Delicious Country Baked Steak With Onion Gravy

We really enjoy baked county steak and gravy but haven’t had it in a year, so when I saw Chef Dennis’ recipe for Smothered Cube Steak on his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog I decided to adapt it.  His dish uses cubed steak and it is totally made on the cooktop but I wanted to bake it, so I used his spices and instructions through the gravy step then added everything to a pan to bake.  For Dennis’ original recipe and his usual good pics, you can click on the above link.

Country Baked Steak With Onion Gravy (for eight servings)

The Ingredients:

Steak

3 lb, ¾” thick sirloin, round steak (see note)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

all-purpose flour, as needed for dredging

4 tablespoon olive oil

Onion Gravy

4 cups sweet onion thinly sliced – white or yellow onion can be used

4 tablespoon unsalted butter

4 tablespoon all-purpose flour

4 cup beef broth

2 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste

4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoon Dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard

Note: Dennis used cubed steak but two often, I’ve found it to contain gristle so I bought un-cubed steak, trimmed it well and used my Jaccard and a long bake to tenderize it.

The Instructions:

Steak

Add the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, dry mustard, chili powder, and black pepper to a small bowl.

Whisk the spices to combine, and set aside until needed.

Use the Jaccard liberally and pound steak to ½ inch thick. (Ours was already thin.)

*Letting the beef come to room temperature before pan frying will help it cook more evenly.

Rub the seasoning blend on both sides of each steak.

Dredge the seasoned cube steaks in the flour, shaking off any excess flour.

When the skillet is hot, add the floured seasoned steaks to the pan and sear the steaks for 2- 3 minutes on each side.

Remove the cooked steaks from the skillet, and place them in the baking pan.

Onion Gravy

Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter to the skillet.

Add the sliced onions with the melted butter and toss to coat the onions. Cook the onions for 15-18 minutes until the onions are nicely browned.

Reduce the temperature to low, and add the flour to the onions. Stir to mix the flour into the onions and let the onion mixture cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and seasonings to the pan and mix to combine with the onions to make the gravy.

Pour the gravy over the steak and bake at 350F for two hours until the meat is fork tender.

Remove the meat to a platter .

Eliza and her parents joined us and we served the meal family style with the steak, plate-mashed boiled potatoes, and a favorite Malibu stringless pole green bean for a real comfort food meal.

The Verdict:

We all thought the fall-apart-tender meat was very good with good spices and the onion gravy was delicious.  The meat was pre-cut and it was only ¼” thick which allowed it to get a little too done.  Next time I’ll have the butcher cut the steak to ¾“ thick and I’ll pound it to a heavy ½” thick.  I believe this is the new go-to recipe for this dish.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/22/23 meal date