Make Back in Time for Dinner's stuffed steak

The Campus family didn't love eating, or living, in the 1940s. The food was scarce, and what little there was wasn't especially tasty. But there was one exception: the stuffed steak they had to celebrate the end of the war. In fact, post-show, it's become a family favourite. Here's a recipe from Wartime Canada that will let you make it at home.  

Ingredients

Steak

• 2 lbs. of flank steak
• bread stuffing (recipe below)
• flour
• salt and pepper
• fat
• 1 cup vegetable water (from escalloped cabbage)

Bread stuffing

• 2 cups soft, stale bread crumbs
• 1 small onion, chopped
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp poultry seasoning
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp melted fat

Escalloped cabbage

• 4 cups chopped raw cabbage
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 2 cups medium white sauce (recipe below)
• ½ cup lightly buttered bread crumbs

Medium white sauce (for the cabbage!)

• 3 Tbsp lard
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• dash pepper
• dash Worcestershire

Instructions

Bread stuffing

Mix crumbs and seasonings. Add to melted fat and blend. 

White sauce

Melt fat in pot, whisk in cornstarch and seasonings. Let bubble over low heat for three minutes. Gradually add milk, whisking constantly. Cook and stir until smooth and thick. Remove from heat and let stand until ready to use.

Escalloped cabbage

Cook chopped cabbage, in boiling salted water, in the deep well stove element for about eight minutes. Drain, reserving water three cups of water for stuffed steak recipe. In greased two quart saucepan alternate layers of cabbage, cheese and white sauce. Top with breadcrumbs, and bake in oven with steak for the last 20 minutes.

Steak

Dredge steak in flour and seasonings. Pound to flatten. Spread with bread stuffing. Roll and tie securely with butcher's twine, make sure to tie at least once lengthwise to hold the stuffing in the open ends. Brown in a skillet in hot fat, turning meat until all sides are nicely browned. Add one cup of cabbage boiling water to skillet and place in 350F oven for one-and-a-half hours, adding water to the pan every half hour as needed. Use dripping in pan to make gravy.

Watch one modern Canadian family live through six different decades on Back in Time for Dinner, Thursdays at 8pm (8:30 NT.)