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Beef Stroganoff
Beef, mushrooms and a creamy mustard sauce. Make it quickly with tender beef strips, or give chuck a few hours and let time do most of the work.
BASIC
Quick-cooking beef, mushrooms and a straightforward creamy sauce. Stroganoff without making Tuesday evening into a project.
Method
Brown the beef
Heat a large frying pan over fairly high heat with a little oil. Cook the beef in one or two batches so the pan stays hot. Give it enough time to brown, but don't worry about cooking it completely through. Remove it to a plate.
BrownLet the food develop actual brown colour. Grey meat can be cooked, but it is not browned. If liquid pools in the pan, use more heat or cook in smaller batches.Cooking words →Cook the onion and mushrooms
Turn the heat down to medium. Add the onion and mushrooms with another small splash of oil if the pan needs it. Cook for about 7–10 minutes until the onion is soft and the mushrooms have lost most of their water and started taking on some colour.
Add the flavour
Add the garlic if using and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir through the flour and paprika, if using, and cook for another 30 seconds.
Make the sauce
Gradually add the beef stock while stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce, then simmer for a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
SimmerKeep the liquid gently bubbling. It should be active, but not rolling and splashing like a full boil.Cooking words →Return the beef
Put the beef and any juices from the plate back into the pan. Cook for another minute or two, just until the beef is cooked how you like it and everything is hot.
Get it off the heat
Take the pan completely off the heat and give it a couple of minutes for the aggressive bubbling to stop.
Add the sour cream
Stir the sour cream through gently until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Taste, then add salt and plenty of black pepper as needed. Don't put it back over a hard heat once the sour cream is in.
This little pause matters. Sour cream can split if it goes straight into a fiercely boiling sauce. Letting the sauce cool slightly before adding it gives you a much better chance of keeping it smooth. If you need to warm it again afterwards, use gentle heat and don't let it boil.
UPGRADE
Swap the quick-cooking beef for chuck, brown it properly and give it enough time to become genuinely tender. More time, but most of that time belongs to the pot.
Method
Brown the beef properly
Heat a large heavy pot over medium-high heat with a little oil. Brown the beef in batches, leaving plenty of room between the pieces. Don't try to cook it through — you're just building a dark crust. Move each batch to a plate.
BrownLet the food develop actual brown colour. Grey meat can be cooked, but it is not browned. If liquid pools in the pan, use more heat or cook in smaller batches.Cooking words →Take some time with the onions
Turn the heat down to medium and add the onions. Cook for about 10–15 minutes until soft and well coloured. If the bottom of the pot starts getting too dark, add a small splash of water and scrape it clean.
Build the base
Add the garlic and paprika and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir through the flour. Add the wine if using, scrape everything off the bottom of the pot and let it reduce for a minute or two.
DeglazeAdd liquid to a hot pan and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Those bits are flavour, not washing-up failure.Cooking words →Start the slow cook
Return the beef and its juices to the pot. Add the stock, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Bring it to a gentle simmer, then either cover loosely and cook over low heat for about 2–3 hours, or put the covered oven-safe pot into a 150°C (300°F) oven.
SimmerKeep the liquid gently bubbling. It should be active, but not rolling and splashing like a full boil.Cooking words →The oven is often easier for a long slow cook because the heat surrounds the pot instead of concentrating underneath it. Anywhere around 140–160°C (285–320°F) will work. Check it occasionally and add a splash of water or stock if it's getting too dry. The beef is ready when it's tender, not simply because the timer says so.Cook until the beef gives up
Check it occasionally and give it a stir. The beef is ready when a piece can be easily broken apart with a fork. If it's still chewy after two hours, it doesn't need rescuing — it needs more time.
Cook the mushrooms separately
When the beef is nearly ready, heat the butter in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the thickly cut mushrooms and give them enough room to actually brown. Cook until they've released their water, the water has mostly disappeared and the mushrooms have developed good colour. Stir them into the stroganoff near the end.
Mushrooms shrink dramatically, so don't slice them apologetically thin. Keeping them chunky and cooking them separately means you still get distinct browned mushrooms in the finished dish rather than little grey fragments that spent three hours surrendering to the sauce.Adjust the sauce
If the sauce is thinner than you want, leave the lid off and simmer for a few minutes until it reduces. Taste for salt and black pepper, remembering that the sour cream is still coming.
ReduceCook a liquid so some of its water evaporates, leaving less liquid with a stronger flavour and usually a thicker texture.Cooking words →Now stop cooking it
Take the pot completely off the heat. Leave it for about 5 minutes so it stops simmering and cools slightly before you add the sour cream.
Finish with sour cream
Stir a few spoonfuls of the warm sauce into the sour cream first, then gently stir that mixture back through the pot. Taste again and adjust the seasoning. Warm it gently if necessary, but don't let it boil.
The sauce has already done all the difficult work — don't split it at the finish line. Sour cream is much happier below boiling temperature. Letting the pot cool slightly and mixing a little sauce into the sour cream first makes the temperature change gentler and helps keep the finished sauce smooth.
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