Swiss Steak in Mushroom Sauce

My Mom often made Swiss Steak when I was a kid, and I loved it. It was one of my favorites meals Mom made. But I always thought this dish had something to do with Switzerland. Not until I was in my late teens or so, did I find out that the word swiss, as in Swiss Steak, meant the process of preparing the meat, and had nothing to do with the country of yodeling! Even so, it remains to this day, one of my favorite meals.

To "swiss" the meat means to pound it thin, or to pound it tender, or to cook it on low temps for longer periods of time to tenderize it. Typically you would use a cheaper cut of meat that tends to be on the tougher side. Today I am using beef bottom round steak. Lucky me, the butcher had already cut this meat into thin pieces and I didn't have to do any pounding.

2 pounds beef bottom round or beef chuck
1/2 an onion, sliced into thin strips
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Salt & Pepper to taste



If your beef pieces are on the larger size, cut them into serving sized pieces. If they are more than about half an inch thick, pound them a few times until they are about half an inch thick. (I usually put plastic wrap around it loosely, so any pounding induced splatters don't get me.) Place in a skillet over medium heat until all sides are browned. It won't take very long. (Some people flour their meat before browning it, but I don't do that step.)

Preheat oven to 300.

While the meat is browning, take your covered casserole and put about 1/3 of the can of undiluted cream of mushroom soup on the bottom. Place about 1/3 of your onion slices over that.



When the meat is browned on all sides, place it on top of the mushroom soup & onions in the bottom. Then top with the remaining soup & onions. Sprinkle salt and pepper if you wish.

Place the cover on the casserole and put in oven for two hours.

The mushroom soup will thin out a little but not a lot. You can use it to make gravy if you wish but we just use it as a 'sauce' over the meat. The meat should be quite tender.