Food Swings- Salisbury Steak
By Jacob Mathias
I’ll admit it; I like salisbury steak.
When I say that, I mean I like that gooey, grisly, gelatinous nonsense that comes in the little cardboard tray that you microwave when you’re sad and lonely on a Saturday night and just want something in your belly. You know, your sink is full of dirty dishes, your fridge is empty and all you have is a stack of frozen entrees that were on sale for a dollar each: That kind of salisbury steak.
I’m not proud of this fact, but we all have a guilty pleasure food holdover from our days of yore. Whether it’s Spaghettios, Maruchan ramen, or that purple ketchup that someone decided was a clever idea- we all have bad taste somewhere.
The think about salisbury steak is that there is a delicious, homemade way to prepare it without that Elmer’s glue gravy and uniformly shaped “meat” patty. The homemade version freezes well too so you can still make it ahead of time and hold if for a later date.
You will need:
1 ½ lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 diced yellow onion
½ lb. sliced forest mushrooms
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 qt. beef stock
¼ cup flour
2 tbsp. canola oil
Saute the onion over medium heat in 1 tbsp. oil until translucent and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the beef with ½ the onion, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic and bread crumbs. Form the meat mixture into 5 patties.
Cook the patties in a large saute pan over medium heat for 4 minutes on each side. Remove meat from pan. Add the rest of the canola oil and the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms begin to brown and add in remaining onions. Sprinkle in flour and and stir until everything is well coated with flour. Add in beef stock and raise heat to medium high, continuing to stir until a low simmer is achieved.
Add in beef patties and allow to simmer in gravy for about 5 minutes, until cooked through.
Serve patties and gravy over mashed potatoes and green beans (because vitamins are important too.)