Shout-Out: Beef Stroganoff

This is actually last week's shout-out.  I wasn't really finding much to shout out about, last week.  Then, Friday night's dinner smacked me in the face.  Comfort food! One of my ultimate comfort foods, the one I was indulging in that very night, is beef stroganoff.

I LOVE beef stroganoff.  Everything about it is delicious and comforting.  It just tastes like a big ol' hug.

My favorite ever beef stroganoff comes from Christopher's Restaurant & Catering.  (Sorry, Mom; yours comes in a close second.)

At Christopher's they use the perfect curly noodles (except Friday night, for some reason, they used fettucine, instead); the perfect balance of sour cream in the sauce; perfectly bite-sized, beautiful, tender, tasty pieces of beef, and the loveliest little slivers of mushroom.  You can also get it with chicken, portobello mushrooms, all three, or none of the above -- just the noodles and sauce (although I think that version may still have the little slivers of mushroom in it).  Four delicious, warm, comforting variations on Mmmm.

So, in thinking about writing this, I developed some curiosity.  That curiosity led me to do a little research.  According to BeefStroganoff.net (yes, I cracked up, too), FoodHistory.org, and Wikipedia (the latter two of which cite additional sources, though limited), beef stroganoff officially dates back to 19th century Russia, though there is speculation that it may go back into the 18th century.  There was a very similar recipe printed in Elena Molokhovets' cookbook in 1861.  It did not bear the same name, however, and there seems to be some debate as to whether it is the first printing of the recipe.  The recipe was first submitted under the name beef stroganoff by a chef Charles Briere out of St. Petersburg for publication in L'Art Culinaire in 1891.  It did not appear in English cookbooks until 1932, and did not gain popularity in the United states until the 1940's or 50's.  Once it did gain popularity here, however, it apparently took off and became somewhat of a staple.

And I'm SO glad it did!

What are your favorite comfort foods?

Well, Hello, There!

Those who know me well know that my mind works in mysterious ways.  My brain makes strange connections.  My train of thought derails often.  I will start a conversation in my head paragraphs before I share it with the other party, but I'll begin verbalizing it as though they've been involved, all along.  I will return without warning, and without any connection with the current conversation, to a conversation we were having three days ago.

Yeah.  See, that's me, there.

This means I have a heck of a time getting my thoughts shared, sometimes.  I thought putting some things in writing might help folks follow along better... or at least help me get things expressed more thoroughly.

Case in point:  I've been doing weekly (more or less) shout-outs on Facebook to places and things that make me happy or make my life better.  This week's is to my favorite grocery store in the whole wide world:  Earth Fare.  I can get great stuff there (my first ever shout-out, Broo Hair Care and body wash, was discovered there) that I know is good for both myself and the environment, plus they're super-friendly.  I even recognize cashiers, now, and I think they recognize me.  I love, love, love, love, love shopping there.  First time ever that grocery shopping has actually put me in a good mood.

Anyway, I thought of them for this week's shout-out after going grocery shopping there last Sunday, but forgot all about actually posting.  What made me think about it again (and in turn about blogging)?  My bath, last night.

The standard outsider's view is this (sticking with the example):  I'm soaking in the bathtub, listening to music, and out of nowhere I say (probably out loud [I actually don't always know]), "I should blog.  I need to post a shout-out to Earth Fare!"

Wha?  Where did that come from, and why blogging?  Can't you just do that on Facebook, like you have been?

The thing is, in the approximately 15 seconds or so before that blurt, there was a whole thought process that led up to it.  It probably still doesn't make complete sense, and in order to get through it so quickly some thoughts had to be happening somewhat incompletely or simultaneously.  Even I, experiencing them, don't really know they're all happening at the time.  Writing in retrospect, however, I can sort of parse them out and put them in some semblance of order.  Thus I can let you know that the whole thing went more like this:

"Stagnant water.  No way I would soak like this without some circulation -- some bubbles or something, at least -- if it didn't help so much.  Love to get one of those bubbling bath mats.  But it does help SO much.  At least all the stuff I put in smells nice.  Helping my skin, too; glad I was able to put some buttermilk in.  Neat to get real creamery buttermilk in the old-fashioned glass bottles.  Man, that ranch-onion chicken was so good!  The fish, too.  Thank you, Earth Fare!  Oh, yeah, I need to post my shout-out this week!!  Wow, roundabout way of getting there.  I wonder if it would help to blog the larger thought process, instead of just posting the end result?  Might be neat to include the recipes I'm talking about, the little snippets that pop in my head on the way..."

Then I think I finally relaxed and zoned out a bit, before rinsing off, washing my hair, and getting ready for bed.  Oh, yeah, and (while rinsing off) noticing a bald spot on my shin that made me giggle out loud.

Recipes for the chicken and fish at the end, in case you're wondering.

Anyway, that is all to... Well, to get my shout-out in for the week, for one.  Also, though, to let you know what you're in for, readers.  I'm not promising regularly scheduled posts, deep thoughts, or even anything particularly understandable.  This is for me, and each post will be what I need it to be, at the time.  If you happen to enjoy it, be helped by it, learn from it, or otherwise have a positive experience in reading it, so much the better.

Recipes below are images -- Right click and select "Save Image As" to copy for your own recipe cards.