Every Cook has one... the dirty little secret. Shhhhhh.....

Until about 15 years ago, my cooking ability consisted of whatever box I could get a serviceable meal out of. Then I started to get serious about cooking, and well, became snobby.
          "I don't do boxed stuff", I would *sniff*/ tell myself in the checkout line when I saw the "cook" in front of me place box after box of prepackaged food on the conveyor belt. And then I would, rather proudly, put my lovely simple unprocessed food on the line.. vegetables, meat, stock and spices.  Then, I'd run to to save the beautiful vegetables and fruits from the harsh and uncaring checkout person; whose goal in life was to drop my babies into the cart, bruising them, and creating a whirlwind cause and effect of bruise and rot!  Ohh, how many checkout people did I offend, and how many had to have surgery to correct their vision after rolling their eyes so hard over my behavior. LOL  Here, on this public forum, I am admitting to my food snobbery. My name is Chris, and I am a food ingredient snob.
          So, imagine my chagrin when it turns out that one of my best dishes, the one DH (Darling Husband) drools over, and the one my friends all want the recipe for, is a call back to those days of boxes and....well, I don't even want to admit to it publicly.
     
       The recipe name is PORK STROGANOFF, and it is delicious.  You will read the ingredients, and shake your head, but really, you will want to try it.  Do it in secret, the way I always do- and no one will be the wiser about what you are putting in this yummy dish. First a little background, this dish used to be BEEF stroganoff- probably a little more recognizable- but when beef prices started to rise and I was paying $4 or more a pound of stewed beef, and coming out with tough chunks of meat that needed the jaws of life to chew- Well.. I went to the other white meat- pork.  At a third of the price of beef, I brought it home the first night, snuck it into the dish and waited with baited breath for my pork-hating hubby to try- and he LOVED it.  Wanted to know where I got the meat from! YEAH!
      So here is the down and skinny. Here is my miso en plae.

Ingredients:
Couple of tablespoons of oil- I use whatever is in the house
 1 1/2 pound of boneless pork sparerib, cut into cubes
1 med onion, cut in half, then sliced into 1/4 inch slices
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 (8 oz) package of cleaned mushrooms, coarsely sliced
Salt and pepper, plus a little steak seasoning
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of flour
half a bag of egg noddles, cooked and warm . I'll tell you when to start them in the recipe
And the special , secret seasonings...).
Catsup, 5 or 6 swirls around the pot ( 1/2 cup) or so
Mustard, 3 or 4 swirls (1/3 cup)
Worchestershire sauce (1/4 cup)
See, I told you- shocking!
 Heat the oil in a large pan- I use a wok type pan. When the oil is pretty hot, add the meat,  brown on all sides, not just light, but a good golden coloring. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the pan, and add the onions. Cook the onions until they are starting to wilt, and add the garlic.  Saute until the onions are just turning transparent, then add the pork, the stock, and the bay leaves. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil- while heating add in the "special ingredients"- the catsup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. When it gets to a boil- turn it down to simmer, and let simmer for 40 minutes. At about 30 minutes, start a pot of water, and boil the egg noodles. Taste the broth , and add more "special ingredients" if you want. Add the mushrooms at the 40 min mark, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add a little water to the flour to make a slurry, and slowly pour it into the stroganoff to thicken to a good gravy thickness. Stop adding the flour slurry if it looks too thick. Cook for a few minutes, then remove from the heat.  Add in the sour cream.  By now the noodles should be done; I add a bit of butter to the noodles, and spoon the stroganoff over top. Garnish with a little dried parsley.
Delicious comfort food. <3

Even better the next day.  What?  What's that yummy bread on the side, you ask?  Well, that is horseradish bread- and it is the best!  That's the newest addition to the cookbook!

      So that is my confession.. and I feel much better.. but I am still going to watch those fruit and vegetable dropping checkout people like a hawk.

Anyone out there got a secret food confession- they want to share?

As always,
Live peacefully, and Cook Fearlessly!
Chris