Growing up, one of the things I remember my grandmother fixing was Beef Stroganoff. My oh My, it was delicious! She could cook a spread of food for all of us without breaking a sweat and it was always perfect. Beef Stroganoff is the kind of Southern comfort food that I want poured over Southern mashed potatoes. Paul on the other hand wants it poured over rice. (Remember my post on Loaded Baked Potatoes?) Could you serve it over egg noodles? Absolutely! It all works.
A year or two ago, I asked my Aunt if she had Maw Maw’s recipe for this Southern classic. She gave me what she remembered to be Maw Maw’s recipe along with her own variation. My grandmother’s recipe had mushrooms while my Aunt’s recipe added a touch of garlic and Worcestershire sauce. So what did I do? I combined both recipes and tweaked it just a tad. I’m telling you, I’m going to be making this again real soon! As a friend of mine said, “When you get the stroganoff, mashed potatoes and green beans all in one bite… it just works!” I served home canned green beans from my Nephew’s garden with this. The perfect accompaniment.
Oh, did I mention this is slow cooker style? It really doesn’t get much better than this!
Here’s how I make it.
Beef Stroganoff
In your slow cooker, combine the cut up beef, flour, salt and pepper.
What kind of beef? Well, I go by whatever is on sale. Here I used a bottom round roast and it was perfect. My personal favorite cut is always the sirloin roast since I feel it has the right balance of meat to fat. A top round roast or even a chuck roast would work just fine. Want to keep it even simpler? Just grab a pack of stew meat from the meat case and call it done!
In a medium size skillet over medium heat, saute’ the chopped yellow onion in a little oil until they’re tender and starting to brown. About 4-5 minutes.
I don’t know if Maw Maw did this part, but I’m not a fan of throwing raw onions in with the meat. Just a hang up of mine. Sauteing them first just makes the flavor better. Just saying…
On top of the floured meat, add the sliced fresh mushrooms and sauteed onions.
Then add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, beef consomme and water.
Cover with your slow cooker lid. Cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 5 hours.
Tip: Don’t lift the lid for at least the first 3 hours. Then only check it a couple more times toward the end of cooking. You’ll loose the steam and heat each time you lift that lid and it will take considerable more time to cook and get tender.
When the meat is fork tender and the gravy is to the thickness you like, stir in the sour cream.
Here’s the thing about the gravy. Depending on your meat, the gravy will vary in thickness. The meat will always produce liquid as it’s cooking. Depending on the cut of meat, the gravy may be a little too thin or a little too thick. If it’s a little too thick, that’s an easy fix… just a some water and stir. Mine here turned out to be a little too thin. Here’s how to fix that.
Stir together one Tablespoon of cornstarch with two Tablespoons water. While stirring the beef stroganoff in the slow cooker, slowly drizzle the cornstarch mixture until the gravy thickens to your liking. That’s what I did here.
Pour this Southern classic over some Southern mashed potatoes and chow down.
Food for thought here. I cook for lots of different palates. And I try to accommodate everyone as best as I can. Last time I made this I forgot to add the sour cream to the stroganoff. I took the ceramic pot out of the slow cooker, made pictures and served. Well, if truth be known, Paul prefers no sour cream in stroganoff. I, on the other hand, believe it’s not true stroganoff without it! So, at times, I’ll compromise and serve the sour cream on the side and let everyone put as much or little as they want. It actually works well that way. So, if you’re entertaining folks that are not a true lover of sour cream, just serve it on the side!
Thank you Maw Maw for all of your delicious cooking! That’s what I call LOVE.
Here’s the printer friendly recipe.
Growing up, one of the things I remember my grandmother fixing was Beef Stroganoff. My oh My, it was delicious! She could cook a spread of food for all of us without breaking a sweat and it was always perfect. Beef Stroganoff is the kind of Southern comfort food that I want poured over Southern mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef roast, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1 1/3 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 - 10 ounce can beef consumme
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 Tablespoons water for thickening the gravy at the end, if necessary.
Instructions
- In your slow cooker, combine the cut up beef roast, flour, salt and pepper.
- In a medium size skillet over medium heat, saute' the chopped yellow onion in a little oil until they're tender and starting to brown. About 4-5 minutes.
- On top of the floured meat, add the sliced fresh mushrooms, sauteed onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, beef consomme and water.
- Cover with your slow cooker lid. Cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 5 hours.
- When the meat is fork tender and the gravy is to the thickness you like, stir in the sour cream.
- Serve over mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles.
Notes
Here's the thing about the gravy. Depending on your meat, the gravy will vary in thickness. The meat will always produce liquid as it's cooking. Depending on the cut of meat, the gravy may be a little too thin or a little too thick. If it's a little too thick, that's an easy fix... just a some water and stir. If it's a bit too thin, here's how to fix that.
Stir together one Tablespoon of cornstarch with two Tablespoons water. While stirring the beef stroganoff in the slow cooker, slowly drizzle the cornstarch mixture until the gravy thickens to your liking.
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