Beef Stroganoff

.
.
I first made this recipe in 1974. It originally came from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but over the years I’ve made a few minor changes.

The original recipe is as follows.
Beef Stroganoff
Cut one pound beef sirloin into ¼ inch strips. Combine 1 tablespoon flour and ½ teaspoon salt. Coat meat with flour mixture. Heat skillet, then add 2 tablespoons butter or margarine. When melted, add sirloin strips and brown quickly on both sides. Add one 3 oz. can mushrooms, drained, ½ cup chopped onion, and 1 clove garlic, minced; cook 3 or 4 minutes or till onion is crisp-tender.
Remove meat mixture and mushrooms from pan. Add 2 tablespoons butter or margarine to the pan drippings; blend 3 tablespoons all purpose flour. Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste. Stir in 1 ¼ cups cold beef stock or one 10 oz can condensed beef broth. Cook and stir over medium high heat till thickened and bubbly.
Return browned meat and mushrooms to skillet. Stir in one cup dairy sour cream and 2 tablespoons dry white wine; cook slowly till heated thoroughly (do not boil) Keep warm over hot water. Serve over hot buttered noodles. Makes 4 or 5 servings.

Now, I found several things wrong or just a pain in the ass with the original recipe. The first is the cut of meat. Sirloin is kinda tough unless you cook the heck out of it. I either use a better cut of meat like a rib steak (rib eye) or a tenderloin. If I do use a cheap cut, I use whatever’s on sale. If that’s sirloin so be it. I then cut it into bite sized pieces instead of strips and I remove all that fat. I actually cook the fat with it, then feed it to the dog.

Then there’s all that flour mixture bullshit. It’s a pain in the rear. Then how about that tablespoon of tomato paste. What do you do with the rest of the can? How about the wine. Dry white? I always heard you served red with beef, white with chicken or fish.

So here’s the cure and then some.

I cook it in the crockpot.

I cut the meat into bite sized pieces. Throw it in the crockpot on high. I chop up one medium onion and throw the whole thing in there. I use pre-chopped garlic and throw in a heavy spoon full. Mix a tablespoon flour and ½ teaspoon salt sprinkle it over the meat. Let it cook til the meat is tender, I mean melt in your mouth fall apart tender. Pull out that fat, rinse it, chop it up, and feed it to the dog.

Use whatever kinda wine ya got on hand and throw in about a quarter cup. Now you can throw in a can of mushrooms, but I prefer about ¾ to a pound of fresh mushrooms, sliced. My brother, who makes a fantastic stroganoff says you can never have too many mushrooms. Cook in the crock on high for about three hours stirring whenever you think of it.

Throw in the full 6 oz can of tomato paste. It makes your stroganoff a little red. If you prefer a lighter color, follow the one tablespoon recipe then throw the rest in the ketchup bottle. Or if your crazy, just throw the rest away, save it, whatever. Pour in the can of beef broth or consomme. Sir in the 3 tablespoons of flour. I use a shaker with some of the broth. Now this should cook up to a nice gravy consistency. If it's too thin, taste it. Can you add more flour without making it taste like flour? If so add a tablespoon at a time and let it cook awhile, and repeat if necessary.

Cook your noodles or rice, which ever you prefer. I like both. While you’re cooking the noodles or rice, stir in that cup of sour cream. Serve it over the noodles or rice.

Yep, that’s some good stuff!

Enjoy!

PS- Here's a handy tip for the fresh mushrooms.

I use my egg slicer to slice the mushrooms.

Pork Ragu

.


The Williams-Sanoma catalog came in the mail. My wife and I always enjoy looking at their recipes. The problem with most of their recipes, it calls for stuff you don’t usually find lying around your house or lying around your local grocery store. This months recipe,

Pork Ragu was no exception. It called for 3 bulbs of fennel, 1 ¾ pounds cremini mushrooms, 3 tblspns mushroom demi-glace, and ¾ pound pappardelle cooked al dente. This was besides the other ingredients, one of which is pancetta. I knew I could get pancetta at our local grocer because I had seen it before. Pancetta is an Italian bacon.

Anyway, this recipe sounded pretty good so I decided to give her a try. After going to several stores unsuccessfully trying to find these obscure items, here’s the recipe I made up with the help of the Williams-Sonoma, my Grand Diplome Cooking Course books, and looking at various internet recipes.

Pork Ragu in the Crock Pot

3 lb pork shoulder roast
flour
olive oil
3 oz pancetta
1 white onion
3 carrots
1 stalk celery
1 tblspn minced garlic
1 ½ lb mushrooms
2 cups fresh tomatoes
1 tblspn fennel seeds
1 small can tomato paste 6 oz
1 cup pinot noir wine
1 can (10 ½ oz) chicken broth
Fettucine

Go here to compare with Williams-Sonoma along with my explanation below.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pork-ragu.html

I had a pork shoulder roast in the freezer. Normally, I would have put it in the crock pot, put in a couple cap fulls of liquid smoke and let it cook all day till it fell off the bone. Fish out the bone, pour in a bottle of barbeque sauce, stir, and viola, BBQ pulled pork.

The W-S recipe called for 3 ¾ pounds, quartered, then browned in oil after being “dredged” with flour. Of course, making sure you shook off the excess flour. I cut out the bone, then cut the rest into strips like you would for a stroganoff. Always cut against the grain to ensure tenderness after cooking. I threw it all in a bag, and poured in about a cup of flour. Here’s what you do. Shake it all up making sure it’s all covered in flour. Then brown the pork in some olive oil. Move it to the crock pot which you haven’t turned on yet.

In the same pan you browned the meat, add some more olive oil. Then sauté the pancetta, garlic, onion, carrot, and celery (all diced.) I used a white onion, cause it was already there. W-S called for yellow. A friend always told me, yellow is for cooking. Red and white are for eating raw, ie salads, hamburgers, sandwiches, etc. So throw all that stuff in with the pork. Crock pot on high.

I really don’t think I could be a real chef because my neck and feet wouldn’t take it. After dicing and slicing, my neck hurt like the dickens and after this was all over, my back and feet were killing me.

Ok, at this point I had to go to the store for more ingredients, or I may have gone ahead and combined these final items all at once with the other veggies.

Now, I’m really not sure what a cremini mushroom is but the picture looks a little smaller and somewhat brown compared to what I bought. I went over to the produce aisle and grabbed a pound and a half of those full white mushrooms. I think they were champignon mushrooms but besides portabello, that’s all they had. Who knows, they may have been cremini.

Our stores used to carry a packet of demi-glace mix. We always had some in the cabinet, but about six months ago, they quit carrying it. Go figure.
I couldn’t find any jars, cans, or dry packets of demi-glace so I skipped it. That may have taken away from some of the flavor. I know if I cooked great gourmet meals at home a lot, I would have some Espagnole and demi-glace sauce readily available in the freezer. But….

So, let’s talk fennel. Until today, I don’t think I ever gave fennel a second look even if my store had it. They didn’t. I went to three stores, no luck. I’m not sure if it’s out of season or what but I know Wal-Mart doesn’t carry it cause the produce manager was out there in the aisle and I had a pleasant conversation with him. He asked what I was cooking. I explained it and said, well, I guess I’ll get some fennel seeds in the spice aisle and throw in a tablespoon. He suggested that I fry them or soak them to make them tender before putting in the recipe. I thought, well, I’m putting them in the crock pot, so….

When I got back home, I sliced the mushrooms and chopped the tomato. Luckily, tomatoes are ripening in California gardens right now, so I have plenty. I didn’t plant any this year, but my friends did. Anyway, I put a little oil in a pan and turned to a medium high heat. I threw in the tablespoon of fennel seeds and grilled them up.
Take the opportunity to pop a fennel seed in your mouth. It has a licorice flavor to it. Mmm. Apparently, it’s used to make absinthe liquor, and is sometimes used as an after dinner mouth cleanser. I wish I could have found the bulbs, I would like to try them.
Then I threw in the mushrooms and turned down the heat, sautéing them until they looked like they came out of a can. I threw in the tomatoes and let them cook a few minutes. Then, I added a can of tomato paste and the can of chicken broth. I stirred it all up and let it cook a couple minutes until the paste had all dissolved. Then I poured in the wine.

I transferred all the mushroom, tomato, fennel seed, wine stuff to the crock pot with everything else. I turned it on high and let it cook. W-S says to cook on high for five hours. After three, I turned mine down to low. This is a full crock and this stuff was bubblin’. It cooked another three hours and then it was dinner time.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever even seen pappardelle pasta, but the picture looks like lasagna noodles without the edge. I would have tried it, had I found some, but instead, I opted for fettucine. Cooked as directed on the box and drained. I don’t rinse because I like my pasta a little sticky, but there’s nothing wrong with rinsing it before serving.

So fettucine in a pasta bowl, then cover with the pork ragu. Some bread and butter next to me at the table. Grab a forkful and give it a taste. Hey, this stuff ain’t bad. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty darn good. Pass the parmesan.

.

Scrambling Hamburger

.

The other day on FaceBook there was a post going around. The post was:
“I want all my FB friends to comment on how you met me!
After this comment, copy this to your status so I can do the same for
you. You'll be amazed at the responses you get.”

I got a kick out of reading some of the comments, so I went ahead and posted it on mine. Here’s the reply from a friend of my sister, Alice Hall Stewart:
“I walked into your house (on Maple?) with Diane and Ard and you were in the kitchen in your underwear, cooking hamburger meat. Diane said you were "scrambling hamburger" to eat with ketchup. I still call it "scrambling hamburger" today.”

The post was correct, I was amazed. Diane is my sister. I was in either 7th or 8th grade at the time. Isn't it always amazing the tiny things that we do and how it affects the lives of others. Thanks Alice, for the comment. I'm sorry you had to see that and carry it with you all these years... hahaha!

Since then I haven’t changed much. I still cook in my underwear. Although I haven’t used the phrase “scrambling hamburger” for about 40 years, I may start using it again.

What the phrase refers to is the fine art of browning hamburger. We laugh because browning hamburger is easy and everyone does it for sloppy joes, chili, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, tacos, and a whole slew of other recipes. But, I want to share with you just a simple trick I learned while working at the Cuckoo, a long gone fast food restaurant in my home town. They did this for taco meat. The trick is a simple addition of a cup of water.

Most people start with a skillet or saute pan and put it on a hot burner. Then they add the hamburger by picking off itsy bitsy pieces at a time and placing them strategically in the pan. Then they stand there stirring, chopping, and separating the hamburger for 15 to 20 minutes. They use a spatula, a spoon, or a fork. I’m sure that’s what I was doing while standing there in my tidy whities back in the 60s.

What I do now is that I throw that pound of hamburger in the skillet whole. I don’t bother with separation. I add a cup of water and I don’t bother measuring. I place the lid on the skillet and I go do something else. I come back every once in a while just to make sure I don’t need to adjust the heat and see how things are going. That’s when I take my wooden spoon and do a simple crumble of the burger as necessary, mostly to see if it’s done. What happens is this. The water stops the burger from sticking and burning to the pan. It also creates steam that combined with the lid cooks more evenly. The heat then breaks down the fat and what you have left is finely ground hamburger. I little chopping at the end separates big chunks. Then you drain in your calendar like always to get rid of all that fat and grease. I even do this using frozen hamburger, although I monitor it a little closer. Sometimes, I’ll use a crock pot.

I also throw in the chopped onions, garlic, etc depending on the recipe. The difference is if I want the onions carmalized, they’ll go in the pan first with a little butter and when they’re done, then the hamburger and water.
So now you know how to scramble hamburger. While we’re at it, here’s a favorite recipe using the scramble.

Goulash

Scramble up then drain
a pound of hamburger
medium chopped onion
tblspn chopped garlic
medium sized chopped green pepper

While your doing that, cook two cups elbow macaroni. When it’s done, drain it and set aside.

In a blender, food processor, or using a hand held immersion blender, mix up the following:
2 tblspns chili powder (the hotter, the better)
5 dashes of Tabasco
¼ tspn ea salt and pepper
1 can Mexican style tomatoes
1 tblspn ea 57 sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce

Throw the whole thing together in a skillet and low simmer about a half hour.
Stir once in a while to keep from sticking or burning. This also will burn off most of the moisture (nobody wants a runny goulash)

I hope you like it.

Feel free to send me your favorite recipes. They may even end up here on Uncle Ron’s Kitchen.

Ham Salad, Pimento Cheese, Chicken Salad, Turkey Salad

-

My first trip cross country alone was in 1973. I was heading to California. I had been transferred from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California. I flew to Kansas City from Jax, where I bought a brand new 1973 Camaro, bright red of course. I hit the road on March 1st. It was snowing as I left Liberty, a little town outside of KC. Elmer, from across the street, who was also my best friends Dad, and who was a truck driver mapped out my route. I-35 south, to US-54, to the I-40/ Route 66 taking me into California. That was Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Since then, I have driven cross country many times, but something that my Dad did for that first trip is a must. Dad made up some ham salad and some pimento cheese sandwiches. I think there were a half dozen of each in my styrofoam cooler on that trip.

Now ham salad, pimento cheese, turkey salad, and chicken salad all take a special kitchen tool if you want to make them right. That tool is a meat grinder or some call it a food grinder.

My sister, Elaine bought me one for Christmas in the 70's and from one marriage to the next, I lost it. I bought one at a garage sale, but it had suction cups to hold it steady. That didn’t work. So I found one in an old hardware store with a screw clamp that holds it securely to a table or counter top. Now days, I use my grinder attachment on our Kitchen Aid.

The grinder is absolutely necessary for grinding the meats, cheese, pimento, and sweet pickles. Trust me, it’s just not the same chopped. Believe me, I’ve tried it.

Now, as you know, I hate when people tell me “season to taste” in a recipe. I mean I absolutely hate it. Here’s the exceptions cause I’ve never measured anything for any of these recipes. It’s all to looks and taste. So grind ‘em up and mix ‘em together. I’ve never made a bad batch.

I’ve had people tell me “this is just like my grandma used to make” or “like my Mom’s.” Apparently, no one has grinders. It’s really easy.

Pimento Cheese
One block sharp cheddar
Pimento
Miracle Whip

Ham Salad
One pound bologna
Pimento
Sweet pickles
Miracle Whip
Salt

Turkey or Chicken Salad
same as Ham salad except you substitute the meats. It works best with breasts (white meat).

There ya go. Enjoy!

Country Fried Pork Chops

_


Remember a couple weeks ago, those boneless pork chops were on sale. I had picked up a few extra and froze them. (I love my Food Saver, or Suck and Seal as I refer to it) So, when doing meal planning where you’re using frozen stuff, you gotta thaw. So Saturday, we decided to have pork chops Sunday.

Now Barbi loves my blog. I’m not sure if she’s ever even read any of it. She says I need to add more pictures. What she likes about it is that it gives her a break and I cook. We then share the cleanup.

So, anyway, we’re discussing how to fix ‘dem chops and we decide “chicken fried.” Now, I’m not a big fan of bread crumb or cracker crumb breading. I like it ok, but I would rather just have a simple egg wash and a flour dip. Or, for cod, a beer batter. That’s nothing more than beer and flour. Finding a flour and egg recipe is tough so I just used my G2 as we used to say in the service and made one up. (G2 and S2 are terms for the Intelligence offices)

So that was the plan. Got the meat figured out, what to have with it. What do ya have with anything “chicken fried” or “country fried?” That’s right, GRAVY. So that means potatoes and gravy. We decided on fried but could have easily gone with mashed. Mashed is actually a heck of a lot less work if you use instant. Plus, it don’t make near the mess.

Now this recipe is exactly the same for Chicken Fried Steak except now you’re using chops instead of cubed steak. Shoot, you can even do this with hamburger.

There used to be a place in Kansas City called Rigby’s that had the best chicken fried steak ever. Unfortunately, it’s long gone.

So, here we go.



Chicken Fried Pork Chops

4 qtr pound boneless chops
1 cup flour
1 teaspn pepper
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil


Whisk the eggs in a bowl, mix the flour and pepper in another. Dip the chops in the egg (they call this an egg wash) and then dip in flour/pepper mix. Coat good on both sides. Then set it on some wax paper.

Now, I did a double coat, but I shoulda did a single. I like the breading, but a double was just too thick.

Heat the oil on medium high like when frying anything. Use a good size skillet so you can get all four chops in at once. When it’s good and hot put the chops in. It takes about five minutes on each side. Fry until “golden brown” and then put them on a paper towel covered plate.

Gravy

2 cups milk (Whole, 2 percent, or non fat, or even cream. Whatever you got handy.)
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon pepper

In a shaker or blender, mix the two cups milk with 4 tablespoons flour. Throw in about a teaspoon pepper which will give it a nice look when it’s done.
Carefully and slowly, pour this into the pan drippings. For four chops as cooked above, you should have about 4 tablespoons of pan drippings so no skimming required.
Heat, stirring constantly until it turn into a nice thick country gravy.

Fried Potatoes

2 potatoes
3 tablespoons butter or crisco
salt and pepper to taste (how’s that Bub?)

Peel and slice the potatoes about a qtr inch thick. Too thin makes ‘em more like potato chips than fried potatoes.
Use another good size skillet 12 or 13 inch. Heat butter just like you are frying anything else, medium high. Same-o, when they’re browned to your liking, flip and get the other side. This takes a good ten or so minutes on each side.

There you have it. We had canned corn on the side. Now, this is obviously not your “heart smart” recipe, but it’s hard to beat if you like flavor. Speaking of flavor. If you want a little more flavor in your gravy, use the other half of that Jimmy Dean sausage you had left over from those stuffed pork chops, too.

Speaking of leftovers, leftover chops and chicken fried steak makes great sandwiches. I like 57 sauce and dill pickle.

Enjoy!

Time For Dessert - Lemon Chiffon Pie

In my side yard we have two orange trees, two plum, one lime, one grapefruit, and one lemon. The lemons are ready to harvest. If I let them hang much longer, they’ll start to fall. I made some lemonade, put slices in our water at every meal, trying to find every use for them, and am giving away as many as I can. I grabbed the cookbooks and what jumped out at me was the Lemon Chiffon Pie recipe. Although it only calls for one lemon and a half lemon peel, I started drooling for Lemon Chiffon.

The following recipe comes once again from a recipe of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School. It’s in the Gran Diplome Cooking Course. It was fairly easy. The only trouble I ran into was towards the end of the recipe. Be sure to whip the cream prior to mixing it into the meringue. If you don’t, it won’t come out as fluffy as it should.

The recipe itself tells how to make the graham cracker crust which I’ll show you, but I cheated and picked up a premade one at the grocery store. I made one before so I know it's good. I used it for cheesecake.

Baked Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter

9 inch loose-based pie pan

Method:

In a bowl combine ingredients and blend until crumbly. Press evenly over bottom and sides of pie pan. Bake shell in moderately hot oven (375 degrees F) for 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Lemon Chiffon Pie

9 inch baked graham cracker crust

For filling:
½ envelope gelatin
2 Tblspn cold water
2 eggs, seperated
½ cup sugar
pinch of salt
juice of 1 lemon and grated peel of ½ lemon
½ cup heavy cream, whipped until it holds a soft shape

Method:
Make pie shell and cool.
In a small sauce pan sprinkle geletin over cold water and let stand for 5 minutes or until spongey.
Meanwhile, beat egg yolks with half the sugar, the salt, lemon juice and peel until light and creamy.
Pour into double boiler and cook, stirring over gentle heat until mixture is the consistency of heavy cream. Remove from heat.
Dissolve gelatin over a pan of hot water and stir into lemon mixture. Cool, stirring occasionally.
Beat egg whites until they hold a stiff peak and beat in remaining sugar a spoonful at a time until this meringue is smooth and glossy.
When lemon mixture starts to set, beat until smooth and fold into meringue with the whipped cream.
Pour into pie shell and chill until set. Take from refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.

There ya go. Enjoy!

Chili

There are literally millions of chili recipes. My wife likes her's soupy and throws in lots of oyster crackers. I don't turn it down but I like mine thick enough to put on a hot dog. We both like chili with beans. She used to use strictly kidney beans but I have convinced her to use chili beans. She still uses one can kidney beans and one can chili beans. I’ve made mine without beans strictly for use on hotdogs.

Give ‘em both a try, depending on your mood.

Barbi’s Chili- a quick and easy recipe for a chili night

1 lb hamburger
1 white onion
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can Campbell’s tomato soup
1 tblspn flour
2 tblspn chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

Brown hamburger and onion. Drain
In kettle mix beans, tomato soup, and one can water.
In a small bowl mix flour, chili powder, 3 tblspn cold water, and salt. Mix well then add to kettle.
Add the hamburger and onions. Stir
Simmer 45 min to 1 hour minimum
stir occasionally

I call my recipe Chief’s Chili because it’s a variation of my Dad’s recipe. His name is Chief. He's the leader of our tribe.

You’ll notice the recipe calls for a block of chili. What this is, is Mexican style chili con carne without beans. It comes in either a block or tube and is made with lard, spices, and beef. Dad uses Rice’s brand but my sister told me at Christmas that Rice’s quit making it after over 50 years. I never could get Rice’s in California so I settle for whatever I can get. In my store, it’s over by the cold cuts and cheeses. I’ve substituted some canned chili (two cans). It was good, but just not the same. I’ve heated a block by itself and put it on chili dogs. Another time, just the block and some hamburger. It works well, but I wouldn’t recommend a bowl of it.

I gave my recipe to a guy one time because he liked it enough that he said he was gonna put it in a chili cookoff. When he read the recipe, he said he couldn’t use it because it wasn’t homeade since we use the block chili.

Now, the recipe calls for a tablespoon of salt. That may be a bit much for some. I would skip it and as my brother says “salt to taste.”

You may not win any cookoffs with this stuff but you’ll like it, I guarantee! Don’t forget to top with shredded cheddar or just a good ol’ slice of Velveta.

Chief’s Chili

1 brown onion
1 ½ lb hamburger
1 block chili
1 can Mexican style tomatoes
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon each catsup (or ketchup), Heinz 57 sauce, salt, Worceshershire sauce, and kitchen bouquet.

Cook the hamburger and onion. Drain if you want.
Add the block and heat until it melts.
Add everything else and simmer for at least an hour.

Enjoy!