Homemade Salisbury Steak Recipe with Mushroom Gravy

Directions

1. In a large bowl add the 2 pounds of ground beef, 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic power, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and 2 large eggs. Using your hands (feel free to wear food-safe gloves!) make a five-fingered claw and dig your fingers into the ingredients while twisting your wrist in a churning motion. This helps to mix everything together without packing the meat too densely.  Continue doing this and folding the meat mixture over onto itself until everything is well incorporated. Then shape it into a rough ball.
2. Cover the bowl and meat mixture with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 1 to 4 hours before use. This helps the ingredients incorporate, but it also gives the salt a chance to work on the proteins in the meat and make sure it retains its moisture.
3. Before cooking, dice a whole medium or half a large sweet onion and set it aside.
4. If you need to slice the mushrooms, then wash and slice them before cooking as well.
5. When ready, take the meat out of the refrigerator and form it into eight, flat (about a 1/4 inch), oval shaped patties with a slight indentation in the center (the indentation helps to keep the meat from contracting and making the patties thick in the center).  I like to split the meat evenly in half and continue splitting each portion in half until I get 8 servings. This makes the patties more uniform in size rather than just grabbing a chunk, forming it, and hoping they all end up the same size.
6. When the patties are formed, place a large cast iron skillet on the stove and set it to medium or medium-high heat and add two tablespoons of butter to the pan.
7. When the butter is melted and bubbling, but not smoking, add four of the patties to the pan. Cook them for roughly 2 minutes per side or until they get a nice brown sear on them. The goal is not to cook the patties completely just yet, but rather to just sear them for texture, color, and flavor.
   Note: It’s important not to add all of the patties if your pan can hold them. Crowding will cause the patties to steam rather than sear, so spacing is important.
   
8. After cooking both sides of the four patties, set them aside on a large plate and repeat the process for the remaining four patties.
9. With the patties removed from the heat, lower the temperature to medium-low heat and add the diced onions to the pan  same pan used to sear the patties while stirring quickly. The onions will start to deglaze the nice browned bits in the pan. Once they just start to soften (a couple of minutes).
10. Once the onions just start to soften (a couple of minutes), add in the 8 ounces of mushrooms and keep stirring occasionally to get some of the water out of the mushrooms.
11. When the mushrooms have cooked down a little and taken on some color, add the two tablespoons of flour slowly to the pan while stirring all of the ingredients. The flour will act as a thickener for the gravy. Be sure to go slowly sprinkling the flour and coat all of the contents of the pan while stirring so that the flour doesn’t clump.
12. Next, add in two cups of beef broth and the optional two tablespoons of soy sauce to the pan and stir until everything is mixed really well. If you skip the soy sauce, just add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the gravy. If the gravy seems too thick, you can add another 1/4 cup of beef broth.
13. If your pan can handle it, place all eight of the patties into the large skillet. Nestle them in the gravy so that just the top surfaces are visible. Simmer the patties for 10 minutes on medium-low heat and then flip them over for another five minutes (15 minutes total). The gravy should be at a mild simmer, not boiling. Adjust the heat as necessary. If your pan isn’t large enough for all eight patties, they can be cooked in batches or the gravy can be split between two smaller pans.
14. After simmering for 15 minutes, the Salisbury steak patties are ready to serve! They’re perfect with mashed potatoes and any kind of veggies. The gravy from the Salisbury Steaks tastes great on mashed potatoes and a bite of steak, potatoes, and gravy is pure high school cafeteria heaven!