Estrogonofe de Carne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy 28 cm skillet or sauté pan
• •Sharp knife
• •Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
• •Measuring cups and spoons

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut and season

   Cut the beef across the grain into thin strips, about the width of your little finger. Pat them dry, then season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the black pepper. Dry meat browns. Wet meat steams, and then a gente has sadness in a pan.

2. 2

   Heat the pan

   Set a wide, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and let it get properly hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and look for a loose shimmer on the surface. If the pan isn't hot, the beef will leak water before it takes color, and the sauce starts weak before it even begins.

3. 3

   Brown the beef

   Add the beef in two or three small batches, spreading the strips out so they have space. Leave them alone for about 1 minute, then turn and brown the other side until you see deep golden-brown edges. Pull each batch to a plate. Don't cook it through yet. You're building color now and tenderness later.

   Crowd the pan and the meat releases its water, the temperature drops, and you're boiling grey strips in their own juice. Give the beef space. Flavor needs room.
4. 4

   Start the refogado

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the butter to the same pan, then add the onion. Cook, stirring and scraping the browned bits from the bottom, until the onion murcha, softens, and turns see-through, about 4 minutes. Those browned bits are not dirt. They're the flavor you earned.

5. 5

   Add garlic and mushrooms

   Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until you smell it. If using mushrooms, add them now with a small pinch of salt and cook until they give off liquid and that liquid mostly cooks away, about 4 minutes. Mushrooms need to lose their water first, or they'll thin the sauce later and pretend it's your fault.

6. 6

   Toast the tomato

   Add the tomato paste and stir for 1 minute, until it darkens slightly and sticks a little to the pan. Then add the tomato passata, ketchup, mustard, water or stock, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Scrape the bottom well. Toasting the paste takes away the raw edge and makes the sauce taste cooked, not poured from a bottle.

7. 7

   Simmer the sauce

   Let the sauce bubble gently for 5 minutes, until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Return the beef and any juices from the plate to the pan and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, just until the strips are cooked through and tender. Too long and the beef tightens. This is dinner, not a punishment.

8. 8

   Finish with cream

   Turn the heat to low and stir in the cream. Warm it gently until the sauce is glossy and smooth, but don't let it boil hard. Boiling cream can split and make the sauce look grainy. Taste and adjust salt. The sauce should be creamy, savory, lightly tangy, and thick enough to sit on rice instead of running away.

9. 9

   Build the plate

   Serve over arroz soltinho with batata palha on top or alongside. For the everyday plate, add feijão caseiro and sautéed couve. Soak dried beans overnight so they cook evenly and sit easier, then finish them with a real refogado and a mashed ladle of cooked beans to make the caldo creamy instead of watery. That's how the pê-efe holds together: rice, beans, meat, green. Simple. Serious.

Chef Tips

• •Use a tender quick-cooking cut: sirloin, top sirloin, or tender rump. This recipe is fast, so a tough braising cut won't have time to relax. Buy the ordinary good cut and treat it right.
• •The honest Tuesday shortcut is table cream or canned plain tomato sauce. Fine. The cost is less depth than a long homemade sauce, but the refogado and proper browning still carry the dish. The fake shortcut is powdered seasoning. That one stays on the shelf.
• •If your sauce tastes flat, don't add more cream. Add a pinch of salt and let the tomato simmer another minute. Cream softens flavor; it doesn't create it.
• •Batata palha is traditional on the Brazilian plate here, but it is not the meal. Keep the real structure beside it: rice, feijão, something green. Crunch is lovely. Dinner needs a spine.
• •Leftovers keep well for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat gently over low heat with a splash of water, because high heat can split the cream and tighten the beef.

Advance Preparation

• •Cut the beef up to 1 day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Pat it dry again before cooking, because moisture is the enemy of browning.
• •Chop the onion and garlic earlier the same day. Keep the garlic separate so it doesn't burn while the onion is still murchando.
• •If serving with feijão, soak the beans overnight, at least 8 hours. Cook them before starting the estrogonofe, then finish with refogado and a mashed ladle of beans for a creamy caldo.
• •The sauce can be cooked through the tomato simmer up to 1 day ahead. Add the browned beef and cream only when reheating so the meat stays tender and the sauce stays smooth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 560g)