The Briefing Room

General Category => Grassroots Activism and Living => TBR Kitchen => Topic started by: Elderberry on February 23, 2019, 05:54:03 pm

Title: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: Elderberry on February 23, 2019, 05:54:03 pm
What is Salisbury steak?

In the late 1800s, a physician named James Henry Salisbury became convinced that a diet rich in vegetables and other “fermentable” foods was responsible for almost every disease possible, including “softening of the brain and most cases of insanity.” He believed that men and women had strayed in their modern food habits and that, “They become diseased by our departures from the ‘strait and narrow path’ in which we should travel gastronomically.” His view, of course, has echoes in today’s food fads, but his view was rather more extreme than the faddists. His solution to the evils of faulty digestion was to eat large quantities of broiled chopped steaks. And while his science has long been debunked, his recipe lives on, and rightfully so.

The steak, as he originally intended it, was made of lean beef, preferably from the Round, chopped and mixed just enough to hold its shape. It was to be broiled, then seasoned to taste with butter, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, mustard or horseradish.

Today, the Salisbury steak is almost always served with brown gravy, and even more so with mushroom gravy. As we’re no longer eating it to rid ourselves of fermentables, the ground beef is also often bound together with bread crumbs, much like a meatloaf. It is a dish that is comforting, easy, and relatively inexpensive, making it a classic in the American culinary canon. The recipe that Tuffy Stone gives has great echoes of the original, though it is much, much improved.

In his recipe, Stone binds the meat with egg and breadcrumbs, but seasons it well with steak seasoning and adds even more savory flavor by the addition of finely diced onion that is cooked until soft before being added to the mix. He uses Worcestershire in both the gravy and the steaks, thereby improving the rich meatiness of the dish and also giving a shout-out to Salisbury’s original preparation.

https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/salisbury-steak-thermal-tips-from-a-bbq-pro/ (https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/salisbury-steak-thermal-tips-from-a-bbq-pro/)

When you’re learning any skill, you can shave years off of your trial and error by learning from a master. BBQ is no different. Ask almost anyone who runs a pit either competitively or professionally in a restaurant and they’ll tell you about their mentor. Of course, not all of us can work with BBQ legends but doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. One such legend, of course, is Tuffy Stone, and today we’re pulling our recipe from his new cookbook, Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue: a Salisbury steak served with a rich, savory brown gravy with shiitake mushrooms.

Tuffy understands the importance of temperature, giving his directions not just in minutes but also in degrees, and with the Thermapen® Mk4 you can get his temperatures just right. Let’s dig in!


Thermal considerations

Because Salisbury steak is made of ground beef and eggs, it is important to cook the dish thoroughly, and because it is cooked on the grill there are additional considerations to make.

To eliminate the danger of E. coli bacteria, ground beef needs to reach an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C). To achieve a juicy product, we’ll pull the beef before it reaches that temperature, allowing it to rest, covered, to carryover-cook. By using the Thermapen Mk4 we can get an accurate and fast reading of the steak’s temperature while it grills.

When grilling a thick-ish piece of meat like this—one that we need to cook fully, not serve medium-rare—over direct heat, we can’t have the grill running rocket-hot. These steaks need to be cooked over a medium to medium-high heat in order to give the beef inside time to cook without burning the outside. And to provide for even charring of the grill lines, we’ll rotate the steaks halfway through the cooking on their first side.

The resulting chopped steak will be deliciously flavored by the grill and fully cooked for safety.
Grilled Salisbury Steak Recipe With Shiitake Mushroom Gravy

Based on the recipe in Tuffy Stone’s book, Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue

For the steaks

    2 Tbsp steak rub (Montreal seasoning, for example)
    1 Tbsp canola oil
    1 C finely diced yellow onion
    2 eggs
    2 lb 80/20 ground beef
    ¼ C Worcestershire sauce
    ½ C ketchup
    2 tsp kosher salt
    1 tsp mustard powder
    ¼ C fine bread crumbs (plus maybe more if needed)

For the gravy

    2 tsp chili powder
    2 Tbsp canola oil
    4 C thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms (stems discarded)
    ¼ C finely diced shallots
    1 Tbsp minced garlic
    2 ½ tsp kosher salt
    1 tsp ground black pepper
    5 Tbsp butter
    ¼ C AP flour
    2 ½ C warm beef stock
    1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
    2 Tbsp ketchup
    2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Instructions at link: https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/salisbury-steak-thermal-tips-from-a-bbq-pro/ (https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/salisbury-steak-thermal-tips-from-a-bbq-pro/)


Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: 240B on February 23, 2019, 06:18:20 pm
Salisbury Steak is just meatloaf smothered in gravy (which is really just French Onion soup)
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: catfish1957 on February 23, 2019, 06:20:30 pm
What is Salisbury steak?



My culinary opinion?  Mystery meat with gravy to mask.   :cool:
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: Sighlass on February 23, 2019, 07:09:56 pm
To me it is delicious when served with Smashed Tators... A treat if only served occasionally.
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: catfish1957 on February 23, 2019, 07:20:14 pm
To me it is delicious when served with Smashed Tators... A treat if only served occasionally.

Bon appetite ....

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MAqa-X9V20w/T6kwFtCoTZI/AAAAAAAAMVo/l5rCS5RG2yE/s1600/swanson-tv-dinner.jpg)
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: Applewood on March 04, 2019, 05:23:21 pm
When my dim bulb cousin was in college, my uncle took his parents to see him and take him out for dinner.  Before ordering, my cousin complained about the food in the university cafeteria and said he was looking forward to a good steak.  So what did he order?  Salisbury Steak.  Neither my uncle nor the  cousin's parents said anything.   Needless to say, when the kid's "steak" arrived, he was not pleased.    LOL
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: mountaineer on March 09, 2019, 08:02:25 pm
Bon appetite ....

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MAqa-X9V20w/T6kwFtCoTZI/AAAAAAAAMVo/l5rCS5RG2yE/s1600/swanson-tv-dinner.jpg)
That was the one TV dinner I really didn't like. On those rare occasions when my mother wasn't cooking and we had to have Swanson's, I begged for turkey.  :laugh:
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: musiclady on March 09, 2019, 08:43:41 pm
Bon appetite ....

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MAqa-X9V20w/T6kwFtCoTZI/AAAAAAAAMVo/l5rCS5RG2yE/s1600/swanson-tv-dinner.jpg)

Oh, those peas were horrendous!! 
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: Sighlass on April 02, 2019, 02:42:21 am
Oh, those peas were horrendous!! 

To me it was the fake potatoes I didn't care for... The pea were pretty good (I like frozen peas for some reason)... The fake potatoes tasted like paper sorta... I ate it anyways, was raised on shut up and eat it. Scraped the pan, I was a hungry kid.
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: Smokin Joe on April 02, 2019, 04:39:27 am
Mystery meat! Now with electrolytes!
Title: Re: What is Salisbury steak?
Post by: musiclady on April 03, 2019, 04:57:56 pm
To me it was the fake potatoes I didn't care for... The pea were pretty good (I like frozen peas for some reason)... The fake potatoes tasted like paper sorta... I ate it anyways, was raised on shut up and eat it. Scraped the pan, I was a hungry kid.

Not really like paper.


More like cardboard.  happy77