Hamburger vs hamburg

[Alice Faber]

A. Maberry said:
>On Sat, 14 Jul 2001, Alice Faber wrote:
>>
>> I could imagine that the original Salisbury steak was more like what we
>> would call a cube steak, that is, a single, integral piece of meat whose
>> fibers have been broken up by a medieval torture device. This "torture"
>> might be believed to make the meat more easily digestible.
>
>dInIs seems to agree as well. I recall Salisbury steak as being a bit
>tougher than hamburger, more like cube steak, and always with brown gravy
>with mushrooms. Swiss steak is floured and browned first before braising
>and Salisbury steak is just browned, I think. It's been so long since I've
>had either, but I'm sure I put ketchup on both.
>
>What does the "cube" in cube steak signify? I seem to recall hearing also
>"cubed steak".

I was actually thinking about that when I was waxing rhapsodic about
Salisbury steak (did I *really* wax rhapsodic about Salisbury steak???!?).
One kind of meat tenderizer is a metal cube on a handle sort of like a
mallet. The business side is kind of spiked, so if you wale away at your
tough cut of meat you'll break down the fibers. My old Joy of Cooking is of
little help, referring just to a tough cut of meet that needs to be
macerated in order to tenderize it.

Alice
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Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
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