Hearts, Chock-O-Late, Presidents and Big Rodents it's Febuary

[Texas Lawdog]

The Cawffee is good. I got back to sleep at 0500, and slept till 0730. I Am thirsty for Cawffee, I think that I may have an addiction problem.

[Delmonico]

I have been up since 0100 plumbing check. I am going to make myself some hot cocoa, hopefully it will make me able to go back to sleep.

Probably make you poop.   

[Texas Lawdog]

At my age, that is always a possibility!

[Major 2]

at our age.... it's always welcome possibility 

Steak Burrito & ice tea for lunch.... 

Headed for cool snap come Thursday , may freeze  Friday morning ...

[Delmonico]

at our age.... it's always welcome possibility 

Speak for yourself only.   

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Yes, I survived my visit with the vampire, got to fill up a cup,too

[Delmonico]

This was a trial camp dish last year, was a big hit, just did the first draft on it, not sure if the picture will be the same though.  

As always I looked over a bunch of recipes Google drug up, guess I'll never get the TV show cause I make things way to simple.  


Kinda a 2 in one here with some history, but there is no need to make a whole nother recipe just to tell people to leave out the gravy.    

Salisbury/Hamburg Steak

Legend has it that this dish that is so popular in TV Dinners, Diners and Cafeterias was invented by James Henry Salisbury, M.D. who served in the US Army during the Civil War, this is not quite true, Dr Salisbury was a physician during the Civil War, he did promote the use of chopped/ground lean beef as a cure for the common camp dysentery and wrote a paper on it in the late 1880's.   But the problem with this is the dish he promoted is not the same as what we call Salisbury Steak today,  he also used the name "muscle pulp of lean beef" a less than appetizing term.   The dish he promoted was a simple lean ground beef patty, broiled slowly and seasoned with salt, pepper, onion and/or  lemon, Worcestershire sauce or the no longer made but similar Halford Sauce.  

Today what we call Salisbury Steak is a ground beef patty flavored most often with salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, onion and cooked in brown gravy, nothing I can find on Dr Salisbury mentions cooking it in brown gravy.   One does find recipes for what is called Hamburg Steak cooked in brown gravy, Hamburg Steak being a common term for chopped/ground beef patties of the time.  During WWI a lot of German names were changed, Hamburg Steak in brown gravy took on Dr Salisbury's name even though it wasn't the exact so called Salisbury steak.  

I prefer a shallow oven for this although a deep will work fine also, in keeping with the 8 quart oven, instead of a 12 in deep for this we'll figure a 14 inch shallow oven, with twelve 1/3rd pound "steaks" this should serve 12 people and can be reduced for smaller ovens if need be.  

Salisbury Steak/Hamburg Steak in Brown Gravy

3 pounds lean hamburger
6 cups beef broth
1-2 onions (chopped)
Salt, pepper and Worcestershire Sauce

Make the burger up into 12 patties and lay them out in the dutch oven, season them with salt, pepper and the Worcestershire sauce and cover them with the chopped onions.   Put the oven on a light layer of coals and put a large amount on the lid, let the meat sear well for 5-10 minutes.  By keeping the heat low on the bottom they won't need turned.  

When they are well seared then add the broth with 6 tablespoons of cornstarch stirred in.  Replace lid and cook for 30-45 minutes till the meat is done and the gravy has thickened.    

If one wants to make the so called Salisbury steak as per Dr. Salisbury, just continue to broil the burgers till done with out adding the gravy.  

If someone in camp wants to put this on bread and add some condiments that is fine also, the true origins of that is disputed by several claims anyway and was most likely done pre-dating any of these claims.  

[pony express]

Del, if you wanna be a TV cook, you can't just pour in a little of this and a little of that from the big containers. You need a lot of little bowls or cups to pre-measure everything. Maybe you could get tiny little Dutch ovens?

[Delmonico]

Del, if you wanna be a TV cook, you can't just pour in a little of this and a little of that from the big containers. You need a lot of little bowls or cups to pre-measure everything. Maybe you could get tiny little Dutch ovens?

LOL, it's just kinda a joke, people keep asking me when I'm going to get a TV show and I tell them when they call and ask me.

You forgot also I need to toss the salt shaker and get a bowl with a cover so I can trow hard to dissolve salt into the pot rather than the other stuff.  never figured that one out, Sodium chloride is Sodium chloride and the bigger pieces are harder to dissolve.

Or I could just use the stuff with fish poop in it. 

Ask them that use either or both and all they tell you is it's better, but no science to back it up.   

[Russ T Chambers]

We're back to blue skies and sunshine and a high of 50.  Yesterday gave us some real rain, but it was sporadic.   At the top of the hill Lake Tahoe added 4" of water to the lake level with all of the runoff.  That's a bunch considering the area covered by the lake surface.  Still 3" below the natural rim of the lake, but we'll take what we can get!

Haven't decided on the menu for Wednesday (my next day for cooking).

My desktop ate a mouthful of malware Sunday night and could not even get to the desktop.  Took it in for decontamination, so I'm pirating my wife's laptop.   I've been using McAfee as that was what we had installed at Nevada Bell before I retired from IT there, but it doesn't seem to be as comprehensive as it used to be.  Slim, what are you using as virus detection software?  Been out of the loop for almost ten years now.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Del,You are taliking Sea Salt,huh Never thought about the fish poop part  of it

[Delmonico]

Del,You are taliking Sea Salt,huh Never thought about the fish poop part  of it

Yep and then you have to decide which bay makes the best sea salt.   That way you have the best flavored fish poop in it.  Besides fish do other things besides poop in the water. 

Little birds and bees as well as fish for you.   

[Texas Lawdog]

I got some Tex-Mex takeout for lunch, a Beef/Bean Burrito with rice and beans. It is what it is!  No clue for supper, I hope that Moose has some ideas.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Del, I've got a small container of sea salt in the cupboard. I'll never look at it the same way again

[Delmonico]

Del, I've got a small container of sea salt in the cupboard. I'll never look at it the same way again

Well there could be other stuff in it.

[Texas Lawdog]

Moose brought home some Tex-Mex take out for supper. We have Beer and Sangria to wash it down.The sun is going down and the temps are dropping.

[Delmonico]

Potatoe and sausage, cheese thingy like I make in camp, made it the other day and she went nuts over it. 

Add eggs and the yuppies call it breakfast casserole, but they use frozen hash browns, I used them good yaller taters.  Make it in a camp of ZZ Top look alike s that load their gun from the front and they call it mountain man breakfast, but I never figured where they got the stuff to make it up in the Shining Mountains.   


LOL I'm on a roll, playing internet chess on a subject in the cooking group on how to cook, gonna call checkmate in a bit I think.   Don't matter how you like your steak, if you can only half cook it with out ruining it you ain't a cook but a gas grill commando.   

Might get kicked out of the group, but then it's my group anyway.   

[Arcey]

Soup was as expected.

Fat lady left school early 'n tracked me down at the nest. On 'er way ta the doctor's office 'n has ta drive past it. Glad I was by myself 'n behavin'......

Calls a while later. Droppin' 'er car home 'n I gotta take 'er to the hospital.

Right knee been hurtin' right bad. Doc thought it was a blood clot. Sent 'er to imagin' right then. Spent almost an hour in the back. Tech ain't allowed to tell the results but told 'er if it's what 'er doc thought she'd be waitin' in an examinin' room for a specialist. Since that weren't the case, go home. Good 'n bad I guess. Know what it ain't, don't know what it is..

The l'il red one had the soup ready when we got home. My good 'n faithful servant. Let 'er rest tomorrow.

Speakin' of rest.........

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Can't get any eagle pics that way,Arcey glad at least it wasn't what the Doc thought at least. Kind of one of my fears with this bum peg of mine as well

17 here, at least no precip at the moment

[Lucky Irish Tom]

Coffee and tea is ready!

Have an appointment with my Cardiologist today. Had fun fixing another computer yesterday and working on some issues one person is having with Outlook Mail.