Stroganoffs

I don't remember "chafing dish culture" from when I was a child,but I'm told that there was a time where it was all the rage to make dinner in front of your guests, and that involved "the chafing dish." This big, shiny metallic object would be brought out, and you would have some kind of sterno burner underneath it. The "hostess with the mostess" would then make some kind of chafing dish supper in front of her guests. Welsh rarebit was one of those dishes. If you went to dessert, cherries jubilee was the defining one. And there was beef stroganoff.
Somehow, that dish has fallen out of favor. I'm not quite sure why. It's a good dish, it's an easy dish. Yes, it is rich, but no richer than a lot of the things that we eat, on a regular basis. And I wrote "stroganoffs" above, because we all grew up with BEEF stroganoff, but the principles are fairly simple, and you can do it with anything. I did it with veal, and I think you could do it with pork or chicken too.

You will need three pounds of stew meat. Now, for chicken, this is probably chunks of chicken breast, but for any other meat, check with your butcher, and get something good. My veal comes from a farm where the animals are free ranging, and fed on grass, so it's red, rather than white, and very lean. You should salt it, and then let it sit on paper towel to dry out for about an hour before you cook. You will also need a pound of mushrooms. Button mushrooms are traditional, but I used creminis, because I like them. Slice them fairly thickly. You also need a few shallots, chopped fine, or half an onion, also chopped fine. You also need at least a cup and a half of a "thick dairy product." Traditionally, that's sour cream, but you could use creme fraiche or fromage blanc, as I did. Final things: some olive oil, and a cup and a half of stock. Here we go.

Get a big skillet and heat up two generous tablespoons of vegetable oil. When it's hot, saute the meat until it's browned. Do it in batches, and put it aside. Now, add the onions or shallots, and saute for about a minute. Add the mushrooms. Here's where the fun begins. Mushrooms give off a LOT of water when they cook, but you have to wait. You won't believe me, but after about five minutes, the juice starts coming out and picks up all of the meat brownings. Then, the water will go off. When that happens, i.e, when the mushrooms are dry again, add the stock, and, if you like, a few tablespoons of sherry . Stir this a bit, and let it reduce away over medium heat. It will take about ten minutes. (The resulting mushrooms are a treat by themselves, by the way). Now add the dairy and stir, and then add the meat. Heat it all up, and you are DONE.

You can do this, in less than half an hour. I know because I did. And you can make it ahead, and then reheat it . You need something like sour cream or the heavier dairy products, because the other ones will "break" at high heat and give you disgusting little clods of dairy that are hardly appetizing.

The only change I would make to this, is if you were doing it with chicken, I would use chicken stock instead of beef. Beyond that, all you might want to do is add some fresh herbs at the end to brighten the flavors, because this is a very hearty dish.

The recipe I worked with called for three pounds of meat to serve four. I don't know who they're serving, but I intend to get at least six servings out of this.

Again, turning to tradition, you eat this over egg noodles. Fine and dandy. I keep on thinking mashed potatoes. How about you? What are your ideas? Any thoughts?