Chef Joost
Appelcompote
Appelcompote is the apple left with its dignity: soft enough to spoon beside pork or potatoes, still chunky enough to remind you autumn did the real work.
Culinary Explorer
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Stroganoffsaus
Created by
A Russian aristocratic name came down to the Dutch weeknight table and became something practical: mushrooms, paprika, tomato, and cream, ready for macaroni night.
Sauces & Condiments
Dutch
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
10 min
Active Time
20 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings
Some recipes travel in a carriage and arrive in a frying pan. Stroganoff began with a grand Russian name, the Stroganov family, wealthy patrons whose table gave Europe one of its most copied beef dishes. But let me tell you a secret: in the Dutch home kitchen, the beef became optional and the sauce became the point. Very Dutch. We admire grandeur, then ask whether it will go with macaroni on Tuesday.
The name already tells you the story belongs to travel, not to the polder. Nineteenth-century Russia gave the dish its title, France lent it a restaurant vocabulary, paprika and tomato pushed it westward through household cookery, and Dutch cooks did what Dutch cooks do best: they made it economical, quick, and repeatable. A spoonful over rice, a ladle through elleboogmacaroni, the little curved macaroni elbows, or a pan of gehaktballetjes, meatballs, and dinner is settled.
The method is simple because the sauce is honest. Brown the mushrooms properly so they taste like themselves, let the tomato puree fry until its sharpness softens, and add the cream only at the end so it turns glossy instead of flat. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. The whole trick is not to drown the pan before it has had a chance to brown.
Beef Stroganoff is commonly linked to the Russian Stroganov family, and a published version appears in Elena Molokhovets' 1871 cookbook as beef in a mustard and sour cream sauce. In the twentieth century the dish travelled through European and American household cookery, picking up mushrooms, paprika, tomato, and cream in many domestic versions. In the Netherlands, stroganoffsaus became a practical pantry sauce, often served with macaroni, rice, schnitzel, meatballs, or budget beef strips rather than as a strict Russian beef dish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons
neutral oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
mushrooms
Quantity
250g
sliced
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
red bell pepper
Quantity
1
diced
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
minced
tomato puree
Quantity
2 tablespoons
sweet paprika
Quantity
2 teaspoons
smoked paprika (optional)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
beef or vegetable stock
Quantity
250ml
cooking cream or sour cream
Quantity
150ml
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Worcestershire sauce (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
parsley (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| butter | 2 tablespoons |
| neutral oil | 1 tablespoon |
| mushroomssliced | 250g |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| red bell pepperdiced | 1 |
| garlicminced | 2 cloves |
| tomato puree | 2 tablespoons |
| sweet paprika | 2 teaspoons |
| smoked paprika (optional) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| flour | 1 tablespoon |
| beef or vegetable stock | 250ml |
| cooking cream or sour cream | 150ml |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| Worcestershire sauce (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
| parsley (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide frying pan or saute pan, 28cm
- •Wooden spoon
- •Measuring jug
Instructions
- 1
Brown the mushrooms
Heat the butter and oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook until their liquid has boiled away and the edges turn brown. This is where the sauce gets its depth; pale mushrooms make a polite sauce, and polite is not the same as good.
- 2
Soften the vegetables
Add the onion and red bell pepper and cook for five to six minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and the pepper has lost its raw edge. Add the garlic for the last minute, just until it smells warm and sharp.
- 3
Fry the paste
Stir in the tomato puree, sweet paprika, smoked paprika if using, and flour. Cook for two minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan. Tomato puree needs this little frying or it stays tinny; paprika needs fat to bloom, or it sits there like red dust.
Keep the heat moderate once the paprika goes in. Paprika gives generously, but it turns bitter if you scorch it. - 4
Build the sauce
Pour in the stock a little at a time, stirring as you go so the flour dissolves smoothly. Simmer for six to eight minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It should look glossy and reddish brown, with the mushrooms held in the sauce rather than floating through it.
- 5
Finish creamy
Lower the heat and stir in the cream, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce if using. Warm gently for two minutes without boiling. Taste, then add salt and black pepper. If the sauce is too thick, loosen it with a splash of stock; if too thin, let it murmur a minute longer.
- 6
Serve at once
Spoon the stroganoffsaus over cooked macaroni, rice, schnitzel, meatballs, or quick-seared beef strips. Scatter parsley over the top only if you have it. This is weeknight food, not a floral arrangement.
Chef Tips
- •Use a wide pan. Mushrooms crowded in a small pan sweat for ages and never brown properly, and then the sauce tastes boiled from the beginning.
- •For the Dutch macaroni-night version, stir the sauce through 300g cooked elleboogmacaroni, little elbow macaroni, and add a handful of grated young Gouda at the table if your household expects it.
- •Sour cream gives the sharper, older Stroganoff character. Cooking cream gives the milder Dutch household version and is less likely to split.
- •To make it a full meal cheaply, add browned gehaktballetjes, small meatballs, or strips of leftover roast meat at the end. Warm them in the sauce, don't boil them into rubber.
Advance Preparation
- •The sauce can be made one day ahead up to the point before adding cream. Cool, refrigerate, then reheat gently and finish with the cream just before serving.
- •Leftovers keep two days refrigerated. Reheat over low heat with a splash of stock or milk, stirring gently so the cream stays smooth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 210g)
Calories
225 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
590 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
5 g
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