Breadcrumbs And Ground Meat

This is one of the simplest dishes I make and probably one of the best. I have been making it for a very long time and I would rather have it than a hamburger any day. Salisbury steak is a simple meal and a great meal. The recipe I use is basically from the Campbell’s soup cook book with a couple of my modifications. Like any recipe from any cookbook it can be modified to your taste rather than the authors taste, but that isn’t what my post is about.

Breadcrumbs are used in many ground meat recipes as a binder and to stretch the meat. I have tried many different ways of incorporating them with many different results. Using them comes with a problem that bugged me for years. If you don’t mix them in completely you end up with a blob of breadcrumbs which isn’t that pleasant. If you mix ground meat to much you end up with a tough product. Even in a very good restaurant I had a meatball that was half breadcrumbs and in another the meatballs were like chewing rubber. I have tried the mix the crumbs with milk or water but the results are still the same. Following the less is more rule I found a better way, it is a little more work but worth it.

Making the Salisbury steak is a very good way to explain it. The nice thing about the Campbell’s soup recipe is the soup you don’t use for the patties you use for the gravy.

1 pound ground beef

1/3 can Campbell’s soup

1/3 cup fine breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

For the gravy

2/3 can of soup

1/3 cup of water

1 large onion sliced or 12 mushrooms sliced.

In a small bowl mix together soup and Worcestershire sauce. In another bowl mix breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place the beef in a large bowl and add the soup and Worcestershire sauce. Mix it in gently and because it is liquid it mixes easily. Flatten the meat in the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the breadcrumbs evenly over the meat. Fold the meat from the sides to the middle and flatten. Repeat this until all the breadcrumbs have been used. Form into 3 equal patties and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cook the patties in a preheated frying pan on medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and add the onions ( mushrooms) to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the soup and water and whisk in, cook until hot, about 3 minutes. Return the patties to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, turn over and cook for another minute and serve.