Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday night's dinner was beef stroganoff. As you all may well know, my previous love was food made with creamed soup, and therefore, by default, any beef stroganoff made in the past was made with cream of mushroom soup. You add beef, some stock, and there you have it. This will work in a pinch, and really does taste good, but Wednesday night's version was the real thing, and a bit more time consuming. I did buy some sort of steak for this (and can't recall what type I used), cut it into slices to saute before making the sauce. The recipe says to brown the meat IN BATCHES - and YES, you need to brown it in SMALL batches, which I failed to do this time. I knew as I was loading up the pan that I really should not be putting it all in at one time, and that I probably was going to regret doing so, but I did not listen to my conscience and went ahead with my tomfoolery. Bad mistake, and here is why - when you brown strips of meat in small batches, they actually brown. When you put everything in at once and overcrowd the pan, the accumulated juices from the meat essentially steam the meat, and none of it browns. You may think - so what? It cooks, right? It does cook, but not evenly, so some meat overcooks and gets tough - well actually, it all was kind of tough. This may be the result of steaming? I'm not sure. If anyone out there knows, feel free to chime in. The point of the matter is to cook in small batches - don't overcrowd the pan! So let's assume that I actually did what was right with the meat and it has been taken out of the pan. 2T of butter is added, and onions and mushrooms are sauteed. You add stock, deglaze the pan, and simmer for 20 minutes before adding sour cream. The meat back to the pan, and then it is served over egg noodles. We really enjoyed this dish, but would have been better had the meat not been as tough. You live and learn.