Salisbury Steak Gravy

Salisbury steak is a seasoned beef patty dressed up as a steak, and it lives or dies on the gravy that comes with it. Because the patties are fried first, you get a pan full of browned fond to build on, which is why this tastes so much deeper than a gravy made from stock alone. Serve it over the patties with mashed potato and let it flood the plate.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for four patties with mash

• 2 tbsp beef fat from the patty pan topped up with butter if there is not enough
• 2 medium onions halved and sliced into half moons
• 150g (5oz) chestnut mushrooms sliced
• 25g (1oz) plain flour
• 500ml (18fl oz) hot beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Fry your seasoned beef patties in a heavy pan for four minutes a side until well browned, then lift them onto a plate. They will finish cooking in the gravy later, so do not worry if the middles are still pink.

2. Pour off all but two tablespoons of the fat, leaving every scrap of brown fond stuck to the base. If the pan is dry because you used lean mince, add a knob of butter.

3. Add the sliced onions with a good pinch of salt and cook over a medium heat for ten minutes, stirring and scraping. The salt pulls water out of the onions and that water lifts the fond off the base, which is exactly what you want.

4. Add the mushrooms and turn the heat up a little. Cook for another five or six minutes until the mushrooms have given up their water and started to brown at the edges.

5. Stir in the tomato purée and cook it for a minute, then scatter over the flour and stir until everything is coated and no dry flour is visible. Cook for two minutes over a medium heat.

6. Pour in a third of the hot stock and stir hard, breaking up any floury clumps against the base of the pan. Add the rest, then the Worcestershire sauce and the mustard, and bring it to a simmer.

7. Slide the patties back in along with any juices from the plate. Simmer gently, uncovered, for ten minutes, turning them once. The gravy thickens and the patties finish cooking in it, which is the whole point of the dish.

8. Taste the gravy and season. It should be dark, glossy and thick enough to hold a spoon mark for a second. Serve straight from the pan.

Tips worth knowing

• The salt on the onions is not just for seasoning. It draws out water that dissolves the fond, and that is where most of the flavour in this gravy comes from.
• Do not finish cooking the patties before the gravy goes on. Ten minutes simmering in the gravy keeps them juicy and thickens the sauce with the juices they release.
• Bind your patties with a little milk soaked bread rather than egg alone. They stay softer and they take up the gravy better.
• If the gravy tastes thin or one note, another teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce almost always fixes it before salt does.

Keeping and reheating

The gravy and patties keep together for three days in the fridge and reheat well in a covered pan over a low heat. They freeze for two months, though the mushrooms soften. Add a splash of stock when reheating.

Questions people ask