Swiss Steak

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Well…

The Meat!!

Doing a bit of Old School , Homestyle cooking.

I found a wonderful thick ( London broil type ) top round. So I tenderized it, added Sand P and Flour, browned it it a enamel pot, removed… diced some yellow onions, cooked it in the roast fond, I de-glased with a bit of white wine, removed the cooked onions… add back the roast that I removed, top with cooked onions and add home-made jar ( canned ) tomatoes or sauce of choice, cook in oven 2 hrs@350. We are serving a 07 Sean Minor Cab with it… final picks comming soon!!

Whats your swiss steak recipe …if you do it at all?

2

Sounds delicious, Paul!

What makes this a “swiss steak” rather than just a roast? (I’m not clear on what makes a “swiss steak”)

3

I dont know B… the author of the recipe called it that!!

Paul

4

This so far!!

… lid is coming off soon to thicken!!

I’m going for this …over Mashers with green beans and a salad

Life is simple tonight!!

P

5

Nothing Swiss about it that I can tell, but that’s what my Mama always called it.

I’ll post my ‘recipe,’ using the word loosely, when I have a bit more time.

6

Robert…

I did no research prior to making the dish!! But this is the final product!! I think this cooked about 3 hrs starting at 425 and decreasing to 350 basting every 15 to 20 mins.

7

Paulie, what did you do to those poor grean beans? [cry.gif]

8

I hope that tasted better than it looks.

9

Bob…

Home-made canned beans from my garden look like this!! You have to use a pressure cooker… know way to get around the look!! Recipe: 1 Qt cut beans w H2O /t Nacl/ 20 mins 10 psi… I think
( not Gosple ). You could add butter when re-heating …I didn’t

Brian…

I hope this thread can bring something to the table about what SWISS steak actually is… I personally imagine a brown onion gravy with a wee bit of tomato… but I did what I did. Really it wasn’t to bad. We are talking old school recipe here… stuff our grandparents and mothers probably cooked?

Any in-put for others … will be interesting to see!!

Cheers…

The 07 Sean Minor Cab worked well!!

10

From Wikipedia’s “Swiss steak” page:

__

Swiss steak is a method of preparing meat, usually beef, by means of rolling or pounding, and then braising in a cooking pot of stewed tomatoes, either on a stove (cooker) or in an oven.

The name does not refer to Switzerland, but instead to the process of “swissing”, which refers to fabric or other materials being pounded or run through rollers in order to soften it. Swiss steak is typically made from relatively tough cuts of meat, such as the round, which have been pounded with a tenderizing hammer, or run through a set of bladed rollers to produce so-called “cube steak”. The meat is typically coated with flour and seasonings and cooked in a gravy made from tomato and sometimes green and red peppers.

The process of swissing meat is done to enable tougher and cheaper pieces of meat to be tenderized. Cube steak is the usual meat used in producing Swiss steak by most home cooks. Cube steak has had the connective fibers that make the meat tough physically broken by the butcher and the braising process further breaks down the connective tissue in the meat. Swiss steak should be tender enough to be eaten without a knife.

11

Here is the Authors notes:

My mother made two things with Campbell’s Tomato Soup: Swiss Steak and Meatloaf. To this day I do, too.

The Swiss Steak–or rather, its gravy–is heavenly. Using a thick cut of round steak, about 1 1/2 inches, pound the daylights out of it, season and flour and pound some more. Brown in hot oil (Mom used lard) on both sides. Top with a great quantity of chopped onion. Spread the undiluted soup over the onion. Add some water to the pan, being careful not to wash off the onion and soup, cover and place in a 325 degree oven for about two hours. Exact timing depends on meat thickness. Meat should be fork tender, and the gravy should be a rich red color, NO LONGER ORANGE. Mom and I both used iron skillets, perhaps that accounts for the change in color. Must have mashed potatoes.

I did my own take of this!! DONT mess with MOMMA… [wink.gif]

12

Three days into Sous Vide the left overs!!

What I have learned!! YMMV

  1. You need to pound the heck out of the steak… my butcher said he couldn’t Jack ( jacarding ) a 1 1/2" pc of meat !! About 3/4-1 " is all the machine will d0. This will help break up the fibers in the tough cut

  2. Add more carmalized onions or keep them in rings rather than dice!!

  3. Cook @ a lower temp …longer

What “braising in a cooking pot of stewed tomatoes” would anyone use ?

Robert… what’s your recipe?

Actually this stuff did taste pretty killer!!

Paully

13

My mom made that often while I grew up. Something I always liked. Always a thin cut of round steak, usually jacarded. The tomatoes were canned “stewed tomatoes”, at least I think that is what she used.

Yours looks good.

14

Frank…

“stewed tomatoes”

Yes… would gave the dish a better look too. [thumbs-up.gif]

I think I’ll add some carrot too… next time

Cheers

15

Paul, worth the investment for next time:

http://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-200348-Supertendermatic-48-Blade-Tenderizer/dp/B001347JK6

16

Yep Tom…

Thats exactly what I needed!! Very much appreciated!!

Done

Paul

17

Thanks, Brian. I never connected the dots between “Swiss steak” and “cube steak” - though the latter is what I always use to make the former.

Top round, machine-tenderized “cube steak”:

I season my ‘cubed’ round steak thoroughly with black pepper, allspice, and garlic powder, then dredge it in flour and brown it on both sides (in a neutral high-smoke-point oil) in a large saute pan. Then I remove the steak from the pan and add onions - lots of onions, maybe 1 to 1-1/2 lbs. onions for 2 lbs. meat - cut in half pole-to-pole and sliced to approx. 1/8 in. thickness. As the onions cook they release enough water to effectively ‘deglaze’ the pan. When the onions are soft and have picked up a bit of color, I remove them, return the steak to the pan, top with the onions, splash with Worcestershire sauce (a Tbsp. or so), and add a large (35 oz.) can of Italian tomatoes, hand crushed. Then I cover and simmer on dead low (no oven for me) an hour or more until the meat is fall-apart tender. Serve over brown rice, accompanied a salad and green vegetable of choice.

That’s basically how my Mama did it, except she didn’t use allspice and her tomatoes were homegrown and home canned.

18

Sounds good Robert…

and Thanks… going to try Mama’s/Robert’s version next!! [cheers.gif]

btw : My mother called that look " Minute steaks"

This stuff is even better days after…

19

Paul,

I’ve been meaning to add mushrooms to the mix, just haven’t ever gotten around to it. Maybe next time. If/when I do, I’ll report.

Bob

20

Paul,
Yes, plenty of bite size crosscut carrots for added flavor and color along with the stewed tomatoes. Always a couple bay leaves. Sometimes celery.

Long simmer/braise in an electric skillet.

She had another round steak recipe with onions, mushroom soup, and mushrooms. Probably some stock or water added to help braise it. Very midwestern 1950-60’s.

That deep and large rectangular electric skillet did a lot of work to cook for 7 people. Pancakes. Bacon and Eggs. Chop Suey with cubes of leftover pork roast!!! Fried chicken. Smothered pork chops.