Brisket Burnt End Stroganoff
Beef brisket burnt ends swimming in a sour cream stroganoff sauce with mushrooms – some of my favorite flavors combined into one amazing dish! It might seem like an odd combination, but everything in this dish comes together perfectly! Have you ever had a traditional stroganoff that was topped with girkins? I thought it was weird at first, but when I tried it I knew I could never go back. Because this is stroganoff and BBQ combined, the pickles made even more sense!
The inspiration for this dish
I went to a pop-up restaurant this past weekend and had a really great time at the event. My favorite dish was a beef stroganoff. The menu listing was unassuming: Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles. What we received was very different than any stroganoff I have ever had!
The sour cream was made into a sauce to coat the noodles and the beef was slow cooked to create tender juicy meat chunks in a beautiful onion mushroom sauce. It inspired me to come home and do my own twist on stroganoff with a slow cooked meat instead of the typical stir fried beef strips!
Smoke the brisket burnt ends
Cut the meat into cubes and toss it with salt and pepper. Smoke at 225 for a few hours until it reaches about 170.
Note about types of brisket
Ideally you want to use the fatty top portion of the brisket for burnt ends. It’s called the point, or the deckle. The extra fat will make them super tender in the middle and crisp on the edges. I ended up using the bottom lean part cause that is what I had around. It still came out awesome, the chunks will just be a little less tender. I also added a note in the recipe for when you add the meat to the sauce depending on which cut of brisket you use.
This is a great guide for making burnt ends! I am a very amateur smoker but when I am using the meat in a larger recipe, it comes out good enough to work.
After smoking the brisket, I added bbq sauce and finished it in the oven until it hit 205.
Make the brisket burnt end stroganoff
Mushrooms and shallots in the pan, then some flour to make a roux. Then I added whiskey and stock.
I added the brisket right away because as I mentioned, mine was a little less tender. If the brisket was falling apart, I would wait and add it after the sauce thickens a bit.
Once the sauce gets to the right texture, remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.
Serve the brisket burnt end stroganoff
Add the buttered noodles to a plate, then top with tons of the meat and sauce! Garnish it with crispy onions and pickles. So good!
I am obsessed with how good this is and honestly ate it for every meal until it was gone. Even with the less tender burnt ends it still was perfect.
The bbq sauce that is burnt on to the edges of the meat somewhat dissipates into the stroganoff sauce and gives it all a great flavors. The smoke in the meat flavors the whole dish too and adds such a fantastic flavor.
Twists on this dish
As I mentioned, If you need help with burnt ends, check out this guide. If you already know what you are doing, use your recipe for that part, and then follow my recipe for the stroganoff part.
Another option is to buy burnt ends from your fave BBQ spot and use them in this recipe!
I also used store bought onion straws as a topping, but if you want to make your own, I love this recipe.
For more brisket goodness, check out my brisket mac and cheese sliders, brisket double cheeseburgers, or this brisket ramen!
NOTE – This recipe was originally posted as brisket stroganoff in 2011 but I updated it to the smoked version in 2024 with a few other changes
Brisket Burnt End Stroganoff
Equipment
Ingredients
Burnt ends
- 1.5 pounds beef brisket cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 3/4 cup bbq sauce
Stroganoff
- 1/2 stick butter split in half
- 5 oz mushrooms sliced
- 1 large shallot sliced into 1/4 rounds
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1.5 ounces whiskey
- 1.5 cups broth (beef, chicken, or garlic based)
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire
- 3/4 cup sour cream
To serve
- 16 oz egg noodles
- 1/2 stick butter melted
- crispy onions
- sliced pickles
Instructions
Burnt ends
- NOTE- For more detailed instructions on making burnt ends, check out my comments above and the post I linked! This is a simplified guide based on the small electric smoker I use and what works for me specifically in this recipe.
- Toss the brisket cubes in the salt and pepper making sure its a liberal coating. Preheat smoker to 225. Add the meat and cook about 2 hours until it reaches an internal temp of 170ish.
- Toss the meat in the bbq sauce. Preheat oven to 225. Spread the cubes of meat onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake about an hour until the internal temp is at 205 and the meat is on the edge of falling apart. Ideally you want to have them not actually falling apart, but right on the brink.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then either store in the fridge until ready to use, or start making the stroganoff right away!
Stroganoff
- Add the first half of the butter to a hot pan and add in the sliced mushrooms. Cook about 5-8 minutes until the mushrooms have reduced in size and are browning around the edges.
- Add in the shallots and cook another 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute.
- Clear some space in the pan and add the remaining butter. Stir in the flour and stir it well in the butter to break it all down and prevent lumps. Stir everything together and cook about 3 minutes stirring the whole time.
- Add in the whiskey, then add in the stock and the worcestershire. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer.
- On the other hand, if your burnt ends are on the firmer side, you can add them now and let them simmer with the sauce. Alternatively, if your burnt ends are really falling apart at this point, wait a bit and add them when the sauce has reached the ideal thickness. This will take about 15 minutes of simmering. Then add the meat and cook a few minutes until they warm up.
- Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream
Serving
- Cook the egg noodles to the package instructions. Toss them in the melted butter.
- Put the noodles on the plates, then top with a heaping pile of the burnt end stroganoff.
- Garnish with pickles and crispy onions.
That looks awesome!!!
That beef looks incredibly tender! I think this is an awesome rendition of the dish we had that night. Pickles in stroganoff, eh? Never heard of it, but I will have to try it if it’s as good as you say!
Beautiful photos of an interesting dish!
What kind of pickles?
I used dill, but whatever you like would be fine. The first time I had it the recipe called for girkins
Oooohhh yum! I just made this and can confirm it’s as good as it looks. I thought the vinegar and worcester sauce would would make it a bit weird, but once it all simmered down it was just awesome!
all i need to do now is find some decent pickles (hard to come by in suburban UK, much like quite a few ingredients that you use actually 🙁 maybe one day I’ll move back to Boston… in the meantime, maybe you could send me a few boxes of mac and cheez 😉 )
Hey, this recipe looks great! What size brisket did you use?