Hello again, my bright and bushy tailed students. I am your ignorant and broke twenty something blogger posing as a teacher… let’s begin. On the menu today is Beef Stroganoff. One of my favorites.

I know next to nothing about cooking meat, so I decided it’s a darn good time to learn. Rather than cheating and using ground beef, as lots of recipes suggest, I went full on loin steak, guys. I took it to the next level.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, also chopped
• 1 package of mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lb of beef loin steak, cut into small pieces
• 1 can of beef consomme (14 oz)
• 1/4 cup of red wine
• 2 tablespoons of flour, as needed
• Cold water, as needed
• 1/2 cup of sour cream

The first thing you do is start cooking the noodles. They take forever, so get those started first. I trust you know how to boil pasta, so you’re on your own for that one.

Then, we start the sauce! Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then start adding the more solid ingredients. This includes the onions and garlic to start. Once your eyes start watering from the onions, you know it’s time to add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms for a couple of minutes before adding anything else.

Next is the beef. Place the pieces of meat in the saucepan and cook until they start turning a bit brown. I’d guess about 3-4 minutes.

Now come the less solid ingredients. The meat/mushroom/garlic/onion mixture probably already looks delicious, but it’s not sauce yet. At this point, mix in the beef consomme, wine and lemon juice.

Oh no, you ruined it! That’s not what it’s supposed to look like! Just kidding – it has to get super watery before we can make it the creamy stroganoff sauce we’re used to. Trust me. This is called making something from scratch, suckas. Check that off your bucket list.

Bring everything to a boil, and in the mean time, start making your flour/water mixture. Blend the cold water and flour in a small bowl until it’s totally smooth. 

This is the tricky part. Reduce the heat of your saucepan to low, and stir it constantly while slowly adding the flour-water. I found this was literally impossible to do with one person, so find someone to help you if possible. It won’t seem like you’re doing much, but this will start to thicken your sauce. Trust me. Once you’ve poured it all in, gradually return the sauce to a boil and let it cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

This is another one of those classic boring waiting parts of cooking, so this also is a good time to drink some of that wine you had to buy for the recipe. What! It’s for cooking!

The very last step is to mix in the sour cream, but you shouldn’t do this until the sauce has had a bit of time to cool. Take your sauce off the heat, drink some more wine, and after another five minutes or so – mix in the sour cream. NOW it looks like Beef Stroganoff, right? See, what did I tell you.

This recipe would make even your mom proud. That’s two meat dishes down – I’m on a roll! Maybe someday I’ll actually try poultry! (Let’s not get carried away though… poultry is terrifying).

As always, let me know in the comments if you have any great tips for Stroganoff, or if you try this recipe! And feel free to tweet me pictures of your attempts! Happy cooking!