Swiss Steak from a Crock Pot
Often confused with Salisbury Steak; a true Swiss Steak originated in America in the early 20th Century. It has nothing to do with Switzerland.
The great thing about the Internet is that there is a lot of information to choose from. The bad thing about the Internet is there is a lot of misinformation to choose from. Case in point here. Search for a Swiss Steak recipe and you'll find a very wide array of options, many of which scarcely resemble the original version of this recipe that was, according to the Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, first published in 1915 and later became a staple of school cafeteria lunch menus and Sunday church potluck suppers in the '50s and '60s.
Today, what constitutes a Swiss Steak has seemingly become quite convoluted. One food blogger I researched boasted a three ingredient "Swiss Steak" recipe that included: "Round or Swiss Steak, Cream of 'Something’ Soup, and Sweet Onions." The author had the audacity to call this Swiss Steak. Ignorance on the Internet knows no bounds.
First, to address the nescience of the food blogger above, there is no cut of beef called Swiss Steak. Secondly, pouring a can of "Cream of Something" into a Crock Pot with an unknown cut of beef and adding onions sounds awful even if the author had the conviction to at least identify which kind of soup she recommends. In any event, this is not Swiss Steak. Not even close.
Let's start with the cut of beef, and therein lies the reason for calling this dish Swiss Steak, which is not because it originated in Switzerland. It didn't. The name of this dish is derived from the verb "swissing," which is an English word that means to smooth out cloth between two rollers. The implication here is that a Swiss Steak must be similarly treated. The only two acceptable cuts of beef for a Swiss Steak are the top round or the sirloin. One blogger's recipe I researched used chuck. What he or she was essentially cooking was a pot roast, not Swiss Steak.
Swiss Steak is a dish that became popular in the Great Depression and then in the WWII and post war eras because it used cheap, less desirable cuts of beef, and in order to make them tender, you tenderized the beef with a meat mallet before you cooked it. Or absent a meat mallet, home cooks of the day would use the edge of a dinner plate.
These days, however, you can normally find what generally is referred to as "cube steak" or "minute steak", where the butcher has run slices of top round or top sirloin through a butcher’s tenderizer. You've no doubt seen these cuts of beef at the supermarket, where the meat appears as if it's been repeatedly scored through a machine. If you buy a piece of top round or top sirloin that has not been treated this way, then you won't be making Swiss Steak until you pull out your meat mallet and pound it out thoroughly on both sides.
Swissing, therefore, or tenderizing a slice of top round or top sirloin would be the first defining characteristic of a Swiss Steak. There are two more.
A Swiss Steak is braised, a method of cooking tough cuts of meat in liquid for a long period of time. Top sirloin to some degree, and top round for certain, are tough cuts of beef with very little fat. Scoring or pounding the meat with a mallet helps breaks down the meat's tough muscle fibers. But braising the beef thoroughly tenderizes it, as well as adds flavor to an otherwise unremarkable part of the cow.
Luckily, this defining characteristic isn’t overlooked in virtually all online recipes I have seen, but it is within the third defining characteristic that interpretation of this hundred-year classic undergoes considerable bastardization of ingredients in the braising liquid itself, which ultimately becomes the deliciously complex gravy that comprises the bulk of this dish’s flavor.
The original 1915 recipe used tomato, onion and green bell pepper, along with herbs of basil and oregano. The recipe that more probably catapulted this dish onto the American dinner table was published in a 1937 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It added celery and carrots to the recipe, and substituted thyme for the basil and oregano. To be sure, nothing I have ever eaten called Swiss Steak was absent tomatoes, the inclusion of which makes the third and final defining characteristic of a Swiss Steak. Yet, there are hundreds of so-called Swiss Steak recipes that instead use a mushroom-onion based sauce. These folks are confused. They have mistaken Swiss Steak for Salisbury Steak.
Now, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with beef that has been braised in a liquid with mushrooms and onions. You just cannot legitimately call it Swiss Steak. In the South, in fact, similarly prepared cuts of tenderized beef sirloin simmered in mushroom onion gravy is referred to as Smothered Steak.
The Swanson TV Dinner
Like Salisbury Steak, the Swiss Steak TV Dinner was a popular dish after it was introduced in 1962. This might be a source of confusion some people have between the two recipes. Salisbury Steak is ground beef, with a mixture of ingredients that include a filler, such as bread crumbs, that make it resemble more of a single serving meatloaf, which is then simmered briefly in a dark, rich mushroom cream sauce. Swiss Steak, on the other hand, is a cut of sirloin or top round that has been tenderized and braised for a long period of time in a tomato-based sauce. Even Swanson got that right for their TV Dinner, which advertised it had actually used Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup in their recipe.
There are three ways to braise this dish, or really any tough cut of meat, including chuck roasts and pork shoulder roasts: in a Dutch oven in the oven; in a Dutch oven on the stovetop, or in a Crock Pot. I prefer the latter because it is goof proof and requires no attention other than turning the temperature down about midway through the cooking process. Absent that, the oven method is preferable; cap the Dutch oven with its lid and set it in a 325°F oven for 3-4 hours. That is almost as goof proof requiring little attention. I do not recommend the stovetop cooking method; it requires constant attention and the results can be disappointing.
Swiss Steak
Ingredients
- 2 lbs top round or top sirloin beef, sold as "minute steaks" or "cube steaks," in 4 oz portions.
- 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes (like, Hunt's)
- 1- 1/2 cups beef stock (like, Kitchen Basics or Swanson's)
- 1- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1/2 cup baby carrots, sliced into "coins"
- 1/2 cup finely diced celery
- 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tbsp ground thyme
- 1 tbsp paprika
- all-purpose flour for dredging
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 6-8 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Dredge each portion in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, pressing the flour into the crevasses of the meat.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and sauté each piece of steak about 2 minutes per side to a light brown.
- Set the steaks aside on a plate, then sauté the onion, bell pepper, carrots and celery until the onions begin to pick up a little caramelized color, 8 - 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and and sauté another minute.
- Place the steaks along with any accumulated juices into the bottom of a pre-heated Crock Pot.
- Add the can of tomatoes, the sautéed vegetables and then all the liquid ingredients, thyme and paprika. Give it all a stir. Add more liquid if needed; you want the meat and vegetables submerged.
- Cook on high for 2 hours and low for another 3 hours.
- Serve on mashed potatoes or rice with the delicious gravy spooned over.
Notes
- Although mushrooms are not traditional to the Swiss Steak recipe, you can certainly add a 4 oz can of mushrooms (like, Green Giant) for some added texture and flavor.
