Stroganoff Seasoning

[macrogal]

Long time lurker, first time requester....

I always make my ground turkey stroganoff with onions, mushrooms and sour cream, seasoned with those packets of Lawry's stroganoff seasoning. I just realized that I have everything I need to make tonight's dinner EXCEPT that packet and I'm just too lazy to go to the store.

So Hounders...how can I use my (rather well-stocked) spice cabinet to make deliciously seasoned stroganoff?

Thanks in advance...

[pikawicca]

I add a splash of sherry, also use some tomato paste. Beyond that, it's just salt and pepper.

[christy319]

Cook's Illustrated has a fantastic strogonoff recipe-it's heads and tails better than any I'd had. And I found it by googling!

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/cooks-i...

I didn't even know they made a strogonoff seasoning packet, and I've never really seen a recipe that would utilize anything in your spice cabinet.

[FoodFuser]

A healthy pinch of ground Dill seed adds a secret savory background

[coll]

I always add at least a Tbsp of dill weed.

[FoodFuser]

Absolutely yes. Dill Weed is probably more common on home spice pantries than is Seed. I actually add both Seed and Weed, but when I serve it to folks for the first time, I use only the ground Seed, ONLY because it does not effect a green color change, and transitions them to the dill taste.

To further transition this dish, consider sliced dill pickles. This adds a third "disk...planar" object in addition to the sliced beef and sliced mushrooms. It is apparently common in the northern euro regions.

[coll]

That sounds interesting. I also have a recipe for Dill Pickle Soup that I'm going to get to this winter sometime, mostly just pickles, dill weed and cream. I love dill!

[FoodFuser]

Yeppers again. I think we today forget that "dill pickles" were much more important in the era of "winter storage/preserve the harvest".

[k_d]

I never put tomato product in my stroganoff. I season with onion, salt, pepper, sour cream, and top off with a dash of dry sherry. Yum.

[Candy]

Those packets are mostly pretty expensive salt and fillers.

In The Art of Russian Cuisine by Anne Volkh she lists the following ingredients for stroganoff.

2 med. onions,
7-10 Tbs. butter
2 C. beef stock
2 tsp. Dusseldorf or Dijon mustard
Ybs. tomato sauce
3 lbs. fillet mignon cut into strips
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. sour cream

She says it is traditionally served over fried potato planks. I always add a bit of wine just before adding the sour cream.

[Karl S]

Here's the ingredient list for the mix:

http://www.lawrys.com/products/products_detail.cfm?lry_value=products&prodtype=seasoningmixes&id=707

Key items: MSG (think Accent), salt, sugar, onion, garlic, mushroom, powdered milk, and flour. You may find the MSG a key thing missing if you don't use the mix.

For a more authentic version, see:

http://www.russianfoods.com/recipes/i...

Btw, in the authentic version, the tomato paste would supply the MSG, which is natural in tomatoes.

[macrogal]

Thanks so much! Interesting about the powdered milk and flour - I'm sure that without these mine would have come out too thin. I'm sure starting with a roux will help - great info!

[Allstonian]

All I ever season with are salt, black pepper, and a bit of paprika (1 to 2 teaspoons.) If you had something like Penzey's Ozark seasoning, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of that might be good. A little bit of Worcestershire sauce is noce sometimes as well.