American · Dinner

Salisbury Steak

Seasoned beef patties browned hard and simmered in a deep onion and mushroom gravy. Diner food done properly, which mostly means browning the onions long enough and not skipping the fond.

45 min total Serves 4 servings Easy
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Salisbury Steak

Photograph credit: Hakkebøffer bløde løg sovs kartorfler by User:Nillerdk · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Storing and Planning Ahead

Refrigerated for 4 days and better on day two. Reheat covered over low heat, loosening the gravy with stock. Freezes for 3 months.

How to Make Salisbury Steak

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  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 5 minutes until pasty, then mix with the mince, egg, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, onion powder, salt and pepper. Handle it lightly — overworked mince turns springy.

  2. Shape into 6 oval patties about 2 cm thick and press a shallow dimple into the centre of each so they stay flat.

  3. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high and brown the patties in two batches, 3 minutes a side, until well crusted. They will not be cooked through. Set aside.

  4. Drop the heat to medium, add the onions with a pinch of salt, and cook 10 minutes, stirring and scraping, until soft and properly golden. This is where the gravy gets its sweetness.

  5. Add the mushrooms and cook 6 minutes more until browned and their liquid has gone.

  6. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, then pour in the stock a third at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next.

  7. Add the Worcestershire sauce and mustard and simmer 5 minutes until it coats a spoon.

  8. Return the patties and any juices, cover, and simmer gently 12 minutes until cooked through and the gravy has thickened around them.

  9. Scatter with parsley and serve.

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Worth Knowing

  • Ten minutes on the onions, genuinely. Five gives you a pale gravy that tastes of flour.
  • Do not press the patties while they brown. You are squeezing out the fat that makes them worth eating.
  • The dimple stops them doming into meatballs.

Behind the Recipe

The gravy is the recipe, and it comes from the pan rather than a packet. Browning the patties leaves a layer of fond — caramelised proteins and sugars welded to the base — and every drop of flavour in the finished gravy is dissolved out of it by the stock. The panade of breadcrumbs and milk in the patties is what keeps them tender: the starch traps water and the proteins cannot contract into a dense puck around it.

Good Alongside

Creamy mashed potatoes · Buttered peas · A pint of bitter

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Coleslaw, Boston Baked Beans, 3 Ingredient Biscuits.

Salisbury Steak Nutrition Facts

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

610Calories
46gProtein
30gCarbs
34gFat
3gFibre
9gSugar
1360mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .