Swiss Steak
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the steak
Salt and pepper the one-pound round steak.
Dredge the steak well with flour and beat, fold together and beat again, dredging with flour each time folded.
Brown and braise
Fry the steak until brown in a small amount of fat.
When browned, add one pint of boiling water.
Cover and cook for thirty minutes, adding more water as needed.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Round steak
- Tough cut that becomes tender with slow moist cooking, providing the main body of the dish.
- Flour (in the method)
- Coats the steak so it browns well and helps thicken the cooking liquid.
- Fat (in the method)
- Conducts heat for frying, producing browning on the steak surface.
- Boiling water
- Forms the moist cooking liquid that braises the steak during covered cooking.
The step that matters
Dredge and beat the steak. Beating drives flour into the meat's surface, which tenderises the fibres and helps the coating brown evenly. Dredging between folds builds an even flour layer that later thickens the cooking liquid.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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