Swiss Steak

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heb1976

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
28
Location
Roaming Shores, Ohio
I am mainly posting this for my mom to prove that I made yet another new meal. What is that momma ... 3 in a row?! I'm on a roll. Here is the recipe.

I personally did not like it, but I do not care for that type of meat. Maybe with a hickory marinade and broiled - but not done like this. My oldest had 2 helping as well as my husband. I also did not add the potatoes or carrots. I put it on some egg noodles and we had a salad.

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One 2 to 2.5 pound round or top round steak, about an inch thick
A couple tablespoons of flour
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp grapeseed oil, or other high smoke point oil for browning (olive, canola)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cups puréed tomatoes (canned or fresh)
2 teaspoons each of fresh thyme, sage, marjoram, or 1/2 teaspoon each of dried
Optional: Vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, or green beans
Method

1
Rub flour into both sides of the steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a wide, shallow (3 inches), covered pan to medium high heat. Add 2 Tbsp of oil to coat the pan. Place the steak in the pan, and cook for approximately 10 minutes on each side, enough to brown the steak.

2 Remove the steak from the pan and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the pan and another tablespoon of oil. Cook the onions and garlic for 3-5 minutes, using a metal spatula to scrape up any steak drippings, mixing them in with the onions. Add half of the herbs to the onions. Return the steak to the pan, placing it on top of the onions. Crowd the onions around and on top of the steak. Sprinkle the rest of the herbs on top of the steak. Add the 2 cups of puréed tomatoes to the pan.

3
Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. Use a high lid if available. A high lid will help circulate the steam and moisture from the cooking juices and keep the steak moist. Bring the steak in the tomato purée to a simmer and then lower the heat to the lowest heat possible to maintain a low simmer (we use the warm setting on our electric range).

4 Cook for 1 1/2 hours. While the steak is cooking, you may want to slightly pre-cook vegetables that you want to serve with the steak. For example, for this dish we steamed 4 small, peeled, quartered russet potatoes and 2 carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into 2 inch segments, for 5-10 minutes. (You could use other vegetables, such as green beans, or no vegetables at all.) After 1 1/2 hours of cooking time for the steak, we uncovered the pan, turned the steak over, added the potatoes and carrots, covered the pan and cooked the steak and vegetables for another 30 minutes.
The reason that you might want to pre-cook the vegetables a bit first is that the steak is cooking at a very low heat. You'll have more control over how cooked the vegetables are if you pre-cook them a bit first.

5 The steak should be done after a total cooking time of 2 hours. To check it, you can poke it with a fork. The meat should be quite tender. To serve, remove the steak and slice it on a carving board. Alternatively, you could have started with individual steaks that were smaller (this is what I did). Spoon the sauce over the steak.
Serves 4-6.
 
That looks really good heb.... I have not made swiss steak in a while and when I do, it is usally from the McCormick's SS season packets. I believe I will have to give this a try! Thanks for posting this and see homecook!!! She is cooking!!! LOL!
 
My mom use to make Swiss steak but she used onions and did not use tomatoes. I remember pepper but none of the other spices. She served it with mashed potatoes and either green beans or a salad or mixed vegetables.
 
Well I added the green peppers for more flavor. I kinda of reminded me of Chicken Caccatore (however that is spelled) - but bland because of the meat. I may have to try a packet of seasoning - something was missing for sure.
 
It looks delightful.... and flavorful. I don't know what is all in the McCormicks stuff, but it does end up producing a rather zesty sauce. I tried making SS from scratch some time back and I was not real impressed with the results. But there are so many variations of it out there, I think it is just a matter of finding the right one / combo. I'm definately willing to give this a try!
 
I use to love swiss steak when I was a little girl. I just don't know exactly how my mom made it and she doesn't remember anymore.
 
Good girl! I'm very proud of you. Now was it as hard as you thought? It does look good. Tom and Justin liked it so that is a good thing. I bet Kyle didn't even taste it. lol You're on a roll honey.

Barb
 
You are right ... Kyle said "yuck" right off the bat. I want oatmeal! LOL

It wasn't hard - the part that was a little difficult was finding a setting on the stove where it wouldn't boil so darn much. I HATE electric stoves.
 
My mom use to make Swiss steak but she used onions and did not use tomatoes. I remember pepper but none of the other spices. She served it with mashed potatoes and either green beans or a salad or mixed vegetables.
Same here--no tomatoes. I make it the same way my mom did, with onions and (if I have them) mushrooms, pepper and garlic (or garlic powder if I don't have garlic), served with mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans.

:)Barbara
 
I can't imagine swiss steak without tomatoes, I guess I have McC's to thank for that. I guess I have always assumed that swiss steak was not swiss without the maters even though I have seen recipes to the contrary. I would love to see the recipe myself Barbara.
 
I just brown the meat in a little olive oil (sometimes I dredge it in flour first, sometimes I don't). When it is browned on both sides, I add water, chopped onion, mushrooms, and minced garlic. I cover it tightly and simmer until the meat is tender. Then I make the gravy. Very simple, and nothing really special, but I love it.

:)Barbara
 
Alton Brown's recipe is very good start .... I changed his just ever so slightly to make it like my Dad's, which is STILL better, he uses Joy of Cooking
(but it's not in the new edition!!! CRAZINESS I tell you!)
I use onion, garlic, celery, carrot, a can of diced tomato, worcestershire..... serve over mashed potatoes.
anyway, here's Alton's....

Swiss Steak Recipe : Alton Brown : Food Network
 
In my area this cooking method --- brown the meat -- braise in a "gravy" is very common/popular. Tenderized top or bottom round, as well as chicken (fricassee) pork chops, pork neck bones etc, and various game animals are used...Mostly Sans tomatoes, but depending on the cook ---In some circles the process is referred to as "gravy down" --- As in "I'm gonna 'gravy down" some pork chops for supper tonight". Within the past week I have had (southern) Chicken fricassee, and "gravy downed" pork chops just last night....Served with rice/potatoes and buttermilk biscuits any version is 'stick to your ribs' good stuff!!
 
I dredge in flour, brown in oil, add sliced onions, garlic, salt, pepper, mushrooms and/or green peppers if available, chicken stock, and tomato sauce or tomato paste.

Cover and simmer til tender.
 
Well I added the green peppers for more flavor. I kinda of reminded me of Chicken Caccatore (however that is spelled) - but bland because of the meat. I may have to try a packet of seasoning - something was missing for sure.

Right before you return the steak to the pot you could add 1/2 cup or so of white wine.

Season every step of the way: Steak, onions, tomato sauce. Then check for a final seasoning near the end of the cooking time.

Kosher or Sea Salt works best. Just don't be afraid of it, a light dusting of salt and fresh ground pepper will wake up anything.

It looks like some fat pooling on the top, you could skim that off too.

Looks great.
 
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