Talk:Salisbury steak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Salisbury steak is similar to chicken fried steak in that both are different kinds of ground beef (or ground beef pressed into patties) fried in a pan and served up with gravy on them. Neither are baked in an oven. But the former, salisbury steak, is more likely to be served up with brown sauce while the latter, chicken fried steak, is more likely to be served up with white sauce. Another feature that contrasts the two, is the presence of an egg based battered coating in chicken fried steak, something never found with salisbury steak.

This description does not fit chicken-fried steak as I know it. CFS is NOT made with ground beef. It is made with a thin, tough steak that is pounded flat to tenderize it, or else it is made with cubed steak. Secondly, although CFS is occasionally made with bound breading or batter, as described, it is at least as often made with (lots of) plain flour, cormeal, Bisquick or a mixture thereof being pressed into the pounded meat. SS, on the other hand, is fried either with no coating at all or a light dusting of flour.

You're right.

"Salisbury Steak" = largish oblong ground beef patty browned on both sides then simmered until done in a beef-stock cold-roux brown gravy with sliced onions and mushrooms, normally served as a part of a dinner entree with mashed potatoes, a hot vegetable, and a hot dinner roll or thick slice of bread. It is more of a northeastern and midwestern US regional dish.

"Chicken fried steak" = thin slice of some tough cut of beef, perhaps run through the cube steak rollers, breaded, battered, or coated with dry white flour, pan-fried or deep-fried, and served with a white gravy made with a hot roux of either butter or beef fat, spiced with white pepper. It is normally served as part of a dinner entree with mashed potatoes, a hot vegetable, and one or more buttermilk biscuits. It is more of a Deep South regional American dish.

Both are beef dishes. Both are, regionally, comfort food. Both dishes have their origins in an era much less affluent than the present. One is cheap ground beef masquerading as an expensive cut of beef. The other is a cheap cut of beef battered and fried, as much for novelty as to hide its humble nature. But Salisbury Steak is not Chicken-Fried Steak. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.227.120.26 (talk • contribs)

Contents 1 School Food 2 History 3 Hamburger Steak 4 Political euphemism?

[edit] School Food

'affectionately' call it mystery meat? Any that is at school taste horrible. 209.33.36.146 18:33, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

"affectionately" was intended in a sarcastic sense, but I do happen to like Salisbury steak. Orangehatbrune

[edit] History

Charles Ranhofer (of "Delmonico's" fame) gives a strikingly different picture of the "Salisbury Steak" just a few short years after its believed date of invention. Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) states: "These raw steaks are frequently served without any seasoning or else seasoned and broiled very rare" [emphasis mine] - there is no mention of gravy. Here, the Salisbury steak is only distiguished from "Hamburg Steak à la Tartare" by the latter's inclusion of minced onion and green pepper, and raw egg garnish. The plot thickens, as Ranhofer also includes the "Beef Steak, Hamburg Style" which here is a cooked version of steak tartare: suppressing the green pepper, but retaining the onion and seasoning with nutmeg, then bread-crumbed and sautéed in butter, and served with gravy rather than the raw egg - in other words, our Salisbury steak.

It would appear, then, that at some point the meanings of hamburg steak and Salisbury steak became reversed (though with the hamburger being cooked, rather than raw as Salisbury had formerly been). -GSwift 20:15, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hamburger Steak

Article says In many Southern dining establishments, "hamburger steak" refers to a ground beef steak served without gravy, while "Salisbury steak" is only used for the version with gravy."

I'm from Alabama, and that's not true here. Hamburger steak almost always has gravy - I've actually never seen a menu where it didn't. Salisbury steak here is a tv-dinner thing. Never seen it on any menu. And it tastes completely different than Hamburger steak (different seasonings, I suppose).

[edit] Political euphemism?

The article currently states "H. L. Mencken reported (in 1945) that the name was used to replace "hamburger steak" during World War I as a political euphemism." As in the same way that "freedom fries" replaced "french fries"? Ewlyahoocom 18:42, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Exactly the same. It's a rather humorous parallel, in fact, which is why the latter didn't go over too well. Other examples include "Liberty dogs" for dachshunds. Freedom Poodles, anyone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 04:41, 25 January 2008 (UTC)