Stroganoff

Let's start with Beef Stroganoff.  This is a Russian dish I grew up on.  I think it's something we might've had 2-4 times per year when I was a kid.  It goes something like this, and let's say this is a big recipe:

• 3-4 lbs of sirloin steak, cut in 1/2-1 inch cubes
• 24 oz sour cream
• 4-6 cups of beef stock
• 10-12 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
• 2 lbs white button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups of minced onion i.e. a large onion, minced, possibly a bit more
• 3/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of wide or extra-wide egg noodles
• 3-4 tsp salt
• finely-chopped parsley

Lightly brown the meat in 1-2 Tbsp butter in batches, deglazing with a cup or so of stock. Reserve the stock, and repeat until all the meat is browned. Sautee the mushrooms first in 8 Tbsp butter (one stick), then add the onion, then finally the garlic. Add some stock of the stock, and cook it a bit. Then add the ketchup. Then the meat and some stock... say 3 cups. In another pan, add the reserved stock from the meat-browning. Heat that up with a little more butter and whisk in the flour little by little. It'll become a muddy sludge, which you'll want to then add to the other pan with the mushroom/onion/stock, bit by bit. Yeah I'm pretty sure that's not how the pros will do it, but it works fine. The main thing to avoid is drastic temperature changes which might cause lumps in the flour. Heat this up so it's bubbling, then keep that bubbling for 5 min or so then turn off the heat. Bit by bit whisk in the sour cream. Again, just like avoiding clumps in the flour, you want to avoid the sour cream curdling by adding it while whisking vigorously and little by little. Once that's all combined, add salt and make sure it's seasoned ok while you simmer it for a bit until it's as thick as you prefer. Meanwhile cook some noodles to serve it over.