No. 1359

Salisbury Steak

Bifteck a la Salisbury

Put two pounds of tenderloin of beef in the chopping machine (Fig. 173); this machine is far superior to any other, for in chopping the meats the sinews and other hard parts collect at the bottom of the machine, on the shelf; the meat arising to the surface is the best part; take this out, leaving the hard, fibrous pieces at the bottom. Mold the Salisbury steak in a ring three-quarters of an inch high by three inches in diameter or else in a small empty goose-liver terrine (No. 10). These raw steaks are frequently served without any seasoning or else seasoned and broiled very rare.

← No. 1358 Smoked Round Top of Beef with Cream Beef No. 1360 Beef Steak, Hamburg Style →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Ranhofer's entry is barely a recipe at all: two pounds of tenderloin through the chopper, molded into discs, and served either raw or barely warmed through. That last instruction is the problem.

Raw ground beef is the hingeThe recipe's default is uncooked minced beef, with broiling "very rare" as the alternative. Whole muscle carries its contamination on the surface; grinding drives that surface bacteria throughout the mass, which is why ground beef is treated differently from a steak. Neither of Ranhofer's options addresses that.
The specific riskE. coli O157:H7 and Shiga toxin-producing strains are the reason ground beef is held to 160F throughout in current guidance. The infectious dose is very low, and the consequences (haemolytic uraemic syndrome) fall hardest on children and older adults. Tenderloin is not safer than chuck in this respect.
Grinding on the premises is not a safeguardRanhofer was presumably working with freshly killed meat ground to order in his own kitchen. That would have reduced the time for bacteria to multiply, but it never eliminated the hazard, and it is not a control that transfers to a supermarket chub of ground beef. If you want steak tartare, follow a current recipe with a butcher who supplies meat for that purpose.
The chopping machineFig. 173 is a chopping machine of the period; the recipe says nothing more about it. Ranhofer's claim that sinew and hard parts settle on a shelf while good meat rises is a description of that particular machine's behaviour, not a general principle; a modern grinder or food processor does no such sorting. The practical point survives, though: trim silverskin and gristle before grinding, not after.
The moldThree-quarters of an inch high by three inches across is a small, thick puck, not the flat oval patty the name now suggests. The "small empty goose-liver terrine" of No. 10 is being pressed into service as a ring form; a 3-inch ring mold or a tuna tin with both ends cut out gives the same shape.
YieldAt three inches across and three-quarters of an inch high, each mold holds roughly three ounces, so two pounds of trimmed tenderloin gives something like eight to ten. The recipe itself states no yield and no portion size.

A Little History

The name honours Dr. James H. Salisbury, an American physician who from the 1860s onward promoted a diet of lean minced beef, pressed into cakes and eaten with hot water, as a treatment for digestive complaints and other ailments. His theory that starches and vegetables fermented harmfully in the gut has not aged well, but the dish attached itself to his name and spread through American menus. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's, included it in The Epicurean (1894) filed between smoked beef and "Beef Steak, Hamburg Style" — the two entries together show how minced beef was then understood as a spectrum from invalid food to chophouse standard, with the raw version carrying an air of medical respectability rather than luxury. The sturdy gravy-covered patty that Americans now call Salisbury steak is a later development, largely a product of twentieth-century diners and frozen dinner trays.