SC - Re: Stroganoff

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hi, all!

I was pretty fascinated by the whole thread on Beef Stroganoff, and had
a few comments.

First off, it seems to me that Lord Ras' perception of similarity
between Beef Stroganoff and some of the Islamic dishes which include
Persian milk or yogurt added at the end of the cooking process may not
be as far off as all that. Yes, there are a number of significant
differences between what seemed to be a lamb stew with yogurt, and the
classic Franco-Russian preparation, which is sauteed quite quickly. One
significant point is that some of Lord Ras' culinary background stems
from a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage: I know quite a few people of
Pennsylvania Dutch background, and they seem to have a tendency to think
of a slow-cooked beef, onion, and mushroom stew with sour cream, as
stroganoff. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but I've seen so many
examples of this that I doubt they're isolated. Most of the Pennsylvania
Dutch I've encountered also seem to have a rather unorthodox
interpretation as to what constitutes goulash. In both cases the dishes
are excellent, but a little different from mainstream culinary
orthodoxy. This is, of course, not a bad thing in itself. Vive la
difference, etc.

Another thing I found interesting was the different variations on a
well-known, classic theme. Is it braised or sauteed, is it served with a
starchy side dish, does it contain paprika, etc. ? My chief exposure to
the dish came from some friends whose ancestors emigrated from Russia to
France in the nineteenth century, and they were pretty inflexible as to
what is, and is not, stroganoff. Their version is very quickly sauteed,
contains no paprika (but does include marjoram or savory, IIRC), and
contains red wine and sour cream, but no stock. The wine is supposed to
deglaze the pan, which flavors the wine with the meat juices. The dish
is served not with noodles, but with kasha or bulgur pilaf (they say the
French serve it with rice because they don't know any better), or bread.

Naturally, each person's own version is the One True Way. Just thought
it was kind of interesting, and a lot of fun.

Adamantius
troy at asan.com
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================