Cook Monkeys

RB and I decided to make beef stroganoff tonight. We had most of the ingridients, and by that I mean we had ground beef and egg noodles. “Sure, we can just improvise.” That’s pretty much our philosophy to most of the dishes we cook.

Step 1 involved looking online for beef stroganoff recipes. The recipes we found contained things like cream of mushroom or “grass-fed beef cubes” - neither of which we had. So we just decided to forego everything and make our own version of ‘beef stroganoff’. We had celery, carrots, and a little garlic to add to the beef and noodles.

After cooking the beef, we started adding random spices like: cumin, oregano, parsley, more cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, a little A1 steak sauce, a little Worchestershire sauce, more cumin, and the cycle continues.

RB decided to make the sauce which consisted of water, flour, A1 steak sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and oregano. We then combined the two and let it sit for a while. After a taste, we continued adding more and more spices to make the flavor stronger before we added the noodles. So once again, we added: pepper, salt, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, chili powder, and probably more that I don’t remember.

The flavor wasn’t exactly getting any stronger so I added the noodles. After a thorough mixture, the sauce kind of disappeared and we had noodles with beef and vegetables in the end. It still tasted good although it was bit lackluster in flavor. So it didn’t quite turn out to be beef stroganoff but it’s a start.

It seems like anything we ever try making just dwindles down to adding whatever assortment of spices we have on hand. I really like cumin.