Beef Stroganoff - May's Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. lean beef
1/2 lb mushrooms or 1 can but dried is better
1/2 pint sourcream
1 T flour
salt
paprika

Cut beef across the grain.  This IS important so it won't be stringy and tough.  Cut 1 inch long, 1/2 width of pencil. (Mom, that's really tiny, almost like ground beef, right?)  In frying pan, place 2 Tbsp butter, beef drippings, or other fat.  Cook slowly with lid on for 15 min, turning occasionally.  Then add mushrooms, cut in small pieces.  Cook 10 min.  If pan becomes dry add a little fat or butter.  Place meat and mushrooms in top of double boiler.  Put in frying pan 1 Tbsp butter.  Melt and mix the flour   Then add sour cream.  Stir with fork.  Pour into beef and mushrooms.  Cook for 5 - 10 min.  Season to taste.

1/8/12      I prepared this recipe using only 14 ounces of beef and about 6 ounces of mushrooms and 1/2 pint of sour cream.  It took some time to get the beef cut up and cutting it up that small made it difficult to know if I was cutting across the grain or not.  I was concerned that this recipe would be rather dry but the beef had quite a bit of liquid in it at the end of the 25 minutes.  I enjoyed using the double broiler because I really did not have to stir the mixture and it did not stick or scorch at all.  I let it simmer in the double broiler for closer to 15 minutes.

After all was said and done, I would prepare this recipe again because it tasted really good.  The beef was not stringy or tough so I must of cut across the grain.  However, it was a bit much beef for my liking.  I served it over egg noodles and would have preferred more sauce and less beef.  ***

*May was Evy's mother-in-law. May Townsend Roe 1893-1976