Bless Her Heart

In the next series of posts, I would like to share 31 recipes for some classic Southern-style meat recipes…comfort foods that you can use on a rotating basis to feed your family throughout an entire month. 

I have already shared my recipes for 

• Red Beans and Rice
• Etouffee
• Jambalaya
• Gumbo

So we have 27 more recipes to go…starting with my family’s recipe for hamburger steak. 

So, next on the menu…

Hamburger Steak

Hamburger steak is basically a hamburger patty smothered in brown gravy and onions. 

Hamburger steaks are an easy and flavorful main dish that is both quick and simple…a hearty, home-cooked meal that is quick enough to make on busy weeknights…and a simple, relatively inexpensive meal that is made with ingredients that you probably already have on hand. 

• 1½# ground beef 
• ½tsp garlic powder 
• 1tsp onion powder 
• ½tsp salt 
• ¼tsp pepper 
• 1tsp dry mustard 
• 1 small onion thinly sliced 
• 1@10.5oz can French onion condensed soup 
• 1@.87oz packet brown gravy mix 
• ½C water 
• 1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

Shape: Crumble the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and ground mustard. Blend well. Divide the mixture into four equal parts. Shape into patties. Make them bigger than you think that you would need to. They will shrink alot. Indent the middle of each patty with your thumb. This prevents them from puffing up too much and turning into meatballs. 

Sear: Place a (cast iron) skillet over medium-high heat. Higher temperatures could make the hamburger steaks shrink even more while they are cooking. Place the steaks in the skillet once the pan is hot. Cook for four minutes. Carefully flip the patties over. Cook four minutes. At this point, we aren’t cooking the patties all the way through. Instead, we are simply browning the patties to help seal in the juices. Remove the steaks from the pan and onto paper towels. 

Saute: Drain all but about 2Tbsp of the grease from the pan. Put the pan back on the heat. Add the sliced onions. Cook three minutes.  

Season: Add the undiluted onion soup, gravy mix and water. Stir well.  

Simmer: Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Stir together the remaining ingredients. Pour this mixture over the steak and onions.  

Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Flip the patties over. Cook an additional 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165F degrees. Overcooking the patties will make them tough and dry. 

To thicken the gravy: Remove the meat from the pan.Stir together 2tsp cornstarch or flour with 2tsp of cold water. Stir the mixture into the broth.  

To make it even thicker, let the patties cook a little longer or add more of the cornstarch mixture.