Looking for something new to try? Make this southern dish.

[Matt300ZXT]

Hamburger steaks in tomato gravy. It's kind of like salisbury steaks, just not in brown mushroom gravy. Tomato gravy is a staple from the poor southern regions and is quite rich and tasty. If you guys want to try it out, I'll give you the recipe and tell you how to make it.

 

[VonBonfire]

I'm all ears Matt. My wife and her friend like trying new recipes so I would share it with them.

 

[Matt300ZXT]

For just the 2 of you/them, if you have some sides, you won't spend a lot:

1 lb beef
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes (you can use regular, but the smaller pieces make it easier to eat)
A bit of AP flour
Maybe a little extra oil/butter
1 cup or so of broth (I had to use water tonight, and it's still just as good, but it'd be slightly better with chicken or beef broth)

*In a mixing bowl, toss in the beef and mix in salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and thyme, but you can adjust whatever you like.
*Patty the beef out, I like mine on the thicker side.
*Sear the patties in a pan to get a nice Maillard reaction on the meat on both sides and remove the patties.
*Toss in the AP flour into the pan to make a roux. You'll probably need about 1 tbsp or so of oil in the skillet. I usually have to add a wee bit more oil. I usually get my roux about peanut butter consistency.
*Cook the roux for about 5-8 minutes to get a little color in it, then add in the can of tomatoes, juice and all and then start with about 1 cup of the broth or water. This will break the brown bits loose on the bottom of the skillet from the meat and get all that tasty flavor in there.
*You want the gravy thick enough it'll lightly coat the back of a spoon, add a little more broth if it's too thick. Taste it and adjust seasoning, but don't go wild, because the patties will be going back in. I usually just use more salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a small bit of thyme.
*Add the patties back in and cover. Simmer on low heat until the internal temperature is 165, stirring/scraping the bottom every few minutes. I usually taste the gravy and add seasoning once the meat reaches 165, and then just stir it in really good.

This tomato gravy would also go great over some nice fried pork chops or chicken fried chicken or chicken fried steak. It goes on biscuits a lot but I don't like it as much on biscuits, so I usually stick to just milk/sausage gravy for biscuits.

 

[VonBonfire]

For just the 2 of you/them, if you have some sides, you won't spend a lot:

1 lb beef
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes (you can use regular, but the smaller pieces make it easier to eat)
A bit of AP flour
Maybe a little extra oil/butter
1 cup or so of broth (I had to use water tonight, and it's still just as good, but it'd be slightly better with chicken or beef broth)

*In a mixing bowl, toss in the beef and mix in salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and thyme, but you can adjust whatever you like.
*Patty the beef out, I like mine on the thicker side.
*Sear the patties in a pan to get a nice Maillard reaction on the meat on both sides and remove the patties.
*Toss in the AP flour into the pan to make a roux. You'll probably need about 1 tbsp or so of oil in the skillet. I usually have to add a wee bit more oil. I usually get my roux about peanut butter consistency.
*Cook the roux for about 5-8 minutes to get a little color in it, then add in the can of tomatoes, juice and all and then start with about 1 cup of the broth or water. This will break the brown bits loose on the bottom of the skillet from the meat and get all that tasty flavor in there.
*You want the gravy thick enough it'll lightly coat the back of a spoon, add a little more broth if it's too thick. Taste it and adjust seasoning, but don't go wild, because the patties will be going back in. I usually just use more salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a small bit of thyme.
*Add the patties back in and cover. Simmer on low heat until the internal temperature is 165, stirring/scraping the bottom every few minutes. I usually taste the gravy and add seasoning once the meat reaches 165, and then just stir it in really good.

This tomato gravy would also go great over some nice fried pork chops or chicken fried chicken or chicken fried steak. It goes on biscuits a lot but I don't like it as much on biscuits, so I usually stick to just milk/sausage gravy for biscuits.

Thanks for taking the time Matt. I might surprise my wife with this recipe this week since I think I have most of what is needed. I wonder how venison would work as a sub for beef. I have a lot of ground venison I need to burn through. My only question is what's AP flour?

 

[Matt300ZXT]

Thanks for taking the time Matt. I might surprise my wife with this recipe this week since I think I have most of what is needed. I wonder how venison would work as a sub for beef. I have a lot of ground venison I need to burn through. My only question is what's AP flour?

All purpose flour. Hmm, venison is pretty lean, so you'd have to add some butter or oil to the pan (or tasty bacon grease) to cook it in since it won't really render any fat out. Otherwise, it'd be a unique twist since venison has a fairly strong flavor that I think the tomato would do a decent job of taming.

 

[VonBonfire]

All purpose flour. Hmm, venison is pretty lean, so you'd have to add some butter or oil to the pan (or tasty bacon grease) to cook it in since it won't really render any fat out. Otherwise, it'd be a unique twist since venison has a fairly strong flavor that I think the tomato would do a decent job of taming.

We always save bacon grease and I always save all the brisket drippings I can for adding flavor to other stuff. I think I'm going to give this a shot Matt. I mostly suck at cooking so I will take my wife by surprise with this dish.

 

[Matt300ZXT]

The hardest part of this is the roux. You gotta get the right consistency, which isn't hard. You could probably watch a video or two on it to get the hang of it. They're equal parts fat and starch. So if you think you have about 1-1.5tbsp of oil in the skillet, add that much flour. If it looks way too dry and floury/crumbly, add a little more grease. You want it to be able to be stirred around and it somewhat be a little liquidy. Maybe caramel is a bit better of a look to go for than peanut butter, but you'll get the hang of it. Just scrape across the bottom, and a good roux, starting out, should slowly start filling that scraped section back in, but not rushing in like when the Red Sea was done being parted.

Once you get the gravy started after adding in the tomatoes and broth/water, after a couple minutes of cooking and stirring it should reach the consistency it's going to basically stay, so turn it down to low. Like I said, when it lightly coats the back of a spoon, that's a good consistency to keep it at.

As a bonus, you make sausage/milk gravy the same way for biscuits or chicken fried chicken or chicken fried steak. Oil (preferably oil leftover from cooking some sausage), ap flour and get it mixed and get the lumps out, then add in a bit of milk and stir/scrape/smash constantly to keep lumps out, adding salt and pepper to taste, which will take quite a bit if you're not using sausage. Less-cold milk is supposed to help with the clumping.

As a second bonus, if you make milk gravy (no sausage), and dump in a fuckload of cheese and cooked macaroni....well, you do the math.

 

[Monkey Man]

Looks freakin'-delicious man.

 

[Matt300ZXT]

Looks freakin'-delicious man.

Thank you. It is very delicious. The tomato in it obviously makes it fairly sweet at first, so you gotta find a good balance of salt and pepper to balance that out and get it to taste just right. Some people add just a wee bit of cream at the end to get it a little more richness, but I've only done that once. It's good, but not necessary.

 

[311boogieman]

Looks pretty damn good.

Here is my southern similar.

I use bacon grease for my roux

 

[Matt300ZXT]

Looks pretty damn good.

Here is my southern similar.

I use bacon grease for my roux

Did you add something into that base or did you just cook it long enough to get the brown color in it? I've thought about using Chef Jean Pierre's shelf stable roux using clarified butter but I don't cook enough (it's just me) to really do that, so I just whip up what I need when I need it. Your dish looks tasty.

 

[311boogieman]

Did you add something into that base or did you just cook it long enough to get the brown color in it? I've thought about using Chef Jean Pierre's shelf stable roux using clarified butter but I don't cook enough (it's just me) to really do that, so I just whip up what I need when I need it. Your dish looks tasty.

Thanks. Part of it is cooking it long enough without burning and also the fact that I have to use gluten free flour. So - not as tasty I suppose and a little more tricky.