Recipes

In my humble opinion, this is comfort food at its finest! Everybody needs comfort food from time to time. This recipe is comfort food right out of a can or package, but could easily be made with all homemade/homegrown ingredients.

If you are a recipe history buff then you know that the first recorded occurrence of hamburger stroganov happened in 1891. A French chef, Charles Briere, won a St. Petersburg cooking contest with a dish he named Beef Stroganov. (Note: the spelling of his dish is different.)

My version is apparently an Americanized version. It also does not have the strips of thinly sliced meat. Thin strips could certainly be used, but that would generally mean more work or more cost. Furthermore, nothing in my recipe is homemade.

All I know for sure is I grew up with this dish and it’s one of my favorites.

The Sauce

The sauce is incredibly easy. Step one, brown the ground meat. Personally, I prefer the meat to be beef, venison, or pork. I have found that ground poultry just doesn’t give the same quality of comfort and taste as the other meats. Also, many recipes ask for sausage. I’ve found that just the ground meat works fine. There is no need for the “sausage” meats with this recipe. Add the soup, sour cream, and onion powder… …sauce done.

The Noodles

You can use whatever pasta you want or happen to have on hand. That’s probably enough said, but some other info may be helpful. Personally, I prefer wide egg noodles. I have used the thin, wide, and extra wide versions. I have also used elbows, spaghetti, fettuccine and ramen noodles. (In a pinch the ramen noodles work, but the flavor is off somehow that I cannot explain. I do not recommend them when you try this recipe the first time).