I made vegan stroganoff.

[miss_pryss]

Seitan Portobella Stroganoff, to be exact. My spell check suggests "Arrogantly" as a correction for "Stroganoff." It's not inappropriate.

Here are some special ingredients I had to buy just so I could make seitan stroganoff:

- Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- Red wine

Now, the red wine I don't mind -- I drank half the bottle while I made the dish itself (which took OMG so long -- like maybe 3 hours) and it kept me entertained and non-panicky and also dulled the pain of the burn I got on my hand from the skillet I used to sear the seitan.

BUT: Now I have this gargantuan bottle of nutritional yeast flakes and they smell like ass and I don't know what the hell they're good for except seitan stroganoff (since I'm a lame-ass vegan cook and never use stuff like soy yogurt or nutritional yeast flakes even though I probably ought to since every recipe in every vegan cook book I own calls for one or the other though thankfully seldom both). Which wouldn't be a problem except I'm probably never making seitan stroganoff again because it turns out I don't even like stroganoff.

Mr Smarty-Pants enjoyed it a great deal and assured me it was just like the real thing -- or possibly tastier, even -- and I realized something kind of important that I maybe should have thought of before I bought all the ingredients and set on down the seitan stroganoff road: I had never eaten stroganoff before, and I had no way of knowing if I would enjoy it or not. I mean, I had the impression that it was one of those Quintessential 1950's American Dishes -- sort of bland and salty and hearty (and overcooked) -- which is a genre I generally enjoy a great deal. Also, Clark Kent orders stroganoff in the epilogue of KINGDOM COME, which is really kind of the best possible endorsement any dish could ever get.

But it turns out it is Not For Me. Good thing Mr Smarty-Pants is enthusiastic about it, because someone's going to have to eat all those leftovers.


ETA: Here is the recipe I used, from the redoubtable Post Punk Kitchen.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

You made stroganoff cause Superman ate it in a comic. *snerk*

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

SHUT UP.

...

...

OK, it is kind of funny. And I probably would have made what Batman ordered but Batman ordered a steak, and there really isn't such thing as a vegan steak. At least I hope to god there isn't.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Well, the irony is that it's a classic American staple because it takes less than an hour to make. Which is why every cafeteria I've ever been to has served it.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

I think if I made it again and didn't imbibe so much of the cooking wine it would probably take about half as long. But I'm always slow the first time I try a recipe.

But we'll never find out... because I'm never making it again!!!

[jalfred.livejournal.com]

Well, there's strogonoff and then there's strogonoff. There's the classic midwestern cream cheesey dish, and then there's the actual Polish dish on which it was based which is a little less 50s housewife casseroley. My mom totally made the first growing up (which I loved) but I also really like the stuff you can get for dinner at Veselka.

And that was more than you ever wanted to know about the dish.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

No, this is interesting! And I just looked up beef storgonoff on Wikipedia and I'm beginning to wonder how much the thing I cooked last night has to do with strogonoff at all.

[jalfred.livejournal.com]

Well, since you don't eat meat at all, you probably shouldn't try the stuff at Veselka. I think that what you can get when you order at a Polish or Russian place is probably the best, but I don't know of one that does it Veggie, let alone Vegan.

[rossetti.livejournal.com]

Cook's Illustrated has a really good stroganoff recipe that emphasizes the mushrooms, so I love it.

I will buy the brewer's yeast off of you. That's one of those hippy foods my grandmother was super into in the 70s and 80s, so I grew up sprinkling it on my popcorn and on salads and stuff. I loves it! I, in fact, have a large tub of it myself, as well as a small little vial I occasionally fill up to bring down to the cafeteria.

I will agree that it smells bizarre. I don't know if it's an acquired taste or what, but I love it. I used to be able to find it in the bulk sections at health food stores, but now I can only find the canned stuff, which has a slightly different taste. And they used to have it in both flakes and powder, and now all I can find is flakes.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

Let me get back to you on that offer re: yeast -- unfortunately for you, Mr. Smarty-Pants has taken a shine to the stuff so I may be saddled with it forever. The good news is I'm starting to sort of like it myself...

[rossetti.livejournal.com]

No worries! It's not like I don't have my own stash. I'm rather glad you guys like it, actually, since I've been an anomaly for so long.

[xaipos.livejournal.com]

I use nutritional yeast flakes all the time for thickening sauces and soups, and I think the smell is "stale beer" not "ass" just my opinion.

incidentally, I make a great vegetarian stroganoff but I use sour cream so that wouldnt work for your hubby.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

I totally take back what I said about them -- they're starting to grow on me. Do you use them for flavor, or mostly for thickening?