My Favorite Way to Cook Cube Steak - In Appalachia 

I’m a first US born generation, my parents are Mexican. I pride myself in knowing how to cook Mexican food from scratch, with no additional artificial seasonings. I only use salt, pepper, herbs, and spices. I like to wander and learn how to cook real American food. I’m so happy to have stumbled upon your RU-vid channel. You make your recipes seem so simple, yet, so appetizing.

I love it that you reached for the rubber spatula to get everything out of the pan. It shows you're a real cook. It drives me nuts when I see cooks empty a bowl or pot of whatever and leave a whole serving stuck inside.

This woman from Appalachia is a gem. I swear I could almost smell the ambrosia of her delicious looking cube steaks right through my phone screen! Her family has been blessed to have her in their home and kitchen!

There's not many people that cook like this anymore. I grew up here in Belmont NC I'm 62 and this is the kind of food we ate all the time. Thank god your showing these young people what southern food is all about! My Mom used to make my all time favorite, Pinto beans, fried potatoes, cold slaw and cornbread, and she would have a small plate with fresh tomatoes and sliced onion on it. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it...Rick

I spent more than 40 years living in a Canadian city, but now live in the mountains in the southern US. All I can say is that I LOVE it here! The people are friendly, the food is amazing and the culture is rich and still here. It's literally the best place in the world.

This video brought back memories of my mother. I was a grown man before I ever heard of cube steak. However, my mother made what we called a country-style steak. Instead of using the cube steak that you see in grocery stores today, she used round steak that she would cut up into large chunks. Then she had a small cast aluminum hammer that she used to tenderize the meat. She would put the chunks of steak on a cutting board and beat them like she was mad with them. Then, she would brown the steak in a large cast-iron frying pan the same way you did your cube steak in this video. Once it was browned, she would take it out and sauté some onions and make a pan almost full of gravy. Then she would return the steak to the pan and cover it and let it simmer until it was fork-tender. Add some rice and small baby lima beans and you had a meal fit for a king.

My mom used to do something like this only she called it "Swiss steak" and she would cook it low in an electric skillet. Most recipes call for tomato sauce in Swiss steak but mom only did beef broth with seasoning and thickened in to a light gravy. The actual slow cooking is what made that Swiss steak so tender and tasty. Now my mom has been gone for 15 years and she never wrote down her recipe, but I think I'm close to perfect when I try to recreate it, but of course there isn't anything like moms cooking. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

I just loved this, my mum used to make this when we were kids but it was called braising steak, the same method, served with greens & potatoes... Mum said her mum taught her how to cook it, so my granny was born in 1884, my mum in 1927 and so I have cooked it too... I just love how recipes connect us... I love your channel big hug from across the old pond 🇬🇧

Reconstituted French Onion soup makes an excellent substitute for chicken broth when making the gravy. It also adds another layer of flavor to the cube steaks. Also, a good dollop of quality sour cream on top after serving gives it a semi-stroganoff feeling. Garnish with some freshly chopped dill and you got a winner. Edit: also, try browning the meat in a cast iron Dutch oven on the stovetop, removing the meat after browning, make the gravy, replace the meat and all accumulated juices and place covered in an oven set at between 280⁰F and 300⁰F for about 2.5 to 3 hours. Less cleanup...tons of flavor.

I like the fact that you point out that home-cooking is almost foolproof once you understand the basics! I'm kind of an old fellow that has enjoyed cooking my entire life. I had a group of friends way back in high school, one of whom used to say (not kidding) "let's go over to Ken's house so he can simmer something up to eat!" Thanks as always for putting out these vignettes of life in Appalachia. Always a joy to watch. (Side note - I have a lifelong addiction to mashed potatoes with green peas on top, and gravy over the whole thing in a meal like the one you presented here. My wife of 40 years insists on "no foods touching', but she has managed to accept my particular eccentricity in this mixture.)

Our church would put on Salisbury steak dinners. I was in charge of browning the cube steaks just like you did. My wife finished them in the roasting pans. She added carrots, onions and celery. But used beef broth. After several hours steaks turned out tender & tasty. Used the leftover juices for soup base. It was fun to cook 200 or so pieces and see them enjoyed.😮

This one of the first things that my dad taught me how to cook growing up in Kentucky, but after making the gravy we just put the steaks back in the pan and let them simmer for about an hour, or hour and a half. We covered the pan with a lid. This is good stuff right here!! 😋

Looks good, Tipper! When I was little, we never had anything like this, because my father was a firm believer that whiskey money should never be wasted on 'food'. But once, Mama got ahold of a round steak (Lord only knows how), and she used the side of a saucer to beat it to to where it resembled what I later called it a "minute steak". She then fried it like you just did and made gravy. Well I would have loved anything at that time, but I still remember that beat-up round steak. Actually, I hadn't thought of that until your video. Thanks Tipper.

I can already tell this is going to cure my too dry and too done cube steaks! Can't wait to try it. And soon. UPDATE: Tried it! And it worked! Gravy from flour could use a little work but I had a backup. Best cube steak I ever made. Served with homegrown green beans, cooked with my garden onions, potatoes and garlic. Seasoned with country ham and bacon grease.

You are bringing back so many fond memories of my Mother. I can see her standing over the stove stirring the gravy for the cube steak. I don't remember her using chicken stock. Always milk. I remember putting a lot of pepper on the cube steak covered gravy. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. You are doing a wonderful job showing how to make these dishes taste incredible. Thank you.

I’m from Illinois and when I would go visit my grandmother in Arkansas my family would stop at a truck stop called Dixie’s and that meal looks just like the meal my Dad would get all the time. Thank you for bringing that memory back to me❣️

That looks like some fine dining. Mama used to batter her cubed steak in buttermilk and flour which gave it a wonderful flavor. I just had some buttered biscuits with apple butter so we all ate pretty good tonight. I put cubed steak in the crock pot sometimes with onions and cream of mushroom soup which is pretty good too. Thanks Tipper for showing us how it's done.

When going to grandma's house to have her fix my squirrels and rabbits, she taught me how to make gravy. She always said make sure you cook the flour before you add the milk or liquid. I can see why Matt has stayed around. Food like that makes for the best times with family around the table.

My mom would always do this dish completely in the iron pan. She would cut down the heat, put on the lid and cook it slow on the stove top. I do not think we had a crockpot. I cheat and use a pressure cooker. I also add chopped onions to my drippings. Great winter meal.

My mom made cube steak with cans of golden mushroom soup. Paired with mashed potatoes it was heaven.

"Low & Slow" makes the toughest meat tender. There's one thing I do different. I like to fry up the cube steak and make the gravy in bacon fat. I buy that fat in cans from the Rural King in my area. I then, like you, load up my slow cooker with all of that "heart hating" goodness. People think it's strange that some, "cob rough" looking guy like me likes to cook. My wife likes it though! I always enjoy the videos ya'll put out. It helps my sometimes flagging belief that there are far more good, decent, people in this country than otherwise.

Definitely going to try this! We're coming home to the appalaches next month. My husband is retiring from the military and we are finally leaving Colorado and the West behind. We've been here almost 5 years and it's too long. My grandmother left us a house and the Appalachians of Virginia. We're looking forward to the peace and quiet and a slower pace of life. Thank you for your channel I absolutely love it and I'm getting so many ideas for a garden this spring. Thank you so much.

That absolutely looks like something that would have come from my grandmother's kitchen. She was a true down home country cook. We live in Oklahoma but my family was originally from Kentucky. I know they brought a lot of that Appalachian culture with them and it is still here.

Born and raised in Charlotte. Went to school in Boone and never went back home. Western NC has always been in my heart and your voice is music to these ears.

Boy, that sure looks like good eating. Momma had an old covered electric skillet she finish them off in. She'd make them with gravy and mashed potatoes, green beans cooked in bacon grease, sliced home grown tomatoes, and we'd go to town on it. Thank you for your videos.

Cube Steak looks delicious, along with everything else. I used to be a butcher at the old East Tennessee Packing House in knoxville Tn.in the mid seventies.Looking at those Cube steaks, brought back a lot of good memories. Cut and cubed thousands of pounds of cubed steaks 🙂.Thanks for sharing your cooking tips for a tender cube steak,Tipper.

I am relatively new to the A.mountains, although l married up here about 40yrs ago - l came back after my husband died - l have about a hundred cookbooks from all over the world - l can't wait to try your recipes ! Shout out to everyone in the TN smokies, Thank-you for making me feel at home and welcoming me - l love and respect the people up here ! Ya'all know the difference between right and wrong , such a Blessing!

This is honestly one of my favorite channels for food and cooking. I have lived in the Midwest my entire life and it amazes me how much the food that I grew up eating, and fix today, is similar to the food of Appalachia. I guess it is just the stick to your ribs food of hardworking people no matter where you are from.

My grandfather loved a good cubed steak. He would definitely approve of this recipe. Looks delicious! Keep the recipes coming.

Even though I don’t eat red meat, I watch just because I love hearing the stories!🙂

1st thing we have to do is get a loan for the gas & groceries. Truly love your shows. Love cube steaks

This is the heart and soul of America. Thank you!

Oooo, Ms. Tipper! That looks delicious! Harvest time makes for some good eating! And cube steak isn’t an expensive cut either. We have a local restaurant that makes chicken fried cube steak that’s so big that I can easily get 2-3 meals from it. If I order it for breakfast, I’ll be fed for the day and an active day at that. Yummy!

We definitely I have to try this out because every time we’ve made cube steak it comes out like shoe leather . Thank ya kindly !!!

One of your most delicious looking meals ever ! Thank you !

WOW, this is delicious! I have never seen this done before. Thank you so much for sharing.

I love the sound of sizzling meat frying on the stove! I could almost smell it from your kitchen to my house, too. You know, like when you go outside early in the morning and you can smell someone made bacon for breakfast? Smells so good! Your recipe does look easy and yummy. I am thinking mushrooms and onions with the meat, too. Growing up, I don’t ever remember having cubed steak, just top round in a whole steak. My mom was not very adventurous in the kitchen. You could pretty much figure out what you were having for dinner by what day of the week it was. I, on the other hand, love variety. So I spend almost a full day pouring through my cookbooks making up menus that are different than last week’s and the week before’s. I don’t know which way is best - routine or variety, I guess just as long as it isn’t burnt! Which I confess, I did do two days ago - I forgot I needed to turn the stove down, and put some laundry away instead - smoke alarms can pierce your ears, can’t they? !!! I have cooked cubed steaks a lot on my own now, and like you, sometimes it turns out a little too chewy (ok, maybe a few times way too chewy!). I will definitely be using your recipe, thank you! That dinner sure looks more yummy than my beans, cabbage and ham hocks I am having tonight. I love your cooking videos! I like how you thoroughly explain what you are doing, and why. And I am also glad to see I am not the only one that struggles pouring from a heavy cast iron pan! Thank you for this video! Donna. : )

I haven't had cube steak in a long long time. My Grandma would make it for Grandpa, Mr. James and myself. It was mighty fine.

That looks so delicious! Very easy to make! Thank you for sharing and God bless you!!!

Can't wait to try this method! Thanks for sharing!

I do my cube steak similar to this but I use Beef broth instead of Chicken stock and put mine in the oven in a glass dish and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes then lower the temp to 300° and cook for one and a half to 3 hours with foil over the top of it. I also sometimes saute some chopped onions in the pan after I brown the meat and add them to the gravy.

My mom always called this Swiss Steak. I have always loved it.

Goodness Gracious- does that look amazing!!!! Thank you for posting this.

Looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing Pam’s cube steak & gravy recipe with us. Cheers Tipper! 👍😊👍

That's a wonderful recipe I think. It's exactly the way my little Aunt Tootie taught me to make it years ago except she used beef broth. I just use a large casserole in the oven for about 2 hours. We lost that precious lady, a true West Virginia Appalachian woman, just a couple weeks ago at 101 years old. I don't know of another woman who was treasured and loved by so many of us. She was a great cook too. Learned a lot from my Nanny during WWII. I'm definitely going to try that chicken stock.... I'll just bet that is awesome...thank you...🤗

I made this Sunday! We use one of the alternates you suggested to chicken stock, beef bouillon, with water, flour and those yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. It is a delicious and truly easy and foolproof method. The crockpot does most of the work and the biggest part of the mess is cleaned up long before supper. Thank you for sharing this! I'm sure it will inspire many.

Looks so yummy, I can't wait to try it! Your great big cast iron skillet reminds me much of the one my granny had. Thank you for sharing this recipe and for inviting us into your kitchen!💕

This looks great and I've struggled with it myself. I will give it a try soon. Love your way of explaining the recipe. A good soul🙏❤👩‍🍳

I use my instant pot to make cube steak (My absolute favorite meal (with mashed potatoes and butter beans). Because it is pressure cooked, the cubed steak comes out fall apart tender (in roughly 30 minutes). And pork cubed steak is pretty grand also. Thanks for your great channel.

Oh, that looks so good. I've never thought of adding chicken stock to make the gravy...I've just used water. I also add just a wee bit of garlic powder to the gravy...not a lot, just a little. Also never thought of finishing it up in the crockpot. Learn something new every day! Thanks. Diane

Been looking for a good recipe for cube steak, and I can't wait to try this out. Thanks for sharing it and all the best wishes for your family's lives.

I love these traditions you are sharing with us. Thank you so very much I will definitely be trying this out. Much love from Baja California 🤠✌🏻

Even though I grew up watching my mother cook this a a 101 times, to a completely tender result, honestly I’ve NEVER had the guts to even attempt cube steak. And I turned 50 this year ..LOL ..

My grandmother made cube steak too! Quite an excellent dish, all across the nation. Thanks for the video!

That looks wonderful, my mouth is watering. I love good home cooked meals

So so good. Thank you so much for reminding me what I need to be including in my meal planning.

LOOKS SO GOOD!!!! Very similar to the way my Mom makes her cube steak. My Dad was trucker for 31 years. He had his favorite restaurants marked out around the country ... but Mom's home cooking was always his favorite of course. Thanks for the recipe. Hope to try it soon. God bless.

Awesome, I've been a meat cutter for over 26 years and I ALWAYS like new home cooking recipes. I am VERY picky about the quality of my cuts of meat. Choice beef needs choice recipes 👍😁

This looks amazing!! I'll definitely try this the next time I see cube steaks! All your recipes are gems and the stories are so amazing! Thank you for transporting me to such a lovely place, your home is so beautiful and warm!

That looks delicious! Will have to try it. Thank you for sharing it with us.

My momma made wonderful cube steak, but like you I could never quite get the hang of it. So, I quit making it also. I may have to try Pam's recipe. I just love your videos. You are definitely down home people 🙂

I loved my cast iron skillets and used them for many years. I am old now and don't have the strength to use them, sure do miss cooking in them.

I haven't had cube steak in years. Guess what I'm cooking this weekend! Thanks Tipper for stirring up some fond memories and inspiring me to revisit this forgotten favorite.

What a fabulous, well balanced meal - I can't wait to try it! I never had this recipe & it sounds so good but inexpensive too + tender & easy to digest. Thank u so much!

I grew up in Kinston and Wilson, NC.......everybody called this Country Style Steak. Also added onions when frying the meat. Since this is one of my husband's favorite meals, I am really looking forward to trying it this way! Thanks to both you and Pam for sharing!!I One more thing......It's been a long time since I've heard anyone say "roast-nears." Love it!!

I can’t wait to try this! My cubed steak has always been a hit or miss. It usually just too tough. I have some deer cubes steaks in my freezer and I’m gonna make this in the next few day! I’ll let you know how they turn out! Thanks so much for sharing! Love y’all! ❤️

I have booked marked this video and made the cube steak twice and I love it, so good and so easy.

Wow! How simple and easy you make it look.

That looks delicious, and totally different than what we make heee in Oklahoma! What wonderful diversity in food our nation has!!!

Watching these videos always brings me back to memories of my mamaw, and I here the song almost home echoing in my mind. Thanks for the effort you put forth in all you bring to us.

Oh my goodness!! You have such delicious food!!! I will be making this!!! My Mom always made cube steak and I can’t wait to do this recipe!! God Bless you and your family this holiday season! Merry Christmas!

Love the recipe and thanks to you and Pam ..love y'all

I could have drooled looking at the finished product! Also, love that corn plate !

Looks really good, I’ve never had that before. I’m going to make this for sure! Thank you

Double D- licious! I love the simple foods made with love. Thank you and God bless ❤️

looks so good !! Your style of letting family each serve themselves is a great idea !!!

Now that's a lovely meal! I used to cook cube steak but I don't now. I live alone and just fix meals that are very simple to prepare. I enjoyed the demonstration, you always make things look so easy and that is because you are an excellent cook!

My mom and grandma always made cube steak. We had it with milk gravy and white bread and fried potatoes. I can make all of that, but it just tastes so much better when my mom makes it ❤️

I love the way your husband fixes his plate! Especially the pause at the end! Great hearty meals!

What a wonderful supper! Cubed steak is my favorite. Thank you for sharing some tips with us.

That looks so good. I like to start several meats in frying pan, cube steak, fried chicken or pork chops. then finish slow cooking in crockpot or oven. In the oven I double cover with foil over the meat inside the dish, and large piece of foil over entire dish, so the steam stays in. Makes it tender and the flavors combine.

A very delicious looking meal like the ones I remember so fondly. Great flavor and everything working folks and active kids needed to provide strength and energy till the next meal time. It brings back so many memories of simpler times. I especially like that you called the corn roasting ears instead of corn on the cob. Everyone in my neighborhood loved ro-snears. I also appreciate seeing you simply place a small handful of fresh sweet "tommy toes", as we called them, onto the center of the plate. This was very common practice in my childhood home especially when the garden started coming in. My Dad loved fresh green onions, radishes, and tommy toes on his plate. Hot peppers too. He'd nibble his fresh vegetables between bites of cooked food and I remember how obvious it was to us how much he enjoyed them. So much so that just watching him and hearing the fresh crunch made us kids so hungry for them too that there never was a problem in our house with children not eating their vegetables. Never. I'm so thankful that my Dad and Grandparents taught us boys how to work a garden. It's an inseparable part of who I am and it's at this time of year that I begin to yearn to get my hands in the soil. Thank you for sharing your life and experiences with us. I can't tell you how much I enjoy it.

My hubs request this dinner frequently. One of his favorites. Thank for sharing

Yum!! It all looks so good. As always.

Wow this looks great, I’m going to try this one. It’s similar to the “baked steak and gravy” my grandma would make, but she would use water to make enough gravy to cover the cube steak after frying and bake it covered in the oven until tender.

I'm glad to see your recipe for this. You can also do this with pork chops. The only thing different is you add a can of cream of mushroom soup to the gravy before you put it over the pork chops in the crock pot. They come out so delicious and tender.

I love watching you. I can stop my laptop,and go right along with you. I can stop,and watch something again. You can really cook. I love the real country food.

Wow you explained everything so well thank you for sharing all of your recipes

This looks delicious and I hope to try this. Thank you and Pam for sharing, While back you mentioned keeping a rag close by to wipe down your cast iron with oil. Loved that tip and have implemented it, thank you.

I love this! I do mine almost the same way but in the oven and I add sliced onions to make an onion gravy and bake it, covered, in a 350 oven for 1 1/2 hours. It's so good and like you said, foolproof. Delicious looking dinner, thank you!

You are doing a wonderful job keeping those older home cooked meals up front. Meals like my Mamaw used to make. Mom cooked when we were growing up but also worked. So it was mostly on the weekends. I am in MS and our country cooking is just like yours. Yummy!

Terrific way to cook cube steaks! Can’t wait to give it a try.

Dear Miss Tipper my Mother would make this with round steak the same way only she would trim the fat off first.Also she would put the liquid just above the steak.She also put some Worcestershire sauce.Salt and pepper ,and let it cook all day until it fell apart.I’m going to try your recipe God Bless

I’m gonna have to try this for me and my husband!! Cause I noticed cube steak has gotten a little cheaper here but I’m sure the price will go back up in a week! And Thanks for always making a plate of food at the end of the video so we can all see how delicious it looks together!! ( Always makes me hungry, lol)

This looks delicious!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. My first thought, toward the end of your video, was how much your kitchen looked like my mother's and daddy's. Mamma cooked 3 meals a day for 7 kids while we were growing up. Seeing your complete meal made me think of our garden and how good everything tasted. 💗

This looks so good. My son loves cube steak and I think this will be a fave when I make it. Thank You for sharing

My mom used to make cubed steak alot when I was at home. I make it myself, but at times it was tough until I got my instant pot. Since I have been using my instant pot for my cube steak, it has been coming out nice and tender. I never thought of using my crockpot, so I may use it the next time. Your cube steak looked sooooo delicious!! Thanks for sharing!!

Another option for getting the meat extremely tender is available if you take some time to choose your meat wisely. Typically the best cut for cube steak is going to be a round steak, once you have picked one out that is large enough for your purposes, take the package to the meat counter and ask them to run the steak through the cubing machine for at least three passes. This machine creates all of the tiny little cuts that are in the meat these cuts serve to break up connective tissue and other tough bits before the meat is cooked. Most prepackaged cube steaks are only passed through once, the extra passes allow more connective tissue to break down which results in a more tender end product. My favorite version of this recipe has always been the Paula Deen version that featured an onion gravy, yummy.

Wow!!! that is food for the soul right there ......YUM!!!!! Simple good down home cooking at it's finest .

That looks like a meal that would bring tears to my eyes. I can't wait to try it. Thank you for video, it has me sitting here day dreaming about all the wonderful meals at my Momma's kitchen table.