This country-style steak should be in everybody’s go-to recipe box. Like hamburger steak with creamy onion gravy, this recipe featuring cube steaks browned then simmered in gravy is another Southern favorite. Using cream of mushroom soup to enhance the gravy base, this recipe is super easy to throw together any weeknight and is a very basic and delicious comfort food. I make this using onions and beef stock, but you can also use a packet of onion soup for more ease.

Cube steak is usually made of top sirloin that has been pounded with a meat tenderizer to create thin, unique-shaped pieces of meat. The indentions left by the tenderizer are small cubes deep in the meat — hence the term cube steak. The cut of beef will determine the price, but in most cases cube steak is inexpensive.

Growing up in the South with two hardworking parents, my family often had Crock-Pot meals. My mother would prepare and set the Crock-Pot in the morning and when we all got home in the evening, dinner was ready. I think the Crock-Pot is one of the most underused cooking appliances around. Also known as a slow cooker, the countertop cooking appliance is designed to cook at a lower temperature for a longer duration. The first slow cooker came about in the 1950s when its inventor recalled his Jewish grandmother making stew for hours in the oven. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that the removable porcelain interior came about for ease in cleaning and serving. Today Crock-Pots are used all over the world for all types of dishes.

I know it can be intimidating to dump expensive groceries in a pot, leave it all day and hope that it comes out tasty, but trust me: this recipe is foolproof and saves time. Sure, it cuts a few corners with the canned soup and store-bought beef stock, but this is the way my mother made it and this is the way it is comforting to me. I hope you enjoy it too.