Cooking the Chronicle – May 23

There is rarely a recipe or dish that I am not familiar with in some way, whether it be sometime I cook regularly, to something I have researched or read in a book.

But this week’s recipe for Swiss steak, (“Simple and scrumptious: Swiss steak,” May 23) was totally new to me. What is Swiss steak? A method of cooking or a cut of meat? Is it regional to Switzerland? Unlike Jessica Grann, I did not grow up with this in my family’s recipes and felt I needed to do some research before proceeding.

I learned SO much. I thought this recipes had a bit of a retro feel and I was right—Swiss steak peaked in the mid-20th century as an affordable comfort food on American dinner tables. That’s right: there’s no relationship to Switzerland, which probably means I can stop capitalizing Swiss. It’s actually named after the technique of “swissing,” which used to be done to fabric by beating it flat or flattening it under heavy-duty rollers. It’s exactly what you do here. Take an inexpensive cut of meat and flatten it as a means o tenderizing.

The flavors and ingredients are so simple, but quite comforting. You dredge the meat in flour before browning, and the remaining bits mixed with veg and tomatoes makes a nice light sauce that goes great with the rice. I would also like to try this with mashed potatoes, which my family likes more than rice.

As always, when we served this my daughter demanded it be dipped into ketchup. I am happy to report, for those who want to attempt this, she considered it “very yum.” And my husband reports back that leftovers the next day hold up quite well.

One note from my cooking experience. I did need that extra 15 minutes of cooking time that Grann suggested. You should absolutely go by tenderness of the meat to a fork rather than cooking time.