From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Salisbury steak is ground beef shaped to resemble a steak and usually served in brown sauce.

Salisbury steak is popular in the American South, where it is traditionally served with gravy and grilled onions. Salisbury steak is a common staple of public school lunches and frozen dinners.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition), Salisbury steak was invented by an American physician, Dr. J. H. Salisbury (1823-1905) and named after him. The OED gives an 1897 citation. H.L. Mencken reported (in 1945) that the name was used to replace "hamburger steak" during World War I as a political euphemism.

Hamburg steak

Hamburg (ハンバーグ, hanbāgu^?) is a popular Salisbury steak dish in Japan. It is made from ground meat with finely chopped onion, egg and breadcrumbs flavored with various spices and made into flat circular shape about a centimeter thick and 10 to 15 cm in diameter.^{[citation needed]} Many restaurants (e.g. Bikkuri Donkey) specialize in various styles of hamburg.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, it is sometimes called hamburg steak.^{[citation needed]}

Hamburg became popular during the 1960s as a more affordable way to serve otherwise costly meat.^{[citation needed]} Magazines regularly printed the recipe during that decade, elevating it to a staple dish in Japanese culture.^{[citation needed]} In Japan, the dish dates back to the Meiji period and is believed to have been first served in Yokohama, which was one of the first ports opened to foreigners. Since the 1980s, vacuum packed hamburg are sold with sauce already added, and these are widely used in box lunches (bento). Frozen hamburg are popular as well, often served in fast food style restaurants because they have a richer taste and firmer texture than vacuum-packed hamburg.

Philippine-based fast food chain Jollibee sells a variant of the Salisbury Steak called the Burger Steak. It consists of a burger patty in mushroom gravy served with rice. Due to its popularity, local stores also sell this dish under the name burger steak rather than salisbury steak.

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.^{[citation needed]}