My Recipe for Salisbury Steak

It's been nearly 10 years since I last posted, but I think I'm going to do it more regularly.  Of course, that is what I said when I started!

Those of you who know me know that I am a pretty decent cook for someone who never had any professional training.  My mother was a great cook and though she never really let us do anything in the kitchen growing up, some of it did manage to rub off.  One thing that I like to do is to experiment with new ingredients and techniques on traditional recipes.   On occasion this can lead to diaster, but my instincts are pretty good, and over time you develop a feel for what is and is not important in a recipe.   I'm also a big fan of America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated school of cooking, though they can be a bit pedantic.

Today's recipe is my variation on salisbury steak.  Now this probably brings up bad memories for most people of frozen TV dinners and bad school cafeteria lunches, but I've always loved it.  Heck, I even like the 99 cent Banquet specials from your local supermarket.

Nothing terrible unusual about my recipe expect for the marinating with baking soda.  This is a trick I read about that tenderizes and changes the texture of beef/pork.  For example if you have ever ordered steamed spare ribs or beef balls at dim sum and wondered how it never seems to come out the same when you try to replicate it at home.  The addition baking soda is the secret.

Here is simply augments the bread crumb and milk and creates a spongy texture that I like.  Feel free to omit it if that is not to your liking.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ground beef

3/4 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tbs water

1 cup of fresh white bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

1 large onion

12 oz mushrooms
2 tbl olive oil

3/4 cup dry brown gravy mix

2.5 cups of water

1/2 cup of red wine

1/2 tsp msg

Step 1: Mix ground beef with baking soda mixture and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Step 2: Add bread crumbs and milk to ground beef.

Step 3: Form 6 to 8 patties from ground beef mixture.

Step 4: Slice onions and mushrooms. Heat olive oil in Dutch Oven or large fry pan on medium high.  Add onions and mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes.

Step 5: Push onions and mushrooms to edge of pan, then add beef patties.  Fry them on both sides for a total of around 6 minutes.

Step 6: While beef is frying, start heating water in saucepan and add gravy mix.  Be sure to stir it regularly so it doesn't get lumpy.

Step 7: After the beef finishes browning, add gravy, red wine, and msg.  Bring to a boil, turn heat down to a slow simmer, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 8: Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

Election Day

For the first time ever, I voted for a Democrat for president. To the extent I have any political tendencies, I lean libertarian on most issues. However, I am deeply concerned about our macro-economy and a proper analysis of our current predicament suggests that the Federal government must dramatically increase spending over the next year to prevent aggregate demand from collapsing, and the nation from entering a deep recession. As much as I admire John McCain's well-documented service to the nation, I believe that an Obama administration is far more likely to adopt the correct policies to navigate this crisis. After W, Barack's eloquence and thoughtfulness will be a breath of fresh air.

Though it does concern me a fair bit that he has never held a real job in his adult life, and that he is by most accounts the most liberal member of the US Senate, the brilliant campaign he has run suggests to me that he knows how to surround himself with people who know what the hell they are doing, and that he has a firm grasp of reality. We need to put some competent people in charge, regardless of their political leanings. The Bush administration has been an utter disgrace in this regard. Frankly, if it were not for Bob Gates and David Petreus, I would be hard pressed to name a single initiative of substance by this administration that has left the nation better off.

Nonetheless, this has been a historic election, and, I hope, we will elect a man with the character and intellect to led the nation through the difficult days to come. And we will have many difficult days ahead .....

Race for the Galaxy

My long delayed order from Boulder Games came in early this week, so I finally have a copy of Race for the Galaxy in my hands! Race for the Galaxy is a card game that came out in 2007 and promptly sold out. It's similar in some respects to San Juan in terms of the mechanics, but I've been told that it is a much richer game. I played it at Dan's game night with Andrew, Eric, and Matt, all of whom have played it before, though only Eric has had really extensive experience with it. One aspect of the game that takes some getting used to is the symbology. Rather than using word descriptions only, these are used to convey the powers of specific cards. It definitely takes some getting used to, and I can see how a bunch of novices would completely botch their first game. But once you get used to it, it becomes a very elegant way of conveying a lot of complicated information without cluttering the display.

After a single play, this has become my favorite card game, and I think it will be a while before I am tired of it. The neat thing about it, which it shares to some degree with San Juan and Puerto Rico is the fact that there are both tactical and strategic elements to good play. It's strategic because you have to develop a long term plan that allow you to build combination of cards with powers that complement each other. At the same time there are tactical aspects that dictate what roles to choose at a particular time, and to a limited degree, how you might anticipate the roles selected by the other players. Conflict is very muted in this game, and some have argued that it is basically multi-player solitaire. I can definitely see how one might feel that way, though I think a very important aspect of good play is paying attention to what the other players are doing and leveraging off of that. There's also a much more diverse mix of cards than San Juan, so I think it will be awhile before I figure out all of the paths to victory, if ever. Regardless, the key, as in San Juan, are the 6 point bonus cards. When I have some time, I need to sit down and analyze what each of them do and the combinations that work well together.

Oh, and I came in second. I drew New Sparta as my starting world and went with a military conquest strategy pretty much from the beginning, though I didn't really get going until almost the end of the game. More importantly, I think I have the mechanics down pretty well, unlike, say, the first time I played Puerto Rico, when I was nearly as confused at the end of the game as I was at the start. Looking forward to playing this into the ground!

July Alexandria Gaming Group Microcon

I managed to make it to this month's Microconvention yesterday and stayed until 10:30. I tried a couple of new games, but nothing spectacular. One was called Red Dragon Inn or something to that effect. It's a card game where each player took on a character drinking and gambling at a proverbial rustic inn, the generic hangout in fantasy novels. The goal is to be the last person standing after everyone else has either lost all their money or passed out. The twist is that each player has his/her own special deck of cards geared toward his/her character's abilities. For example, my character was a a sword maiden who could hold her liquor and put the hurt on everyone, but too dim witted to ever win a round of cards. So my goal was to avoid gambling, and conserve as much of my money as possible, while inflicting pa..., uh, buying everyone drinks, that is. If you're in the right mood, and everyone gets into to their roles, this can be fairly amusing. But I doubt that I'd be interested in playing it again. Yet another card game that is kind of fun on the first play, but, at least to me, seems more than a little tedious once the novelty wears off.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I got a chance to play Puerto Rico with all experienced players. A rather odd session. I thought for sure I had the game in the bag at mid game. I was the only coffee producer and money was rolling in. I managed to buy 2 of the 10 point buildings before anyone else had 1. But things just went dry thereafter, and a couple of bad decisions at the end the game caused me to lose by 3 points. The winning score ws 33. I can't remember the last time I played in a game where I scored less than 35, let alone the winning score. It was fun nonetheless.

It was great seeing some old friends: Tim, Laura, Andy, Janna, Jennifer, Gabriel, etc., and met some new people as well. We held it at the Martha Washington Library in Alexandria instead of at River Towers, and I actually liked it better. Turnout was on the light side, but it was a fun crowd. And I crushed Tim in a game of Hansa at the end of the evening... What's not to like about that!

Laura started to teach us Palazzo, a game where each player competes to construct the tallest and most beautiful buildings. We didn't have time to make it too far, but I was starting to get the hang of it. I wouldn't mind trying it again some time.

One competely ridiculous game I got talked into trying was Candyman. I should have realized it as soon as I saw the game board. At first blush it seemed like a slightly more complicated and cut throat version of Candyland. That turned out to be pretty much the case and it was about as much fun. 30 minutes of my life that I will never get back!