Grandpa Gotta Cook—Salisbury Steak And Mashed Potatoes (Take Two).

Yo. Whasssssssuppp?

Welcome y'all.

You might remember from a few weeks ago my attempt with an Italian Meatballs and Rice Casserole that went awry until my wife stepped in and saved the day. Well, I'm happy to report that she was not needed this time around, but there were a couple of stressful moments, nonetheless, as Grandpa got back into the kitchen for yet another another adventure in dinner preparation.

This edition of Grandpa Gotta Cook is once again published in conjunction with the crazy cats at @foodfightfriday.

Same, But Different

Have you ever been in the situation where you're scrambling around, looking through recipes, hoping to match up what you think you have lying around the house as far as ingredients go, but you always seem to be one or two ingredients short?

This happens to me frequently, and it kind of dictates what I'm going to do and not going to do. I tend to cook during a time where our food supply is at it's lowest ebb, too, however that works out.

Since I didn't really know what I wanted to make, but knew what we'd already eaten throughout last week, I was honing in on a meal that would combine ground beef and ground pork, similar to what I did a few weeks ago with the Italian meatballs. Except, something else.

The Wonderful Mystery Meat

Well, as it turned out, if you've ever wondered what delicious mystery meat goes into different meat dishes, ground pork and ground beef can be combined to make Salisbury steak. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had Salisbury steak (middle school cafeteria days maybe?), which is probably odd to some of you who eat comfort food on a regular basis, but hey, what can I say. My wife's Mexican, and I've only been in the cooking rotation for over a year and a half.

Saved By The Gravy Packet

Looking through the ingredients list, it seemed I had everything but two items—heavy cream, for both the steak and a mushroom sauce—and the mushrooms. See, mushrooms can sit in the refrigerator for days and days without being used because the cooks during the week have other ideas, but then when it comes to my turn, where mushrooms are almost a staple of my culinary regime, no mushrooms.

However, the crisis there was averted by the discovery of a packet of instant mushroom gravy in the cupboard. It even had hunks of freeze dried mushrooms in it.

I know, I know, it wasn't going to taste the same as homemade, but the way I had it figured, I would be shaving off about 40 minutes from what was supposed to be 15 minutes of normal people's prep and cooking time by taking the shortcut.

No brainer.

That just left the heavy cream for the steak.

I wondered how crucial it was. I wondered if adding a little more milk would be okay. I looked up heavy cream and read that I could make my own with milk and melted butter. Okay. Didn't sound hard to do.

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This Week's Grandpa Gotta Tip

When something doesn't seem difficult to do, if you've never done it before, there's probably a trick to it you don't know, making it actually harder to do than it sounds.

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So, I went about putting the other ingredients together. Once again, I needed white bread crumbs to soak up chopped onions, parsley, thyme, the milk, and the cream with. An egg and the meat came next. With the mixing of the first ingredients on hold while the butter for the homemade heavy cream melted, I turned to see what was happening in the sauce pan.

The butter looked good. I stirred it quite a few times, then like the instructions said, I added in the milk.

I let it cool for a while. A few minutes later, I wished I hadn't. It looked like this:

I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to look like that.

The thought occurred to me, though, right about the time panic was coming on, that I could just reheat the butter and the milk together. So, very calmly, I did. The butter melted, and this time, stayed melted. Crisis, amazingly enough, averted.

When it was ready, I added it to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl, hand mixed it (that's always fun to get beaten egg all over your fingers) and then set to the task of creating what were described as "football-shaped" patties.

They didn't really come out looking like footballs, but at this point, I didn't care.

The pan I had to work with, while large, wasn't going to accommodate what turned out to be seven patties, so I started the first four, and figured I could add more as the meat shrank. In the meantime, I still had the instant potatoes, which I'd managed to mess up the last go around, and the mushroom gravy.

Both were easy enough. Water for the gravy, brought to a boil, simmer for a few minutes. Boil the water with butter for the potatoes, add in the flakes, then the milk. I think that's where I messed up last time. The milk went in before the flakes. Regardless, the potatoes turned out much better this time around.

And the gravy worked out well, too. That just left frying up the rest of the meat and warming up some green beans. Because, you know, vegetables.

Prep to serving time took roughly two hours. It was supposed to take all of 40 minutes. Not when Grandpa's at the wheel! Anyway, with everything ready, I dished up the steak, mashed potatoes and green beans, and then sloshed on some gravy.

The Verdict

Delicious. The combination of ground pork, ground beef, seasonings and gravy really combined to a very tasty meat. Getting some mashed potatoes into the mix made it even better. Sorry, green beans. You were odd man out, but still nutritionally necessary.

I need to do this again, and soon. Maybe within a month or two. I like how it turned out a lot, and in some ways, it reminded me of the shepherd's pie I made some months ago. That I need to cook again, too.

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed another edition of Grandpa Gotta Cook. I for one never know what's going to happen, which always seems to add to the excitement.

Until next time...

Enjoy!

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_{All images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen}

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