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If there was one meal to epitomize classic backcountry fair, it might be the Mountain House Beef Stroganoff. It’s a standard in the Mountain House lineup, even warranting a place on Mountain House’s “Classics” roster, which brings back original recipes from days past. This meal can be found just about anywhere, from the shelves of REI to Walmart and as this review will highlight, its rightly deserved.  Mountain House’s Beef Stroganoff is a savory and delicious workhorse of a meal.  Reliably filling and delicious, Hikefull easily recommends this dish with few caveats.

Key Features

HIKEFULL Review

Review Location:  Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia. Elevation 3675′

Flavor

MIKE: I settled down with Mountain House Beef Stroganoff after my first day of a solo hike through the Dolly Sods Wilderness.  I prepared the meal atop Lions Head rock formation just as the sun was going down, as the dusk chill set in.  Overall, this meal really hit.  I noted that it was “savory, rustic, and hearty” – just the qualities I’m craving while watching the sun go down on some windswept rock formation.

The view of Dolly Sods wilderness from Lions Head rock at sunset.

BRE: I actually tried this dish after a long bike ride on a moderately hot day. I was pretty hungry and needed something filling and substantial. I had worked up one of those appetites that only a bike ride can summon. This was exactly the lip-smacking comfort food I was craving.

MIKE: Comfort food describes it well.  There is something very comforting about egg-noodle ribbons bathed in a velvety beefy, brothy, creamy sauce.  I might even call this a “gravy” over a sauce.  It’s rich, salty (but not too salty), and flavorful. A person could even be forgiven for drinking the remaining gravy out of the bag.  I’m not saying I did that, but I might have done that.

BRE: Yeah, the sauce or whatever we are calling it is that good. I liked how the twisty noodle ribbons soaked up so much of the gravy and there was the perfect ratio between the two. I also thought the dish was perfectly seasoned, neither too bland nor too salty. I liked how the beef base was infused with a subtle rosemary flavor.

MIKE:  I liked that rosemary kick as well, which adds an authentic rustic quality to the dish.  There is also a slight mushroom flavor and a little bit of tanginess from the sour cream.  The onions also come through, both as a flavor and as a texture.

Texture

MIKE: Texture-wise, everything rehydrated really well.  The noodles retained their integrity.  The beef was present as little unpronounced chunks of meatball.  The onions were notable as they punctuated the sauce with a little crisp texture, being almost snappy.

BRE: Overall, the texture is kind of non-descript. It’s what you would hope from a dish like this. I agree that both the noodles and the meatballs were tender.  My one critique of this dish is that the mushrooms are merely a background element of this dish.  While you can kind of imagine a subtle mushroom flavor in the sauce, I would have liked more actual slices of mushroom, which could make this meal a little more dynamic.

MIKE: Agreed. Under close inspection, its like a teaspoon of mushroom confetti has been added to the sauce, with mushrooms appearing as specks or fragments.  Overall, a small complaint.

EDITOR’S NOTE

We couldn’t help but notice the expiration date of March 2053, almost 30 years into the future. As Mountain House boasts on their website they offer a 30-year taste guarantee. One reviewer on the Mountain House website explained conducting a 5 year storage test featuring multiple brands of backpacking food. Despite being stored in the humidity of Florida, the reviewer reported that after 5 years not only did Mountain House still taste good, it was the only brand to still taste good. Hmm.