Nelson's Stroganoff
February 23rd 2007 03:23
Nelson’s Stroganoff.
This dish has a family history attached. Our family was given an inn in Estonia, by King Gustaff of Sweden for service in the thirty years war. For as far as we can trace our family tree and legends the Nelsons of Estonia have been involved in catering and in service in the army of one country or another. It was during the thirty-year war that one of the family kept troops well fed by using the following Stroganoff recipe. We can use beef, veal, chicken, pork, goat and even stork has been used! In fact anything that could be found or plundered by the troops.
Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. He had won great battles using this theory with his troops over-running the opposing army to get at food to feed themselves. Well Old Bonney decided he wanted the Nelsons to cook for him and his troops, particularly the Stroganoff that had a reputation for sticking to one’s guts. The Nelsons refused the offer to fight in his army or to cook for the troops. By now they had a comfortable inn and quite a few farms in the district. All were content and comfortable.
Napoleon in his planning of the invasion of Russia included a plan to capture the Nelson’s Inn and to take hostages to force his way with the cooks. He invaded Lithuania and his troops were in Latvia but avoided direct confrontation with the Estonians to avoid letting the cat out of the bag. A true feint attack! A dozen of his cavalry rode through Estonia headed for the inn. Word was passed quickly through the forest of the cavalry officers and their direction. Just as quickly the Nelsons closed their Inn, loaded a sleigh with all their possessions and headed to the coast and as that part of the Baltic Sea was iced up at the time headed for an island called Saaremaa.
The cavalry officers took off after them and as they spied the sleigh making its way over the ice, decided in a headstrong mood to form a charge. Now a cavalry charge against a slow moving sleigh on ice was not such a clever thing. The officers mounts, well shod with iron shoes galloped along the ice and caused a vibration that in turn caused the ice to crack and the officers to sink, with their horses, without a trace.
Napoleon was furious and saw to it that the inn was burnt to the ground. The inn was rebuilt after the defeat of Napoleon and stood in place selling its famous Stroganoff until the Second World War when the Soviets tried to accomplish what Napoleon couldn’t. Again the inn was burnt to the ground, as they did not succeed either. Unfortunately it has not since been rebuilt.
Now you can have the recipe that Napoleon and Joseph Stalin could not have.
Cut up your meat (whatever you can get hold of) into thin Julienne style pieces across the grain. Across the grain and thin means quicker cooking and a more tender result. Use about the same volume of sliced onions. Mix the meat and onions with lots of flour, salt and lots of pepper. I mean lots of pepper as you may be disguising some disgusting taste if the source of your meat is suspicious. Lots of flour makes for a good thick glue like sauce that you could stand a spoon in. Now at this stage I oil or butter a baking dish and shot the lot into the dish and then into a med hot oven, This is to precook and brown the meat and helps brown the flour a bit to give you a brown sauce. It can be done on the stove-top as well but means a lot of stirring and I am usually cooking for a lot of people. Once the meat tastes or feels cooked, slip it out of the oven into a large pot on the stove. Scrape the bottom of the baking pan and get everything into the pot. Top off the pot with water or stock if you have it so the meat is just covered. Bring it to the boil and down to a simmer. At this stage you can flavour the sauce with what you have. We Estonians like to use dill weed. Serve over wicked mashed potatoes.
What did this have to do with boating? Nothing except I bet Napoleon wished his cavalry had access to a boat when they sank!
Next, wicked mashed potatoes:
This dish has a family history attached. Our family was given an inn in Estonia, by King Gustaff of Sweden for service in the thirty years war. For as far as we can trace our family tree and legends the Nelsons of Estonia have been involved in catering and in service in the army of one country or another. It was during the thirty-year war that one of the family kept troops well fed by using the following Stroganoff recipe. We can use beef, veal, chicken, pork, goat and even stork has been used! In fact anything that could be found or plundered by the troops.
Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. He had won great battles using this theory with his troops over-running the opposing army to get at food to feed themselves. Well Old Bonney decided he wanted the Nelsons to cook for him and his troops, particularly the Stroganoff that had a reputation for sticking to one’s guts. The Nelsons refused the offer to fight in his army or to cook for the troops. By now they had a comfortable inn and quite a few farms in the district. All were content and comfortable.
Napoleon in his planning of the invasion of Russia included a plan to capture the Nelson’s Inn and to take hostages to force his way with the cooks. He invaded Lithuania and his troops were in Latvia but avoided direct confrontation with the Estonians to avoid letting the cat out of the bag. A true feint attack! A dozen of his cavalry rode through Estonia headed for the inn. Word was passed quickly through the forest of the cavalry officers and their direction. Just as quickly the Nelsons closed their Inn, loaded a sleigh with all their possessions and headed to the coast and as that part of the Baltic Sea was iced up at the time headed for an island called Saaremaa.
The cavalry officers took off after them and as they spied the sleigh making its way over the ice, decided in a headstrong mood to form a charge. Now a cavalry charge against a slow moving sleigh on ice was not such a clever thing. The officers mounts, well shod with iron shoes galloped along the ice and caused a vibration that in turn caused the ice to crack and the officers to sink, with their horses, without a trace.
Napoleon was furious and saw to it that the inn was burnt to the ground. The inn was rebuilt after the defeat of Napoleon and stood in place selling its famous Stroganoff until the Second World War when the Soviets tried to accomplish what Napoleon couldn’t. Again the inn was burnt to the ground, as they did not succeed either. Unfortunately it has not since been rebuilt.
Now you can have the recipe that Napoleon and Joseph Stalin could not have.
Cut up your meat (whatever you can get hold of) into thin Julienne style pieces across the grain. Across the grain and thin means quicker cooking and a more tender result. Use about the same volume of sliced onions. Mix the meat and onions with lots of flour, salt and lots of pepper. I mean lots of pepper as you may be disguising some disgusting taste if the source of your meat is suspicious. Lots of flour makes for a good thick glue like sauce that you could stand a spoon in. Now at this stage I oil or butter a baking dish and shot the lot into the dish and then into a med hot oven, This is to precook and brown the meat and helps brown the flour a bit to give you a brown sauce. It can be done on the stove-top as well but means a lot of stirring and I am usually cooking for a lot of people. Once the meat tastes or feels cooked, slip it out of the oven into a large pot on the stove. Scrape the bottom of the baking pan and get everything into the pot. Top off the pot with water or stock if you have it so the meat is just covered. Bring it to the boil and down to a simmer. At this stage you can flavour the sauce with what you have. We Estonians like to use dill weed. Serve over wicked mashed potatoes.
What did this have to do with boating? Nothing except I bet Napoleon wished his cavalry had access to a boat when they sank!
Next, wicked mashed potatoes:
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