Two questions for our "experts"

[NMDemDist2]

Pizza Sauce vs Marinara--- What's the difference? is there one? any smooth red Italian gravy would work for Pizza? Yes ? No ?

Strogonoff meat-- I usually use stew meat which is not the tenderest. DH requested a better cut of meat for the next stew/strogonoff concoction

Suggestions? rib eye? (well trimmed of course) chuck roast? help with the cow parts even

thanks in advance to all who share their experience and hard earned knowledge to us all the time (and not just about cooking :) )

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Great Galloping Gravies, Gertie!

Pizza vs Marinara - there is a difference, but it may a difference without any real meaning. Marinara sauce is a classic old Italian recipe. It is essentially a quickly cooked tomato sauce. It is thin and not cooked down to thicken it. It should taste like fresh tomatoes. If you use canned San Marzano tomatoes (or any very high quality plum tomato - close, but no comparison to San Marzanos), you just saute a little garlic in olive oil, add some chopped fresh parsley, basil, and oregano. Allow that to sweat for a minute or two. Add the tomatoes, crushed by hand, not in a food processor. You want the big chunks. let the tomatoes heat through, salt and pepper to taste and that's it. You could make this as a base and add lots of condimenti to change the whole character of it. Clams. Tuna (oil pack only). Calamari. The name comes from the fact that it was a way to cook fish, but fish wasn't necessary.

Pizza sauce doesn't exist, classically. Most pizzas were made with fresh raw tomatoes and herbs placed right on the pizza and cooked only as much as it took the pizza to bake. If you look at a classic pizza margherita (tomato, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, fresh mozzarella), you're likely as not to see sliced whole raw tomato on it. For pizza sauce, other than for margherita, I make a concoction much like the marinara sauce described above, but I don't cook any of it.

Stroganoff meat ..... I'd use chuck eye. Lots of flavor and it eats just fine. Rarely tough. Of course, you can use any steak you like, except round, which I find to be too tough. Whatever's on sale. Stew meat as sold in US supermarkets is cheap, tough scraps and trimmings. I **know** you're worth more than that! :)

[NMDemDist2]

3. thanks H2S i hoped you come thru-- can I bug you for one more?

I have planted tomatoes and I fear they will be coming out of my ears by April (did you ever see the movie "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?)

can I use my food processor to puree them down as a base? I know the "traditional" way is to peel them first but is it really necessary?

lucky for me, DH LOVES the tomato flavor in any and all sauces, so he should get his wish

is there any way to freeze them for sauce use later? I did find a great article on sun dried tomatoes that will work wonderfully in my climate (the author said most have to do the drying indoors, but not me!) or can you recommend a stewing technique? I am a bit nervous about home canning, but stewing them then freezing might work. Will it?

as always thanks so much for your generous sharing of knowledge

edit to add, I love Chicago style (where the sauce in poured on the other ingrediates last then baked in a deep dish) but hubby doesn't care for it that way--- Maybe I won't call it "pizza" and he'll never know LOL

[Stinky The Clown]

10. They call me The Tomato Killer .... bring on those Killer Tomatoes ... grr

See my magic fork?



You really need to peel the tomatoes before you do anything to preserve them. If ya don't, you'll be pickin' tomato skins out of your teeth for hours after your meals. (Cut a small X in the end opposite the stem end, dunk 'em in boiling water for a minute or so and peel them. Not *too* tedious, and actually easy to do once you learn through trial and error how long to blanche 'em.

After that, I'd just prepare them as a very basic sauce and then freeze that. By basic sauce, you may not even want to do much more than crush them (a food mill would help here - don't run them through a food processor, it will make them too fine, I think) and cook them until just hot, cool 'em down, and freeze 'em.

Cooked tomatoes freeze very well.

[NMDemDist2]

11. wonderful thanks! and if the sun dried tomato experiment works out

i'll send you some for all your wonderful advice :D

edit to add link to sun dry article, Phoenix is perfect for that

no dew, lots of hot hot sun

https://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/dried_tomato.html

[Stinky The Clown]

15. I forgot one important detail for the pizza sauce

If you use canned tomatoes (and I often do) you need to squueze the tomatoes pretty dry or else you get a soggy pizza. Other than that, the ingredients in the marinara sauce will make a nice basic sauce for pizza.

[opiate69]

2. Stroganoff..

My Russian cookbook, "Please to the Table", says that only Filet Mignon should be used, as the dish was created for Tsars and dignitaries, but I think any good cut should work just fine.

[NMDemDist2]

4. filet may be a bit much to bury in sour cream, but would you share the

recipe? I'd love to see it :D

[opiate69]

5. sure...

"I think that at this point in history Americans are probably more familiar with good beef Stroganoff than the Russians because it's the quality of the beef that makes this dish excel. Although it seems like a culinary crime to cut up a filet mignon, the results are spectacular. You can also use filet mignon tips which are cheaper and almost just as good-but nothing less. This recipe is what real beef Stroganoff should be-indulgent and restrained at once. Try using wild mushrooms, such as boletes or portabello, for an even nobler taste."


2 pounds Filet Mignon or Lilet Mignon tips, cut into thin strips
3 TBSP Butter
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 pound small, fresh white mushrooms, caps only, wiped clean and halved
2 1/4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup beef stock or canned broth
1/3 cup heavy or whippign cream
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper to taste.

1 heat large, heavy skillet over high heat, add meat a few pieces at a time and quickly sear on all sides, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon for 3-4 minutes. Remove meat and set aside.

2 Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over med. heat. Add onion and saute until softened (about 5 minutes). Increase heat to med. high, add mushrooms and saute until deeply browned, about 20 minutes. Turnheat down to med. low, add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

3 Stir in stock, heavy cream, sour cream, mustard and meat juices if any. Simmer over low heat until sauce thickens-about 5 minutes: do not allow to boil.

4 Return meat to the skillet, stir to coat with the sauce and heat for 1 minute. Stir in the dill, parsley, salt and pepper and serve at once.

Serves 4 to 6.

Whew.. that's a lot of typing.. now, I haven't personally made this yet, but I've made some other recipes out of the book, and they all came out awesome..

[NMDemDist2]

8. marvelous! thanks n/t

[opiate69]

9. my pleasure. Let me know if you ever decide to make it,,,,,

Might be a while before I can justify buying any filet...

[NMDemDist2]

12. i'm probably going to use a good cut of chuck as per the Baroness's

recipe

and I like basil instead of dill, but i'll be making it this week I expect :D

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

13. basil instead of dill?

The baroness would be shocked, shocked! I posted the recipe since it is supposed to be the orginal & she is a descendant, but I think people should do with recipes as they please. God knows I always change them. Basil sounds really good. I think I'll try that sometime.

She is a bit snippy about serving it over pasta but I alwasy do. She'll just have to get over it.

[NMDemDist2]

14. ya, just get over it

OMFG I JUST SAID A FREEPER LINE!!! Kill me! Kill me NOW!!

i have some dill seeds i'm afraid to start the stuff just goes everywhere....

ok ok maybe just once, for the petit nobility hehehehe

but sweet basil is sooooo yummy!

[grasswire]

16. oboy.....

....I think that if one used basil ya ought to call it something else, since dill is such a typically Russian ingredient. Reminds me of the weekend I spent in Brighton Beach in the Russian community with a friend who worked for the U.S. Gummint as a Russian linguist. Oh my, the food was fabulous. I've never been in a place where I wanted to try so many dishes. Even the street vendor food was yummy.

[wildeyed]

17. Whoa! That sounds amazing.

Maybe I could justify the good steaks for a birthday meal or something.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. The Baroness' recipe

Here’s the recipe from the Baroness Helen De Ludenhausen, the last in the line of the Stroganoff Family. (A little background: the Stroganoff Exhibit was here in Portland & our local FoodDay section tied the art exhibit with the dish) She has a copy of her family’s famous recipe, handwritten by her mother. (this first paragraph I’ve cut short down to the essentials)

The following is exactly as it appeared in the paper:

There are no serving portions listed; everything is cooked to taste.

The baroness lives with her mother (the last person born in the Stroganoff palace) in Paris. She is director of Yves St. Laurent couturier in Paris.

She says the origin of Beef Stroganoff is from the gastronomical club in St Petersburg & each chef was invited to invent something one year in the late 1890’s. The Stroganoff chef won the prize with this recipe.

Here’s her recipe as dictated to FoodDay:

The night before serving, take a rump roast or a chuck roast & have it stripped into pieces that are the same width but half the length of a a woman’s baby finger.

Saute the beef strips in butter in a big sauté pan. Add no seasoning. After the beef strips get golden brown, add flour until it makes a little sauce. Then add beef broth (either canned or homemade) until it makes a little gravy.

Let it cook for a while, then add two big spoonfuls of Dijon mustard & lots & lots of fresh dill. Cook it three or four hours. If it gets too thick, add more beef broth.

Put it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, cook for several more hours until the meat cuts with a fork. Add cream or half & half at this point. Add mushrooms if you’d like-they’re optional, but they add flavor & if you have more guests than you plan for, it adds to the quantity you can serve.

Never use a tomato sauce. Don’t add onions. That’s completely wrong. Add a little salt & pepper if you’d like. At the end of cooking, add some more fresh dill. If you don’t have fresh dill, use dried.

Serve with white rice. Always serve with white rice; never use pasta or potatoes. Serve the stroganoff next to the white rice.

(I’ve served this many, many times to rave reviews. I cut it out of the paper & follow the above steps as they’re written. In fact my copy is getting a bit tattered & I should probably laminate it or something.)
edited for the 3rd time to fix typos-god I stink!

[NMDemDist2]

7. excellent thanks! nt