Classic Salisbury Steak with Brown Gravy | Easy Comfort Food Dinner

Forget about frozen dinners, this Salisbury steak is juicier, richer, and smothered in real gravy. I'm Johnny Mac and this is the Saucin' Gravy channel. So let me quickly walk you through how to make a classic Salisbury steak. It's an easy comfort food dinner. Begin by making the homemade Salisbury steaks. Round up a mixing bowl and drop in a third of a cup of bread crumbs and a quarter of a cup of milk. Mix the two together and let it sit for a minute or two so that the bread crumbs can absorb the milk. What's the difference between hamburger steak and Salisbury steak? Salisbury steak isn't just a burger, it has bread crumbs, seasoning, and a rich brown gravy built right in the pan. Next you'll add one pound or 454 grams of ground beef, 80-20. So why 80-20 beef? Fat equals flavor and 80-20 keeps steaks juicy and tender instead of dry. Crack in one egg. Add half of a sweet onion that's been finely diced. Add two minced cloves of garlic. Half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. One tablespoon of ketchup. I'm curious, did you grow up eating Salisbury steak or is this your first time? Half a teaspoon of salt. And half of a teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper. Give it all a mix. You want it well incorporated but you don't want to work it too much. And that's the secret to having tender patties. Don't overmix the meat or it'll turn dense. Keep it light for that soft classic Salisbury steak texture. Pat out four Salisbury steaks. You can keep them classic and have that oval shape or you can pat them out into circles. This old-fashioned recipe is homemade so you can make it how you like it. Try to keep them all uniform size though, that'll help them cook the same. Here's a quick tip for you whenever you're working with any ground beef type recipe and you're patting out the patties and you don't want it to stick to your hands. Wet your hands with a touch of water and that'll help keep it from sticking to your hands. Pop these guys into the fridge for four to five hours to let them set and marry the flavors. The Salisbury steaks have rested, now it's time to fry them up. Crank your burner up to medium heat. You have two options here. You can either cook these guys all the way through right now, put them to the side and then bring them back to the gravy and warm them up slightly. Or you can cook them for about four to five minutes on each side just to get a nice sear and then finish them off in the gravy. Round up one tablespoon of butter. That's roughly about 14 grams. Melt it down. Also add one tablespoon or 15 milliliters of a neutral oil of your choice. Once the butter is melted and the pan's hot, you can drop in your Salisbury steaks. Carefully place the homemade Salisbury steaks into the pan and don't move them. Let them sit there for a good four to five minutes to create a nice sear. This will help with the taste and texture of your Salisbury steaks and create fond on the bottom of the pan, which will add loads of flavor to your homemade brown gravy. Carefully give them a flip. And whenever you think about it, this is really an easy dinner recipe. You can quickly make the Salisbury steaks in advance. Fry them up in roughly about 10 minutes. While they're doing their thing, you can create a couple comfort food side dishes like maybe mashed potatoes or peas and carrots. When the steaks are done, create that from scratch beef gravy recipe and bam! You're ready to dive in. Watch the heat. You want to sear these guys. You don't want to burn them. So you can take it off heat. These guys are done. Oh yeah, they're looking super tasty. And check it out. They all have a nice sear and that's what you want for this classic old school dinner. Cover them up. Keep them warm. And while they rest, I'm going to show you how to make a from scratch brown gravy. There's a lot of fond in the bottom of this pan and that's what you want. It'll be the base for flavorful brown gravy. There's a tiny bit of oil or fat that's been rendered from the Salisbury steaks, but we need some more fat. So we're going to add two tablespoons of unsalted butter. That's roughly about 28 grams. You're going to really enjoy this gravy recipe. It's quick, it's easy, and my goodness, it's loaded with flavor. Now you can add two tablespoons or 16 grams of all-purpose flour. Cook this over low to medium heat. Mix it into the butter. And watch the heat. You don't want to burn this. This is your roux. This is going to be the thickening agent for the brown gravy. Cook this for a minute or so. At the tail end of cooking the roux, you can add a touch of onion powder. This will help the onion powder to bloom and bring out its flavor. If you'd like to substitute with any other sort of herbs or spices, go for it. It's a homemade gravy. Make it to your taste. All right, looking great. Now it's time to add your cooking liquids. Two cups or roughly about 500 milliliters of beef broth. If you want a lump-free sauce, pour a cool liquid into a hot roux. Or vice versa, hot liquid into a cool roux, lump-free every time. Mix it in. Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan. Get all of that fond up and into the liquid. While this is coming to a simmer, it'd be a perfect time for you to check out my cookbook, Sauces Made Simply and Comfort Foods Made Simply. All recipes have a free video tutorial to help guide you all the way through the process. Check out the comments section. I'll put links. Get your copies today. Add one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. It adds a deep, savory unami that makes the gravy taste restaurant-level rich. One tablespoon of ketchup. And a teaspoon of yellow mustard. You might even want to round up a whisk for this. Get that ketchup and that mustard incorporated into the liquid. Crack in some black pepper. And now we can bring back our Salisbury steaks. By finishing the patties in the gravy, it keeps the patties juicy. It cooks them all the way through. And it lets them soak up all of that delicious, easy comfort food flavor. Once it starts to come to a simmer, reduce the heat. Gently simmer and baste the Salisbury steaks for about 10 to 15 minutes until the Salisbury steaks are done and the gravy is thick. Occasionally scoot the patties around to make sure that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Baste them and give them a flip just to make sure that they stay moist and cook evenly. All right, so these guys are done. You can take it off heat. Give the gravy a quick taste. See if you need to adjust any seasonings. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Woo! You guys are going to love this. Absolutely amazing. Woo! Yeah! That's how you make a classic Salisbury steak and a delicious brown gravy. Super easy to make. Absolutely delicious. Only thing left to do, dive in and enjoy. Thank you so much for watching the Sauce and Gravy channel. If you found this recipe helpful, be sure to hit that like button, share it with your friends, and hype it up. Before you go, I want to give you a quick thanks. If you enjoy these recipes and want a little more, I do have channel memberships now. Members will have early access to videos as well as printable step-by-step written recipes. It's totally optional, but it's a great way to support the channel as well as cook along with me more closely. I'll put links below the video in the description section and comment section. Alright, let's eat! Thanks again for watching and remember, until next time, it's just you, me, and the sauces. Keep whisking, y'all. Alright, now for a quick taste test. Oh yeah, it's tender. Nice. Cooked all the way through. Oh yeah. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Absolutely out of this world. Mmm! You're gonna have to try this. Woo! Mmm!