Swiss Steak

This recipe came from the Food Network’s, Alton Brown, here:  Swiss Steak

Swiss steak that I have had in the past has kind of been a modified stroganoff on either noodles or rice or mashed potatoes.  This recipe didn’t specify “how” to eat it, but the family had it on mountains of mashed potatoes, which was delicious since you end up with lots of wonderful thick sauce.

I made a couple of modifications to the recipe of course, mostly in the meat department.  My version is below.

Ingredients

~3 pounds (before trimming) of chuck steak or roast
salt 
black pepper 
all-purpose flour
vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced (or equivalent pre-minced)
2 stalks celery, chopped about 1/4” thick
1- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup red wine

Directions

Trim the meat fairly meticulously of fat and connective tissue and cut into roughly 1/2” thick by 1”x1.5” pieces.  (This takes awhile with chuck, but the resulting flavor and tenderness using this meat is amazing.)  Season meat liberally with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour.  The original recipe calls for using a “needling” tenderizer at this step.  (I used a Jaccard meat tenderizer  which we happen to have, but I think you could probably pound the meat with a tenderizer or maybe even skip this step since the chuck comes out so tender.)  After tenderizing, dredge again in flour.

Select a dutch oven like Le Crueset that is large enough to hold all the finished ingredients in about half it’s volume.  This will cook covered in the oven for a couple hours as the final step.

In the dutch oven you selected, over medium to medium-high heat cook the meat in small batches in a thin layer of oil, turning once, to brown.  Meat will not be cooked all the way through.  Remove batches to a plate with paper towel to absorb excess oil.  You may need to add more oil in the process, make sure it is shimmering up to heat before adding meat.  Make sure not to burn the bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add more oil if necessary and sauté the onions and celery until soft.  Add the garlic at the end without browning it.  Deglaze pan with a little red wine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together.  Add meat back in and make sure liquid just covers the meat, if not, add some more beef broth.

Cover the pot and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 2 hours.  Test seasoning for salt and pepper and serve over mashed potatoes.

I served this with green beans butter steamed with onions and bacon:

Trim and cut fresh green beans to serve 6.  Chop about 1/2 of an onion.  Chop up about 2-3 slices of bacon.  Cook the bacon in a little bit of olive oil in a large non-stick fry pan that you can cover.  Add the onions when the bacon is almost cooked.  Sauté onions until soft.  Add beans and about a tablespoon of butter plus a little cayenne pepper to taste (dash or two) and generous salt and pepper.  Saute for a couple minutes to coat beans, add about 1/4 cup + of chicken broth and cover.  Turn down heat to a simmer and cook until beans are done.  Uncover and reduce remaining liquid to almost gone.