Karin's Week Nine Recipe: Ground Beef/Venison Stroganoff

This week's recipe turned out rather interesting. Mostly because I decided to see what happened if I combined a few recipes to make one. Hamburger Stroganoff is a frequent visitor to our house in the winter months, as it's easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. Generally, I make a quick recipe from the Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cookbook(circa 1964). This time, however, I decided to see what the Joy of Cooking(circa 2006) said about the same recipe.

True to form though, I decided to substitute ingredients for what I had on hand. So, what I decided to do was post the two original recipes, and the recipe for what I actually ended up making. All of these are served with cooked egg noodles and make 3 very generous helpings. Here goes:

Betty Crocker's Hamburger Stroganoff

1/2 c minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c butter
1 lb ground beef
2 T flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 c sour cream
parsley

Saute onion and garlic in butter over med heat. Stir in meat and brown. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and mushrooms. Cook 5 min. Stir in soup. Simmer uncovered 10 min. Stir in sour cream. Heat through. I usually also add about 1/4 c of Worcestshire sauce, and about 1-2 T of sage with the soup.


Joy of Cooking's Beef Stroganoff

2 lb fillet of beef, top loin, or sirloin tip, cut into 2x 0.25" strips
salt & pepper
2 T olive oil
3 T butter
1 onion or 2 shallots, chopped
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 c beef broth or stock
(2 T Cognac)
1 c sour cream
1 T Dijon mustard
(2 T chopped dill)

Season meat with salt & pepper to taste. Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add meat in batches, cooking just until browned, about 2 min. Remove to a plate and melt the butter in the skillet. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 min. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until the liquid the mushrooms released evaporates, about 8 min. Add the beef broth and Cognac, if using, and simmer for 10 min. Stir in the sour cream, mustard and the meat with its accumulated juices. Heat through. Stir in dill if desired.

Karin's Version of Stroganoff

1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 tsp garlic
1/2 c butter (as the venison is much leaner than hamburger)
1 lb ground venison
2 T flour
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper
1.5 c beef broth
2 T port (because we didn't have cognac)
2 T Worcestshire sauce
1 c sour cream
1 T spicy brown mustard (again, not having the Dijon)
2 tsp dried dill

Melt butter in large skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute for about 3 min. Add ground venison and brown. Stir in flour and mushrooms, and about 3 twists of a salt grinder and 3 twists of pepper grinder. Cook until mushrooms look cooked. Add beef broth, port, and Worcestshire sauce. Simmer for about 10 min. Stir in sour cream and mustard. Cook until heated through. Stir in dill.

Verdict: We liked the consistency of the beef broth version better than the condensed soup version, more saucey and less coagulated. We did not like the dill, and would revert back to using sage, as originally stated. Also, neither of us noticed that the port added any real difference in flavor, maybe the cognac would? Or, maybe use a Stout beer? So, all in all, I might substitute the beef broth for the soup in the Betty Crocker recipe, but continue to use that one.