A Recipe For Tiffin Inn Beef Stroganoff

We’re still pining after the old Tiffin Inn that shuttered a decade ago in Metairie.

On a recent taxi ride, our cabby was feeling loquacious, and she rambled on for quite a bit about how sorrowful she was over the closure.

Which set us off on a fresh trek across the internet — a sentimental journey that yielded the following: a recipe for Tiffin Inn’s legendary Beef Stroganoff taken from an old newspaper clipping.

Tiffin Inn Beef Stroganoff

  • Cut 1.5 lbs filet of beef into julienne strips 1″ long and 0.25″ wide.
  • Season with salt, a grating of black pepper, and paprika.
  • Heat butter the size of an egg in a skillet and sauté beef quickly on a sharp fire until just medium rare.
  • Remove meat from pan.
  • Now in the same pan, sauté 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion, cooking about half done. Add 0.5 lb sliced fresh mushrooms and cook a few minutes more, adding butter if necessary.
  • Next, sprinkle over mushrooms a scant 1 tablespoon of flour; stir as you add slowly 2 cups soured heavy cream.
  • To this sauce, add 1 teaspoon tomato paste, 0.5 teaspoon Worcestershire, 3 finely sliced sweet pickles (ed. note, we do not condone sweet pickle use), 0.25 teaspoon salt, and 0.5 teaspoon nutmeg.
  • Return meat to sauce.
  • Serve hot over toast or on fluffy rice in a chafing dish.

    The old advert we harvested this recipe from credits “the chef of Tiffin Inn” as the author. At its height, Tiffin Inn had 15 locations, so we have no way of knowing the name of this man or woman.

    Once in a great, great while we will publish a recipe that we did not develop, and this is one of those instances. It is important from a historical perspective to remember old restaurants.

    Let their flame continue to burn bright in your breast in spite of their faltering and closing.