According to The American Century Cookbook, recipes first starting showing up for Swiss steak in the 1930s. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum popularized it in the late 40s by promoting the recipe as a use for its foil. Their recipe had you line a roasting pan with foil and cook the steak in the oven. (Ours below is done on the stovetop.) The “Swiss” in Swiss Steak has nothing to do with Switzerland, but refers to the process of tenderizing a tough cut of meat. The recipe below is my mother’s method for making Swiss Steak.
Best Sides to Serve With Swiss Steak
In this recipe we are cooking our side vegetables — potatoes and carrots — in the tomato-y braising liquid alongside the steak. This way they’ll soak up some of the flavor from the steak. If you want to braise your side vegetables with the steak, my mother recommends par-cooking the vegetables either by steaming or boiling until no longer raw but still crunchy, and then adding them to the pan with the steak toward the end of cooking. Par-cooking helps make sure they cook through in the low heat of the oven. You can also serve Swiss steak alongside roasted vegetables. If you’re feeling fancy, try roasting these hasselback potatoes and some Brussels sprouts in the oven while the steak cooks on the stovetop.
More Favorite Steak Recipes
Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy Rolled Stuffed Flank Steak Chicken Fried Steak Steak Diane Peppercorn Steak
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. 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, if using a high BTU gas range you may want to prop the pot up on some balled up foil to give it more distance from the heat.) Cook for 1 1/2 hours. 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. To serve, remove the steak and slice it on a carving board. Alternatively, you could have started with individual steaks that were smaller. Spoon the sauce over the steak.
