Fork Tender Swiss Steak with a Flavorful Beefy Tomato Sauce. Done Stove top, in a Slow Cooker or Oven Braised for a Delicious Comforting Meal. Add in your choice of herbs to shape the Flavors and serve with Mashed, Roasted or Steamed Potatoes, Crispy Fries, Rice or some Buttered Pasta including Egg Noodles.
What is Swiss Steak
It may be that the original Swiss Steak, introduced in the early 1900s, comes from Schmorbraten, a German recipe that is three centuries old. The name Swiss refers to pounding out tougher cuts of meat with a seasoned flour until the meat could not absorb any more flour. The Sauce is a Heavy Beef or Veal Stock with a bit of Tomato in it. In modern versions, a lot of Tomatoes are used to create a Tomato Beef Sauce.
Swiss Steak Ingredients
Made with Round Steak, Flour, Salt & Pepper, Vegetables (Onion, Garlic & Tomatoes), Beef Broth, Worcestershire, Tomato Paste and optionally Wine. With various herbs of choice such as Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Bay Leaves and Marjoram. Use Parsley to garnish.
Swiss Beef
Commonly used is Beef or Steak Round, Chuck or Beef Shoulder. Originally made with cheaper, tougher cuts of meat. The Beef would be pounded out thin and braised until fork tender.
Round Steak
Round Steak about 1/2 inch or less thick.
Swiss Pork
Bone in or Boneless Pork chops can be used just as well. Although you will want to use a Fatty piece of pork with good marbling of fat for best results.
Pork Chops
1/2 inch Pork Chops. They don’t really need to be tenderized. Allowing you to use both boneless or bone in Pork Chops.
Swiss Meat
Swiss Steak gets its name from swissing the meat. Swissing is a term that is used to describe tenderizing meat. Either by pounding it out with a meat mallet or using a tenderizing press. It may originally refer to a bunch of small slices in a hatch pattern made on the surface of the meat.
Use a meat mallet to tenderize and thin out the meat to an even thickenss of about 1/2 inch thick or slightly less. Use a meat Tenderizer Press to tenderize already thin slices of meat. It tenderizes the meat by perforation with a bunch of needles without thinning it out more.
Meat Tenderizer Press
Press down on thinly sliced meat a bunch of times to perforate the meat and tenderize it.
Swiss Steak Seasoning
The main seasoning used is the Salt & Pepper blend. Used to season both the meat before being dredge in flour and to season the sauce to taste before serving.
Salt & Pepper
- 1 Tbl Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
Besides the Salt & Pepper Blend, a few additional Herbs can be added to the sauce itself to shape the overall flavors. Common ones are Bay Leaves, Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram, Rosemary with Parsley used as garnishing. Sometimes Paprika is added
I like the combination of just a pinch of both Oregano & Thyme with about 1/8 tsp of Ground Bay Leaves or a few Bay Leaves to simmer in the sauce.
Swiss Steak Flour
All Purpose Flour is used to coat the steaks and repeated while pounding out the meat flat until they can no longer absorb any more flour and are thin, about 1/2 inch. If the Steaks are already at 1/2 inch or a bit less. Then perforate to tenderize and press the flour into the meat, ensuring they are well coated.
The Flour on the Steaks will create a fond on the Pan while searing that when lifted by the sauce will add so much more flavor. It also assists in thickening the sauce a bit.
Dredged Round Steak
Season Meat with the Salt & Pepper blend and dredge in flour, pressing it in. Shake to get rid of any excess and set aside.
For a Gluten Free Swiss Steak Meal, Flour can be omited with just searing the seasoned steaks. You will also want to ensure you use a gluten free altenrative to regular worcestershire.
Swiss Steak Sauce
Originally, Swiss Steak was a Beef or Veal Stock based sauce. Tomatoes were added later. The slight tang from the sauce comes from the Worcestershire sauce. Some will add in prepared Mustard and/or Lemon Juice for tang. So the base Swiss Steak Sauce is Beef Broth, Tomatoes, Tomato Paste & Worcestershire sauce with Salt & Pepper to adjust the seasoning and choice of Herbs. Always with Onions & Garlic.
This recipe makes use of 3 Tomatoes to create a Beefy Tomato Sauce. For more of a Tomato Beef Sauce, use more Tomatoes. You can also exchange with 1 Cup or more of Crushed Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce for a smoother sauce.
Vegetables
Just Onions & Tomatoes with Garlic Cloves. However, you can add in additional items like Carrots, Celery, Bell Peppers or Mushrooms.
Swiss Steak Vegetables
Dice 3 Tomatoes with 3 Garlic Cloves along with 1 Onion, diced or sliced.
Swiss Steak Wine
Wine is completely optional but can offer up a complexity of flavors. Any good drinking wine or cooking wine can be used, even Beer! Sake is something I usually have on hand and it pairs up well for either Pork or Beef. A Rice cooking wine can be used just the same as Sake.
Sake
Sake or Rice cooking Wine is good all around for either Pork or Beef.
Goya Cooking Wine
Goya cooking Wines, either White or Red is really good. They contain a good amount of Salt, so additional seasoning may not be needed. Add Pepper to taste. You can also add in less of this, about 1/4 C.
Seared Swiss Steak
Combine the Salt & Pepper and Season the Steak. Sear the steak on both sides in a Fat like Beef Suet, Bacon Fat, rendered Fat, Lard, or Oil. About 2–3 minutes per side. Searing the Steaks will create a Fond that can be lifted once we add the Vegetables & Tomato Paste.
Seared Steak
Sear the dredged Steak in Beef Suet over medium heat for about 2–3 minutes per side.
For a Gluten free version, you can just sear the seasoned steaks without any dredging. You will also want to ensure you use a gluten free altenrative to regular worcestershire.
Beef Suet
Beef Suet offers up the best flavors. Or use rendered fat from the steak trimmings.
How to cook Swiss Steak
Swiss Steak can be cooked Stove top, in a Slow Cooker or Oven Braised. Use Beef Suet as the fat for best flavors or render the fat trimmed from the Meat, top with Lard to make about 1/4 C of fat.
First, start by searing the Salt & Peppered Steak in Fat over medium heat for about 2–3 minutes per side to brown. Remove and set aside to add back in at the end before the low and slow cook. You can choose to dredge the Steaks in Flour or not.
Swiss Steak Vegetables
After the Steaks have been removed, add the Vegetables & Tomato Paste and scrape the bottom to lift the fond. Cook until the Vegetables have softened, just a few minutes.
Wine
Optionally add 1/2 C Wine and turn the heat up to max. Cook for just a few minutes.
Bring to a Boil
Add in the Water, Bouillon Cube and Worcestershire with choice of Herbs. Bring it to a boil over max heat. From here everything can go into a slow cooker, oven or finished stove top.
Simmer low and slow
Add the Steaks in and simmer on medium low heat for about 2 hours while covered, or until the meat is tender. Gently mix once in a while.
- Slow Cook: on low for 6–8 hours or high for 4–5 hours, or until fork tender.
- Oven: at 350 F covered for 2 hours or until fork tender.
Reducing Swiss Steak Sauce
You can reduce the sauce even more for a thicker sauce, or add in 1 Tbl of Butter & Flour mixed into a paste and added to the Sauce while reheating in the pan. If you don’t want the Flour as the thickener, you can do 1/2 Tbl of Cold Water & Corn Starch mixed well and then added while heating in a pan to thicken the sauce.
Remove the Steaks carefully as they are extremely tender, and reduce the consistency of the sauce by boiling down or adding in your choice of thickener (either Flour & Butter or Cold Water & Starch). If a smooth sauce is desired. Strain the vegetables out before reducing or thickening.
As the Sauce boils down, the flavors will intensify. Adjust the seasoning if needed at the very end.
Swiss Steak Variations
There are many version of Swiss Steak. The main thing with Swiss Steak is succulent fork tender meat in a Beef & Tomato Sauce with a slight tang and seasoned well. Outside of that, Swiss Steak is a highly customizable dish. Lending itself pretty well to various Herbs or Vegetables being added in. Even increasing the Beef Broth to Tomato Ratio to yield a dominant Beef Broth based sauce or dominant Tomato based sauce.
The Viscosity or thickness of the sauce is entirely up to you. Strain out the vegetables for a smooth sauce, keep them in for a chunky sauce, add thickener to thicken the sauce or reduce to both thicken and strengthen the flavors.
Serve the Swiss Steaks on Mashed, Roasted or Steamed Potatoes, Crispy Fries or various Rice dishes or Buttery Pasta including Egg Noodles. No matter how you do it, its a comforting delicous meal, perfect for a Sunday evening.
Equipment
- 1 Deep Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 Round Steaks - 1/2 inch or a bit less and tenderized
- 1/4 C Flour - for dredging
- 1/4 C Beef Suet - or other Fats
- 1 Large Onion - diced or sliced
- 3 Tomatoes - diced
- 2-3 cloves Garlic - minced
- 1 Tbl Worcestershire Sauce & Tomato Paste - each
- 1/2 C Sake - Optional, you can use Red Wine or White Wine
- 3 C Water
- 1 Cube Beef Bouillon
- To Taste Herbs of Choice - Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Marjoram, Bay Leaves. Use Parsley to garnish
Salt & Pepper Blend
- 1 Tbl Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
Instructions
- Pound out the meat until about 1/2 inch or less. If already thin, then tenderize the meat gently with a meat mallet or meat tenderizer press.Combine the Salt & Pepper and season the Meat. Coat in flour, pressing the flour into the meat. Shake off any excess flour and set aside.
- Heat 1/4 C of Beef Suet or other Fats in a skillet on medium heat until very hot. Brown the Meat well on both sides, 2–3 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
- Add Tomato Paste & Vegetables (Onion, Carrots, Celery, Garlic and diced Tomatoes) to Skillet. Cook for a few minutes while scraping the bottom to lift the fond, before adding in Wine if using, to cook for a few more minutes.Stir in the Water, Bouillon Cube, Worcestershire and choice of Herbs. Bring to a Boil.
- Reduce to a Simmer and add the steaks back in. cover and set the heat to medium low – low to simmer for about 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Gently stir it around, scraping the bottom every so often.
- Once the meat is fork tender, adjust the seasoning with Salt & Pepper before serving or uncover and cook on medium heat until the sauce is the desired thickness, then adjust the seasoning and serve. Garnish with Parsley.
Notes
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- Slow Cook: on low for 6–8 hours or high for 4–5 hours, or until fork tender.
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- Oven: at 350 F covered for 2 hours or until fork tender.