Vintage Beef Stroganoff
Tender strips of beef are quickly browned, then gently simmered with onions, sour cream, tomato purée, and a little flour to create a rich, creamy sauce. This vintage Beef Stroganoff is simple, comforting, and wonderfully old-fashioned.
Ingredients
Method
- Cut the beef across the grain into slices about 1–2 cm (½–¾ inch) thick, then cut the slices into strips approximately 4–5 cm (1½–2 inches) long.
- Heat the fat or butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the beef in batches and brown it quickly on all sides. Avoid overcrowding the pan so the meat browns rather than steams.
- Transfer the browned beef to a saucepan or Dutch oven.
- Finely chop the onion and sauté it in the remaining fat until soft and lightly golden. Add it to the beef.
- In a bowl, combine the sour cream with the flour, tomato purée, salt, black pepper, and a small pinch of sugar.
- Pour the sour cream mixture over the beef and onion. Add a little water as needed to create enough sauce to gently simmer the meat.
- Add the bay leaf.
- Cover and simmer over low heat until the beef is tender, approximately 35–45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not allow the sauce to boil aggressively.
- Taste and adjust the salt and pepper before serving. Remove the bay leaf.
- Serve hot with boiled potatoes and a fresh vegetable salad, as suggested in the original cookbook.
Notes
The original recipe uses 800 g beef, 70 g fat, 1 onion, 1½ glasses sour cream, and 1 tablespoon wheat flour, along with a little tomato purée, salt, pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and water.
The cookbook specifically instructs you to cut the beef fillet across the grain into 1–2 cm slices and then into 4–5 cm strips. The meat is browned quickly before being gently simmered in the sauce.
Interestingly, this vintage version doesn’t use mushrooms. I would not add them, since they aren’t part of this particular recipe.
The amount of tomato purée isn’t specified beyond nedaudz — “a little.” Around 1–2 tablespoons is a practical modern amount.
The original also doesn’t specify an exact simmering time. It simply says to cook slowly until the meat is tender, so the 35–45 minute cooking time is a modern guideline.
And yes — the cookbook really does include a little sugar in the sauce. I’d start with just a small pinch to balance the sour cream and tomato rather than make the dish sweet.
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