
Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Hamburger Stroganoff, submitted by reader SC Amy. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post. The original recipe came from The Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library
Robyn’s Take:
This week’s recipe was submitted by reader/commenter SC Amy. I love me some stroganoff (beef, mushrooms, noodles? Yes, please!), so I was all for giving this a try!
Your ingredients:
Ground beef, chopped onion, butter, flour, salt, minced garlic, pepper, mushrooms, condensed cream of mushroom soup (original recipe called for cream of chicken soup, but I always have cream of mushroom on hand, so that’s what I used), and sour cream.
Cook your ground beef and onions in a big skillet over medium heat until the ground beef is browned and the onions are cooked.
Is there anything that smells better than ground beef and onions cooking? I think NOT. You might think there is, but you are wrong.
Then drain your meat and onions.
While the grease is draining off that stuff, throw your butter in the pan and let it melt.
Put your beef and onions back in the pan, then add flour, mushrooms, garlic, spices, and stir like crazy. The recipe says you should stir for 5 minutes, but since you drained off all that grease, it doesn’t take that long to cook. I think I let it cook for about three minutes before I was all “Let’s get this show on the ROAD.”
Stir in your soup, bring it to a boil (“stirring constantly”, says the recipe. I think we all know that constant stirring is an urban myth. I stirred it frequently, but not constantly. Sue me.) Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes (actually, I think I stopped around 8 minutes because I’m a rebel like that.)
Stir in the sour cream, heat through, and then serve over cooked egg noodles.
I started the water for my egg noodles right before I started the stroganoff itself, and the noodles were ready long before the stroganoff. Luckily, egg noodles are known for their patience.
HURRY IT UP, BITCH. WE’RE GETTING COLD.
Okay, before you say it – I KNOW. I know how it looks. There are some things you just can’t take a damn flattering picture of, no matter how you try.
The verdict? SC Amy, I think you are THE BOMB, but we just didn’t care for this stuff. I think it had too much sour cream in it. Fred wouldn’t even eat it a second time, and that’s when you know he REALLY doesn’t like something (he’s… “frugal” is the word he likes to use, and he dislikes seeing food go to waste, so he’ll usually finish off food I refuse to eat.) The chickens got the leftovers, and as usual they thought it was awesome.
I have no kitten picture for you today – I’m coming off a vacation to Myrtle Beach, and I am still scattered. (That’s my excuse, and I’m stickin’ to it.) Here, have this possum picture the gamecam caught in the side yard one night.
“Motherfucking STROGANOFF?! That shit is AWESOME. Hand it over, lady!”
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Nance’s Take:
Do you ever wonder what people were thinking when they decided to add sour cream to a casserole? I mean, who does that? “Oh, I think I’ll just throw a dollop of this soured milk product into my meat. Or maybe I’ll toss some into this chocolate cake mix and see what happens. The possibilities are endless!”
People confuse The Beagle.
I started this recipe out on a good note. I was cooking and stirring my meat. Apparently I stopped reading after that.
This is me being all health-conscious and draining the fat off of my ground beef. How cool is that strainer thingie? I thought it was cool and had never seen such a thing until this year. I don’t get out much. And no, I didn’t strain it out on my stove. I just took it over there to take a picture (so you wouldn’t see what a mess my sink was).
Following directions is sooooo hard. I fried that ground beef and then added my butter and onions instead of doing them all together like the recipe said. I should probably stop skimming so much. But sometimes there are just too many words (and I’m not wearing my glasses).
This is where I get to show you the particular brand of Crazy that I deal with on the daily thanks to Shirley (aka: my mom). Please note the size of my thumb in relation to how many noodles are left in the bag. Who does this kind of shit? Seriously? I saw that and was all, “WTF, Shirley! You couldn’t just use all of those noodles?”
True confession: I had it in my head that this was a casserole so I made it in the morning thinking that I would have it for dinner that night. Guess who had beef stroganoff for breakfast? Yup. I’m a genius.
No need to adjust your monitors. This does indeed look like something I vomited after the great Happy Meal and Southern Comfort fiasco of 1987. Not pretty. And not a good time in my life. Well, okay. It was a damn good time in my life, but don’t tell my kids because they need to do as I say, not as I do.
Sour cream. I really wish I knew who started this craze and why? A way to get some calcium? Wondering about something like this could drive me crazy. I’m going to be googling that shit until I get answers.
And now you know why I’m glad Robyn does the step-by-steps. She actually pays attention to the recipe and has the ability to focus for more than 30 seconds.
This is what it looked like after I stirred the sour cream in. I immediately thought of sausage gravy which I think is the most disgusting and foul food on the planet. Yeah, I said it. Southerners be crazy with liking that shit. lol
My breakfast (not Polish pottery). At the end of the recipe it said that you could add parsley from your kitchen garden (as if) or a generous shake of paprika to garnish. I added both and obviously I am a wee bit heavy-handed when it comes to paprika shaking.
I did end up throwing the rest into a casserole dish and heating it up for dinner.
The verdict. All four of us ate it and liked it. It’s going into the recipe file because it’s a quick and easy meal.
But The Beagle is still confused. So am I, Beagle. So am I.
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ c. chopped onion
- ¼ c. butter or margarine
- 2 T flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 clove minced garlic
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 4-ounce can mushrooms stems and pieces (drained)
- 1 - 10½-ounce can cream of chicken (or cream of mushroom) soup
- 1 c. sour cream
- 8 oz. medium egg noodles, cooked
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook ground beef and onions until meat is brown and onion is tender.
- Drain meat.
- Add butter to pan; once it's melted, add meat and onions back to the pan. Stir in flour, salt, garlic, pepper, and mushrooms; cook 3 - 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Stir in soup; heat to boiling.
- Reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 8 - 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream; heat through.
- Serve over cooked egg noodles.
Ground beef and onions PLUS GARLIC smell better cooking.
Sour cream is the devil’s SOMETHING. I can’t think, it’s too early, but get it off my meat and back in my spinach dip where it belongs. No offense SC Amy. (SC Amy? Sour Cream Amy?)
I like ground beef with onions and peppers for my smell of choice. And I don’t know what’s wrong with Robyn, but Rick said that he couldn’t even taste the sour cream. I figured he would be the one to do a thumbs down based on the sour cream alone (he’s a hater). Maybe Robyn’s sour cream is too sour? 😉
Despite the picture (I suspect Photoshop), I’m not convinced you really put sour cream in yours.
Hee, hee! Actually it’s for South Carolina, but I do love sour cream! Ummmm, spinach dip….. 🙂
That’ll be enough of mentioning spinach dip – I’ve been CRAVING IT and I know if I go near it I’ll eat the whole thing!
Oh, man. I’m going to have to do a spinach dip post when we get closer to Christmas!
So the moral of the story is be a bit cavalier with the recipe and it will turn out yummier? I, too, am with the Beagle. . .
Apparently. Because I didn’t bother with the poppy seeds or the mushrooms and it turned out fine. Robyn switched hers up and used cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken and she hated it. I don’t know which way to tell anyone to go with this recipe now. lol
PS: Beagle is permanently confused. You don’t want to go with her.
Beagle is adorable in any state!
Creme of Mushroom Soup mix will have a ton of salt in it…just sayin’
But so will creme of chicken…never mind.
I’ve had beef stroganoff, and meatball stroganoff, and even chicken stroganoff, but not ground beef stroganoff. I like that word. I have to disagree with you though Robyn, as I hate the smell of ground beef browning!!!!
I have to be honest and say that I never really walked around sniffing my ground beef when it was browning. But we all know that Robyn is a weird one.
I don’t actually have to stick my nose in the browning ground beef to smell it, fool.
No you wouldn’t have to because the stench of browning meat will permeate the entire house 🙁
My best friend and I, when we were starving college students, created a dish called “turkey vomit” that is just like this. It’s turkey and onions and celery all mixed up with cream of chicken soup and sour cream, served over rice. Looks AWFUL and tastes DELICIOUS.
You lot were apparently charter members of the “A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet” Society.
Maybe. It’s a secret society, ya know.
Nance, that was meant for Patrick and his old college/culinary pals, but a response from you is always an honor.
And thanks to you I just got a visual of a turkey throwing up. Hee!
I’m also having “thanksgiving dinner” here tonight and I’m glad I don’t care for turkey. 🙂
But that turkey dish sounds really good. I might try that over rice with any leftovers I may have.
I do an even simpler version of this that my mom has always made that is my go-to meal always. I don’t do the flour or mushrooms (who eats fungus!?!? seriously people!) and we always have it over rice – but it’s my ground beef stroganoff and I equate it to comfort food. Mmmm…. and the sour cream Nancy? NECESSARY! Otherwise it’s just watery browned beef. 🙂
Good point about the sour cream. Never thought about watery brown beef. And I like the occasional fungus on my pizza. lol
We love the hell out of fungi here, Sherry. 🙂
Well now I’m confused. One thumbs up and one thumbs down. how will I ever decide whether to make this for dinner? wahhhhhh
You gotta decide on your own! (And report back if you do!) We’re not always going to agree, y’know. In fact, I think it’s funnier when one of is all “OMG, BEST FOOD EVER” and the other is “I WOULDN’T EAT THIS AGAIN IF YOU PAID ME!”
Well, okay. I’ll feed it to the guinea pig I mean husband. But I gotta tell you – hamburger helper stroganoff is hard to beat. If you bitches make me go to all this effort and it stinks I’ll be commentin’. 🙂
Hamburger Helper! It’s only like $1.50 a box. That’s cheaper than the sour cream. I might have to try that one out! 😉
It is soooo good. and easy.
Amanda is sternly shaking her head at the mention of Hamburger Helper 😉
I make something like this and my kids love it…my husband tolerates it. 🙂 I make it on busy nights because it’s quick and easy!
1 lb. ground beef
2 cups water
3 cups egg noodles, uncooked
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
Salt & Pepper to taste
BROWN meat in large skillet; drain.
STIR in water; bring to boil. Add noodles; stir. Cover; simmer on medium-low heat 8 min. or until noodles are tender.
ADD Velveeta and soup; cook 5 min. or until Velveeta is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently.
This looks good, actually! I’d just add a diced onion with the browning meat, and then it would be perfect!
I usually add onion (and most of the time garlic) to any hamburger that I’m frying up…so go for the onion!!
That sounds good, but I think it needs a dash of Worchestershire (do you know how long it took me to get that W word right?)
And, maybe leave out the soup.
I have a beef stroganoff recipe that I love (that’s more complicated than this one) that does involve Worcestershire, I’m going to have to dig it out and make it and snap pictures!
Are you sure it doesn’t involve Soy Sauce, Robyn. We know how you are…
Don’t be hatin’ on the soy sauce!
So I still didn’t get that right? Worcestershire, we just call it wuster.
There’s no “h”, which I only know because spell check corrected me! 🙂
Englanders hoard letters in their words, but don’t pronounce them so you won’t find out.
And I lived in Worcester, Massachusetts for a time so I even know how to PRONOUNCE it! It’s not how you think (especially for those of us with a Boston accent)!
I think you would have to add the soup because otherwise it might be too dry. Unless, of course, you’re adding a shit-ton of Worchestershire sauce…
(and I had to look at how you spelled it so I knew how to spell it – Ha!)
Aaaaahhhhh it’s my recipe!!!! I feel like I won the DCEP lottery! 🙂
What Robyn didn’t tell y’all is that this is a circa 1970’s Betty Crocker recipe card, so yes, pretty was sacrificed for quick and easy back then (insert appropriate dirty joke), but it’s one of my favorite childhood comfort foods. In fact, I made it last week, and then about cried when I was warming up the last bit for lunch, and was adding more salt when the top of the salt mill fell off, dumping the entire contents on my dish! Needless to say, that plate went in the trash…
Sometimes a cup of sour cream can seem like too much in this, so I have started with half a cup and added to taste. But then I also add more than a pound of meat or more noodles, depending on what’s on hand, so playing with the amounts can help!
You did win the DCEP Lottery because you know Robyn and I are some picky motherfuckers! 😀
I printed that 1970’s Betty Crocker recipe card along with the recipe. And that picture cracks me up because I’m still trying to figure out what food that is in the background!
You did good with this recipe, Amy. Robyn totally screwed hers up. You know how she can be! lol
OMG I had to pull the card out and look at the picture again. I think that’s just a plate of sliced oranges on a bed of frisee or some other curly lettuce??? But I’m sure there is another Betty Crocker recipe card for making it somewhere in all my kitchen shit! 🙂
I completely meant to mention the 1970s Betty Crocker card, but spaced on it!!!
I make this all the time. I usually add beef broth to the mushroom soup because it is too thick plus it adds flavour. Also Worchershire? sauce is a must. I think a few tablespoons of sour cream would be enough .. not a cup.
I must be channeling Amanda today ’cause my first response was, “No wine? Who makes stroganoff without wine?!” I think stroganoff started out as a Russian thing–hence the sour cream.
Wine! I knew there was something that I used to hate when I ate beef stroganoff and that’s it. There was wine in it! I could never figure out what was “wrong” with it and always blamed the sour cream. Now I know. It had that little tinge of wine flavoring and I was a sensitive prissy bitch when I was younger and would refuse to eat anything with wine in it. Like chicken marsala. It’s been YEARS.
Thank God I grew up!
I’ve never had chicken Marsala, because every time I realize that it’s called that because of the wine in it, I’m all “Ewwwww” because I’m a big ol’ baby.
Mmmmmm…. chicken marsala….. And just so you know – I generally don’t eat chicken (I’m weird) and I don’t like most wines. so for me to LOVE chicken marsala is just all wrong. But I like to confuse those who think they know me. Makes life more interesting!
Chicken Marsala is the bomb! You have to try it. I do not like wine in my food either but this one is amazing! No two places taste the same but I like it when it has the thicker sauce.
Drink the wine, don’t waste it in the food.
Insert Julia Child reference here.
(I initially typed reverence. I crack myself UP!)
No, no, reverence is proper! JC loved using butter and cream and she was in the OSS in WWII! Seriously interesting lady!
Absolutely! And I bet Amanda would diss her too!
Husband and I both gave it a thumbs up. Yum!
I love sour cream and I love that picture of the possum. Possums are so great. I shall try this recipe. It looks yummy. Thanks!
I’m glad to see that those of you who tried it liked it!!! Obviously I’m just the weirdo of the bunch. 🙂
Betty Crocker used to have a box mix for this dish and now HH has taken over all the hamburger-y hot dishes that indeed look like barf. Ketchup required for all varieties… of hamburger casseroles, not barf.