Retro Recipe That We Ate Regularly Back In The Day
Dear ones…do you remember Salisbury Steak? Or Hamburger Steak? Back when I was younger, this was on our meal rotation regularly.
And it wasn’t even steak at all,…..it was hamburger meat or as the current politically correct title…ground beef.
We called it plain ole’ hamburger and because it was a cheaper meat (back then) and my Mother, Grandmother and Aunts tried to use it in a myriad of ways. I think my dear Mother was pretty good at doing just that. She liked to call this recipe Salisbury Steak while my Grandmother called it Hamburger Steak and my Aunt called it Smothered Steak. But no matter what one called it …this Retro Recipe was good tastin’ comfort food and I loved it, especially the brown gravy loaded with onions.
Sometimes Mother would serve the “steaks” over rice and sometimes over noodles. But my favorite was when she served it over creamy mashed potatoes which is usually the way I served it in my early married years.
Then I guess in my attempt to use ‘more modern’ recipes, I pushed the retro comfort food recipes to the back of my recipe tin box and I made them less and less.
Until the last few years.
I was organizing my ole’ tin recipe box one day and came upon several retro recipes of my Mother’s and decided to utilize them.
These were comfort recipes such as: porcupine meat balls with rice, goulash, chili burgers, hamburger stew, grape jelly meat balls, beef stroganoff, stuffed green peppers, cabbage rolls, bierocks (a Kansas staple), meat loaf and sloppy joes made with a can of chicken gumbo soup,
Yummy!
Last night I made the Retro Steak recipe with two little additions to both the ground beef patties AND the gravy.
Butter.
I had read somewhere that some restaurant chefs in high end steak houses used frozen shredded butter in their ground beef hamburgers to make them moist and juicy. So I tried it a few times and they did taste better so when I made my meat patties for this recipe, I added the shredded frozen butter after adding the other meat ingredients and then shaped the patties into an oval shape before frying. I don’t think my Mother would have approved because she would have thought butter too extravagant. You see, she only used margarine or oleo as she called it. Not because it was considered healthier, (it wasn’t) but because it was cheaper. That is why she only used red potatoes and yellow onions. They were cheaper than russet potatoes and white onions. My Aunt used the russet potatoes and white onions and my sweet Mother would just do an eye brow raise to show her disapproval. Isn’t that hilarious?
I also added butter to the onion mushroom gravy at the end of cooking to give the gravy a little glossy shine and lets face it…butter makes everything better, doesn’t it?
For this recipe, (see below) you can eliminate the mushrooms if you don’t care for them, Mother only used onions… but my ‘extravagant’ Aunt almost always added mushrooms to her onion gravy. LOL. (I like to add the mushrooms too)
Did you grow up with this Salisbury Steak/ Hamburger Steak recipe?
What recipe name did your family use?
Salisbury/Hamburger Steak with Mushroom Onion Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Ground Beef
- 1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (you can use crushed saltines)
- 1/2 Cup finely chopped onion
- 1 Pkg Lipton Onion Soup (or Lipton Mushroom Onion soup)
- 1 Large egg
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tsp mustard
- 1 Tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 Tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 Cup Frozen butter shredded
Mushroom Onion Gravy
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 Large onion (cut in half and sliced in half slices)
- 1/2-1 Cup fresh mushrooms sliced (can use canned mushrooms if desired)
- 2 Cups Beef Broth
- 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
- 1 Cup Beef Broth
- 1 Tsp Kitchen Bouquet (to darken the gravy color if desired)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to the ground beef except the frozen butter and mix gently till combined like you would a meat loaf
- Add the shredded butter being careful to keep the butter from softening too much
- Shape into oval patties and brown lightly (about 2 minutes on each side) and then remove from skillet and set aside
Mushroom Onion Gravy
- Using the same skillet (preferable a deep sided skillet) add 1 Tbsp butter to the existing oil from the searing of the meat patties, stirring til melted
- Over medium heat, Add the onion half slices and saute (stirring carefully) til translucent and caramelized which will take about 10-15 minutes
- About 5 minutes before onions are done, add the mushrooms and watch carefully that the onions and mushrooms do not burn
- Stir 2 cups of beef broth into the skillet and let simmer for 2-3 minutes along with the onions and mushrooms
- In a glass bowl or large measuring cup, make a slurry of 1 cup of beef broth to 2 tbsp corn starch using a whisk to throughly incorporate
- Add the slurry to the skillet stirring til gravy thickens (If gravy gets too thick add more beef broth to thin to consistency desired)
- Carefully lay the meat patties back into the skillet and allow to simmer with the onion and mushroom gravy for about 3-6 minutes assuring the meat is thoroughly cooked
- Add the last tbsp of butter to the gravy which will give the gravy a glossy finish making it irresistible. 🥰
- Serve over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice OR on toasted Texas Toast
Have a great and wonderful week…the weather is cooling down to almost pleasant. ❤️
Blessing Always
Isaiah 58:11 ESV
And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Kari,
My mom made this recipe too, but none of us liked mushrooms, so she fix it for us. It was yummy and filling. lol
Sandy
I love many of these comfort recipes Sandy…the problem is I probably love some of them too much. LOL. Have a great and wonderful day.
Sweet post of memories Kari! My mother didn’t make anything like this, she made liver, yikes! Your Salisbury Steak recipe sounds delicious. It’s hard to beat some of the recipe classics, my favorite is green bean casserole with fried onions~
Jenna I love liver and onions! And I love the green bean casserole and I still make it for holidays.
Kari, not sure what happened to my response so here goes again. Your retro meals brought back many memories. Even though I heard of Salisbury Steak, I don’t think I ever had it. My mother served liver with onions and gravy. During my early years of cooking, I made porcupine balls with rice and just recently made Sloppy Joes for the first time in years. However, my recipe doesn’t call for any canned soup.
You are so sweet to try responding again. Luv ya friend.
Kari, what memories your brought back with your retro meals. Even though I remember hearing about Salisbury Steak, I don’t think I ever ate it. We did have gravy and onions over liver and I made porcupine balls with rice during my early cooking days. Just made Sloppy Joes for the first time in years but my recipe doesn’t call for any canned soup.
Jan when I think of chicken gumbo soup in my sloppy joes is makes me shudder. I don’t make them like that now. thanks for stopping by
We also had Salisbury steak. We have a local grocery chain that has a deli which cooks family meals on a regular rotation. Baked steak with gravy is what they call it, and it’s delicious. We also have a local meat distributor called Buzz Buttered Steaks….the name says it all. 😊
Rita you are so lucky to have family cooking so close. Yummy on the buzz buttered steaks.
Oh Kari, your retro Salisbury Steak with the update of grated frozen butter looks amazing! I love Salisbury Steak and haven’t made it in quite some time, but I actually thought about it the other day. Thank you for your recipe and for reminding me to make that comfort meal.
Thank you for the beautiful verse at the end, too. Have a great week.
Hi Kitty…thank you for stopping by; My Mother was a great cook and after I got married she opened a Mom & Pop restaurant in the small town we lived it. Everyone loved her home cooked meals, especially her fried chicken and I believe I can duplicate everything she did….learned it all by just standing by her side in her kitchen.
Hi Kari, thank you for sharing the retro recipes. Yes, we had salisbury steak and mashed potatoes! It was so good and my Mother always added her light and fluffy home-made biscuits. My Mother never used canned biscuits or cake mixes. This post brought back many memories. Blessings, sweet friend!
Pam, my Mom always made home made dinner rolls…and they were so good. I wish I would have watched her more and I thought I was joined at her hip as it was when it came to cooking.
My Mom made this too! I think I need to be retro again! Thank you so much for the reminder.
After reading this, I am so hungry. My mouth is watering. Thank you, my friend, for the inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by Nancy…sometimes it is good to revive those old recipes.