5 minutes on lowest heat setting.
5. May be served over white rice or wide egg noodles
6. Garnish with fresh parsley.

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