Food!: Beef Stroganoff

This post is more about my process than a recipe. You can find beef stroganoff recipes all over the internet, and there are several different ways to prepare it. This is the method I use, and I'm pretty happy with it!

First, our ingredients! You can use any sort of noodles, rice or potatoes that you want, but we've recently become hooked on these frozen egg noodles

I start by pouring the stock into my crock pot and turning it on to warm up.

Out comes my handy cast iron skillet. Melt some butter.

Throw in your onions, mushrooms, and garlic. Saute! For best results, use high heat and stir frequently. I usually add some salt and pepper in this step.

When the veggies are sufficiently cooked, I put half in the crock pot and half in a bowl which goes in the fridge for now.

Return to the now gently used skillet.

Melt some more butter.

Throw in your stew meat, plus some more salt and pepper.

Sprinkle on some flour.

You're not trying to get the meat completely cooked, just mostly browned on all sides. Again, high heat and frequent stirring.

Put the browned meat in the crock pot.

Look at the mess you've made of your skillet! Isn't it beautiful?

Turn on the heat and pour in some wine! I call the next step "simmer and scrape."

You'll wind up with something a lot like this.

Add it to the crock pot, cover, and let cook. I usually add some parsley at this point. I start my crock pot on high until it boils, then turn it down to low.

This is what it looks like after a few hours. It's basically done, the meat is nice and tender. This is a good point to do a preliminary testing and make flavoring adjustments as needed. I added a splash more wine.