Goose Swiss Steak

This old-school recipe is one I associate with childhood visits to my grandmother’s in south-central Pennsylvania.  She always made this tender slow-braised recipe with beef, but it is well-suited for any red meat like goose or venison. If you have reservations about the flavor of goose meat this recipe is a good place to start.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 3 ½ hours

3 goose breast halves

½ c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. coarse kosher salt

1 tsp. paprika

¾ tsp. garlic powder

3 Tbsp. bacon fat

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 c. dry red wine

2 medium onions, sliced ¼” thick

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained, juice reserved

4 c. beef or venison stock

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh parley

½ tsp. whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Finely minced fresh rosemary

Freshly grated lemon zest

Clean and trim goose breasts, checking carefully for shot.  Cut in half vertically then horizontally to create 4 medium-size cutlets from each breast, pat dry with paper towels.

Pound each cutlet with a meat mallet to ¼” thickness. In a medium bowl combine flour, black pepper, salt, paprika and garlic powder. Coat each cutlet with seasoned flour and lightly pound in flour. Tie the thyme, parsley, bay leaf and peppercorns into a bundle in a piece of cheesecloth and set aside.

Preheat oven to 300°. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 Tbsp. bacon fat and 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Brown cutlets on both sides in 2-3 batches, making sure they are not crowded in the pan. After first batch browns, transfer meat to a large roasting pan, deglaze skillet with 1 cup of beef stock and add to the roasting pan. Wipe skillet clean and continue browning meat in bacon fat and olive oil, deglazing after each batch. After the last batch deglaze the skillet with wine; let wine reduce by half and add to the roasting pan. In the same skillet, reduce heat to medium-low, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil, add onions and sweat until translucent. Stir in 2 c. beef broth, juice from tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce and heat to boiling, scraping the brown bits. Transfer to roasting pan and add the herb bundle and more broth as necessary to just cover meat.

Cook covered for 1 hour, turn meat over and stir. Cover and cook another 30 minutes. Turn meat over again, add tomatoes and vinegar and return to oven, uncovered, and continue cooking another 1-2 hours or until meat breaks easily with a fork, stirring every 30 minutes and adding beef broth as necessary to ensure meat is barely covered with liquid. Once sauce has thickened and darkened to a rich brown-red color, cover for remaining baking time to prevent further evaporation of sauce.

Serve over mashed potatoes and garnish with very finely minced fresh rosemary and freshly grated lemon zest.

While there’s still a chill in the air it’s an ideal time to make a few more comfort foods. Swiss Steak is one of our family’s favorites. The area in south-central Pennsylvania where my grandparents lived has heavy German and Dutch population known for their down-home farm-style cooking. I remember thinking as a kid that this was from Switzerland and seemed like a fancy dish. The “swiss” part isn’t the country, but a term for the way it is prepared. The Gourmet Sleuth web site says, “According to the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink; the term swissing does not come from Switzerland but is in fact an English term. Swissing is a method of smoothing out cloth between a set of rollers. Swiss steak is normally pounded flat before cooking. The recipe first appeared in print in 1915.”

I served this at a get-together with friends who had three pre-teen daughters that were certain they didn’t like goose and would never eat it. The girls didn’t ask (so we parents didn’t tell) and they all came back for seconds.