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My mom used to make a wonderful swiss steak when she was alive. Unfortunately she left behind no receipe. I remember it was dredged in flour, but can't fiqure out the cut and anything else. Anyone have a tried and true receipe that they'd like to share?

My mom used to make it with round steak. Some people use chuck steak.

Pound the meat with a tenderizer mallet, dredge in well-seasoned flour, and brown in hot oil. Chop a small onion, remove the meat from the pan and saute the onion in the remaining oil for a couple of minutes. Return the meat to the pan, add a can of tomatoes (crushed) with their liquid, and a small sliced green pepper. Cover and simmer on low until fork tender - usually 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Thicken the juices with a flour/water paste to make gravy.

I've never made this often, because of personal preferences; but if I were doing it for my family, I'd definitely add some garlic and maybe a generous pinch of dried thyme.

I LOVE Swiss steak and make it just like Nettiejay. Same cut of meat(round steak) and pounding and browning. I use my electric skillet and add some Italian seasoning to the tomatoes. I always serve it with rice and some green beans on the side.

I'm going to have to try Nettiejay's for a change of pace. For years, I've used this recipe:

CAMPBELL'S EASY & GOOD SWISS STEAK
1 1/2 lbs. roundsteak (3/4" thick)
1 can Golden Mushroom Soup (no substitute)
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/2 c chopped canned tomatoes
1/4 c water
Dash ground pepper

Pound steak; cut into serving-size pieces. In skillet, brown steak in shortening (I use Wesson oil); pour off fat. Add remaining ingredients. Cover, simmer at least 1 1/4 hrs. or until tender. Stire often. We like it with mashed potatoes because of the wonderful gravy it makes. Serves 4-6.

My mother taught me how to make her version of Swiss Steak -- no tomatoes.

Season steak with pepper and garlic salt, dredge in flour, and pound to tenderize. We did not have one of those tenderizing hammers -- we used the edge of a saucer plate. Keep adding flour as necessary and continue pounding and turning meat over as needed.

Cut into appropriate size, brown in oil, remove to side, add sliced or diced onions to the oil and brown, drain excess oil, add steak back to skillet, add water or broth to cover (scrape bottom of pan to loosen everything stuck to bottom), bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook til fork tender. Remove steak carefully to serving bowl and thicken juices with flour or corn starch to make a yummy gravy. Cover steak with gravy and serve with mashed potatoes.

The local Amish restaurant serves a similar Swiss Steak. No tomatoes.

Personally I use my small pressure cooker to cook the meat -- but that's another story.

MLV1
Thats it- the way mom used to do,down to using a plate to pound and pound. Will circulate this on to my kids as they so loved her Swiss Steak.
Many thanks! Will be on my menu this year as well.

My mother's was very similar to nettiejay's. She would cover a magazine with a couple of layers of waxed paper, lay the round steak (cut on portion sizes) on top, and pound the meat with the edge of a saucer.

I get alot of help at my local meat counter, perhaps others could as well.
Here they offer "round steak, cut for Swissing."
It is a thicker cut of round steak, about 1" thick. I then ask them to send the round steak twice through the tenderizer.

When I offered to bring a meal to my brother's home earlier this spring as they were dealing with serious issues we had this cute conversation:

Me: I'd like to bring a meal to you later on this week.
DB: Nah, don't, the neighbors have been bringing stuff.
Me: I want to say something and please don't misunderstand me. In your situation when people call and offer their help, please don't turn them down, try to find something that you need or to have done and they can do, even little of littlest things. I'm bringing Mom & Dad down to visit, and I want to know what to bring for dinner, meatloaf?
DB: Nah, I don't like Mom's meatloaf.
Me: Well, I don't use Mom's recipe, mine has no tomatoes of anykind.
DB: WE just had hamburgers, pork burgers and are finishing the last of those tonight.
Me: How about a roast beef or Swiss steak.
DB: Yeah, Swiss steak sounds good.
Me: I make it with a tomatoey sauce and carrots, celery & onions, etc.
DB: No, just lightly dust the pieces with flour, brown them and make a thin gravy and bake it. No seasonings.
Me: That's what Mom always made and we call it Steak au Naturelle, I can do that. And I can bring thus and so to go with it, how many folks are usually there at suppertime?
DB: About 14 or 15. But don't bring anything else, we have some salads and desserts already here.

So, this time I asked the butcher to cut 2 round steaks at least 1 1/4 inch thick and tenderize. I took buffet potatoes to bake along side in the oven. We didn't stay for supper, but later a member of the other side of the family asked about my Swiss steak because it was so tender and thick. I was really worried because I had two round steaks browned and packed into a large baker in two layers and didn't know if it would bake up all pieces tender.

My brother is a very fussy eater, I just love him though for his honesty about how he likes his food. This conversation will forever be a hoot of a sweet memory for me at a very difficult time in his life.

The next week I took a 5# beef rump roasted with carrots, onion and potatoes, cucumbers vinaigrette, a cranberry Jell-O that his wife had given me the recipe for, Mom brought fresh baked bread & homemade Angelfood cake as it was his birthday. There were 16 of us for dinner. His wife's family recognized the Jell-O as their favorite from Thanksgiving! Her family had made a recipe DB had dug out of the recipe box and our family recognized the Oreo ice cream dessert as a favorite from our holiday dinners that my DSIL always brought. She had passed peacefully that morning.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lurah,

quote:

Originally posted by MyLifeVacation1:
My mother taught me how to make her version of Swiss Steak -- no tomatoes.

Season steak with pepper and garlic salt, dredge in flour, and pound to tenderize. We did not have one of those tenderizing hammers -- we used the edge of a saucer plate. Keep adding flour as necessary and continue pounding and turning meat over as needed.

Cut into appropriate size, brown in oil, remove to side, add sliced or diced onions to the oil and brown, drain excess oil, add steak back to skillet, add water or broth to cover (scrape bottom of pan to loosen everything stuck to bottom), bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook til fork tender. Remove steak carefully to serving bowl and thicken juices with flour or corn starch to make a yummy gravy. Cover steak with gravy and serve with mashed potatoes.

The local Amish restaurant serves a similar Swiss Steak. No tomatoes.

Personally I use my small pressure cooker to cook the meat -- but that's another story.

That's pretty much what we call Country Style Steak.

quote:

My mom used to make a wonderful swiss steak when she was alive.

Mine too! Makes me nostalgic. I just remembered she used the edge of a saucer to pound the flour and seasonings into the meat. Now back to read the other posts.