On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 12:53:36 -0800 (PST), A Moose in Love
> wrote:

> Yesterday, I made beef stroganoff. When the beef was nice and tender,
> I folded in sour cream and simmered it no more. Then I thought, I
> better get it even more tender. I was bringing some of it over to my
> uncle who has dentures, and will not eat beef unless it is extremely
> tender. So I simmered it another 40 minutes or so. It was very
> tender, but the sauce had started to separate. Not a professional
> appearance, but still very tasty and edible.
> I remember reading Judy Haffner's post yesterday, where she mentioned
> that she mixed flour and sour cream together and added to the
> stroganoff. Did she simmer it further?

She should have or else someone here would be complaining about a
"raw" flour flavor (something I have yet to taste).

> Then I remembered that I had made sour cream dishes in the distant
> past where I simmered them and they did not separate. Why? I think
> the reason was that I mixed the sour cream and flour together, then
> added to the sauce and simmered for a good 15 minutes.
> Yeah. Chicken Paprikash. I went to one of my cook books, and found
> the recipe for Chicken Paprikash. For those of you who don't know, CP
> is a chicken stew flavored with Paprika and sour cream. In the recipe
> before me, it has this to say concerning simmering with sour cream:
> 'Blend together the flour(3Tbsp.) and sour cream(1 1/2 cups). Add to
> chicken mixture and simmer until chicken is tender about 15 minutes
> more.'
> This recipe was from the Hungarian Olympic culinary team during the
> Frankfurt cooking competition in 1972.
> I think that mixing sour cream and flour together will keep sauce from
> separating even when simmering it. They also added heavy cream to the
> above dish.

Before you add flour, try adding some water. I've noticed that when a
sauce separates, it has cooked too long and too much moisture has
evaporated... what you're looking at is really fat, not water floating
on the top so add some H2O and stir. That should bring it back
together again without adding any flour.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.