Maundy Thursday Stoganoff...

Stroganoff Supreme. Or is it?

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Lamenting my lack of having any regular holiday traditions, unlike my beloved New Orleanians having gumbo z’herbes & fried chicken at Dooky Chase on Maundy Thursday… I began placating my feelings of angst with practicing by means of Widor’s Toccata, though on the piano to get out some frustrations in preparation for Easter Sunday. After relieving le’frustrations of not being a genuine New Orleanian, I proceeded to dress for our evening service.
https://cookswithoutborders.com/dooky-chases-gumbo-des-herbes

I very much would like to have a holiday/s tradition with friends or family, that would include different and special dinners and parties, especially those that celebrate with less than routine culinary traditions. Alas, my family’s taste for the unfamiliar is for the most part, non-existent. This is not a smear, nor a complaint, merely a fact. My friends though, would are already great victims of prey for such traditions, though, on that plain, I really haven’t felt like socializing as of late. Perhaps next season...or just later on.

Tonight's dish would definitely be an easy dish to have for an unoffensive family supper, or a simple addition to an evening buffet. Keep it casual, this dish is ultra homely, dowdy, and simple!

More often than not, my ideas of what I would like to have for supper are unrealistic. I appear to love reading the majestic cookbooks that line my shelves, and dream of the delicious goodies, and then instead of eating what I want, I choose to have a pack of toast-chee crackers, and some delicious (deluxe mix) mixed nuts from the Sam’s club. I have to do better. I’m turning a new leaf, or turning over a new leaf, or looking over a four-leafed clover, or whatever, and this leaf tells me to prepare often from my cookbooks, and go to the market often- and see the goodies that are new and interesting, and employee such. Wishful thinking.

Enough belly-aching, for now. After practicing, day-dreaming, and preparing for work, I began to think about what I would like to have for supper. I have been reading Thomas McNamee’s biography of the marvelous and bitchy Craig Claiborne. He may or may not be bitchy- I just wanted to use that in a phrase today. Certainly towards the end of his life he was bitchy.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Man-Who-Changed-the-Way-We-Eat/Thomas-McNamee/9781439191514

With my reading and research of Claiborne, I have been sort of dabbling in looking at some of those good mid-century recipes. Beef Stroganoff immediately comes to mind- though, I didn’t want to cut beef into the correct cube shapes, and I wanted something closer to very comforting comfort food. Withstanding the feelings of the cow that was butchered, my feelings were satisfied with praise and delicious thanksgiving for this short journey de la culinaire. Henry, my sweet dog, and I hop in the car and drive to the grocery store. While some of the recipes do not call for mushrooms in beef stroganoff, I like them in my recipe. The grocer had some lovely sliced portabella mushrooms, so I bought those to add.

When I was in college, I studied Russian (language) for two semesters…and I passed. Still, I can read, and make sense of the language, though, not so much speaking or understanding it aurally. Curiously, the Cyrillic alphabet allows us to almost understand the Greek letters…anyway- more about that in another life. Though, the tit-bits of praise, come to mind, in my now research of supper, the Stroganov…which be-eth, well, Russian.

Claiborne’s first recipe of the Stroganoff seems to appear around 1963 in the New York Times. Right now, I am again on a major Gore Vidal kick, and while he and the NYT really had an unsavory relationship, I do think I can overlook that to enjoy Craig Claiborne’s patron temporarily. Of course, in the research of this I also re-visited James Beard’s recipe for beef stroganoff. As with my allegiance to Gore Vidal, my allegiance this week, or during my tenure of interest and research on Claiborne, I will decline to be a major fan of James Beard. According to McNamee, Claiborne seemed to believe that Beard was a product of the greased palm of processed foods and what not- and whether or not this be true (I believe it to be true)- Beard’s recipe calls for A1 Sauce- or Worcestershire. Claiborne’s recipe doesn’t call for a brand of any ingredient.
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I researched both recipes, and rejected both in favor of making my own. My idea of what "Stroganoff" must be/mean in terms of a routine/set idea of a dish, is perhaps this is a sauteed meat, served in a sort of bechamel sauce sort of dish.


Here is my recipe:

Christopher-Joel’s Beef Stroganov Supreme Delight

Do you want the most basic and simple treat? This is a very swift and obscenely easy recipe, great for a late evening out, or for a stress-free post-rehearsal supper. I did not want a bechamel or roux sauce with any sort of obvious texture outside the silky sauce, so I have forgone the onions and garlic in favor of the powdered version. If you don’t have mushroom powder, then you can use chicken powder, or flavoring agent of your choice, though, be aware that the salt levels drastically vary between brands, and flavor.

I like how the mushrooms draw in that good fat from the fried meat, so how thick you want your mushrooms to be is up to you- this round, I made the mushrooms quite chunky. In retrospect, I suspect that you could even use mushrooms as a complete substitute for the beef. Simply get tons of mushrooms, and cook down in vegetable ghee, or Crisco or something- and season as you would beef. Definitely Umami Central with that good mushroom powders. I love Mushroom Powders! I love MSG!!!!! OMG!!! Delicious!

*Tip: When you make your roux for your bechamel like sauce, pre-heat the water (I keep a kettle near boiling on the stove) and pre-heat your half & half, so that when you add to the roux, that the roux doesn’t cease up, or stop cooking. No reason to add cold liquid- it just doesn’t help anyone. I also prefer my Stroganoff “sauce” to be more liquid than rich gravy…you, as I have done, may also, do as you please, and try to achieve any texture that you like.

1 pound of Ground Beef (I suppose you can use any sort of ground meat that you like, or shrimps even)
6 ounces sliced Portabella Mushrooms
½ Stick of Butter
1 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tablespoons of Mushroom Powder (1 tbsp reserved)
Black Pepper
1 pint Half & Half
Sour Cream or Crème Fraiche
¼ cup of flour
Worcestershire Sauce
1 and ½ cups of hot water
Fresh grated nutmeg (optional)
½ teaspoon dry mustard (I used Colman’s today)

1. Fry your ground meats on the stove, I like to cook on medium high, and stir as much as you like, until you get the texture, color, and fond the way that you like. I like my “stroganoff” ground beef to not really have caramelization.
2. Add the sliced mushrooms to the ground beef mixture
3. Add a LOT of black pepper
4. Add a LOT of paprika (I used hot Hungarian style)
   1. I know the recipe is measured above, though, add more or less of everything if you like
5. Add a good bit of Worcestershire sauce to the meat- enough to taste, but not be at all influentially salty-
6. Add 1 tbsp of the mushroom powder to the meat mixture
   1. Always stirring, of course.
7. While the meat mixture cooks, melt half a stick of butter in a pot (probably medium/medium-high)
8. Once the butter is melted, add your flour, stir, and mushroom powder.
9. Once the roux is on its way, do NOT let it get any darker than a manila envelope- Add the warmed Half & Half, then add the mustard powder, onion powder, and garlic powder.
10. After your bechamel roux has come together, I add a good bit of hot water, or you may add chicken stock or whatever you like. Stir ½ cup of water in at a time, while still cooking on low heat- add enough water to make the consistency of the “gravy” to your liking. I like mine quite thin.
11. I hope you are still stirring and cooking down the meat mixture- it should be finished after a while- if you’re reading this, you should be able to tell when it is finished to your liking. Sprinkle a lot more Paprika over the meat mixture.
12. Grate a touch of nutmeg into your white sauce- stir, add more butter if you like, correct the seasonings.
13. You have two choices: Mix the meat mixture and the sauce together, or keep separate. I keep the meat mixture separate from the cream sauce.
14. Take your creme fraiche or sour cream, and if you like, mix in some chopped green onions, and you may either mix this into the sauce, or serve as a small dollop on top of your stroganoff mixture, which will probably be resting on the egg noodles. Add as much sour cream as you like- nobody cares really.

You may serve the mixture over egg noodles, or rice, or mashed potatoes probably. I would no doubt like some borscht, or fried red cabbage with vinegar and sugar, or a red cabbage vinegar slaw, and perhaps a pan of fried potatoes.

Should you fry potatoes, I like to do them this way:

Fried PATAYTUHZ Potatoes
Adapted from the way my Godfather James Fowler makes them
Potatoes: Peeled, and cut into cubes, not small though.
Corn Starch
Corn Meal
Salt/Black Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes


Cut the potatoes, and rinse under cold water, in a colander, of course
Sprinkle some flour or corn starch onto the potatoes and sort of coat- not batter mind you, just to perhaps add a little sticky-ness.

Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal if you like also onto the potatoes and coat extremely lightly.

In a very large pan, heat a good deal of oil- heat pan to medium high, and pour in the potatoes, and let them fry to your liking, and serve. Also very good with ketchup.

You want the potatoes to not actually seem like they have anything added like flour or meal to them- you want them to just be crispy and delicious. And greasy is my favorite.

Craig Claiborne’s “Beef Stroganoff”
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019085-beef-stroganoff

James Beard’s “Beef Stroganoff”
https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/James-Beards-Beef-Stroganoff/