Multipurpose Meals - "Hamburger Meat"

Hamburger meat is often the way people refer to ground beef. I called it Hamburger Meat today because that's what I am starting with, Hamburgers. As I said before, ground beef is so versatile and can be used for almost anything. Today we are going to look at three meals that are somewhat similar but completely different also. Personally, I dump all the meat in one big bowl, because I use the same seasonings for the recipes but you can do it individually if you are shaking things up.

So first I start with the ground beef, and I add a package (or two if you prefer), of Onion Soup Mix. I find this gives the burger so much flavour. If you have enough meat and if you feel like it, we sometimes stuff our burgers with cheese. (You make two small enough -thin- patties, and you add the cheese between them, rework them slightly so they are sealedand cook like normal.)

Next, I take the same mixture (with the onion soup mix), and add a couple of splashes of Worcestershire Sauce. Mix the meat again and I make more patties (this time two per person - slightly smaller and thinner than the hamburgers). These are going to be for Salsbury Steak. What I do is I cook them like burgers, and then throw them in a casserole dish or glass baking wear, and I pour gravy on top. We usually use a packet for gravy but whatever you like is fine. (We like the "Ragou" gravy or a brown gravy.) While that cooks we pan-fry a chopped onion and some mushrooms. When the gravy has thickened, we take it out of the oven and plate, topping each one with the onions and mushrooms. We serve it with Mashed Potatoes.

And finally, Meatballs. Again, we have the mixture of meat, onion soup mix, and Worchestershire Sauce, and we simply make meatballs out of the rest of the meat. We like to add our meatballs to gravy and add in a can of "cut potatoes" (potatoes in a can), but you can do whatever you want with these, Spaghetti and Meatballs would be great, and if you have any leftover of that a meatball sub/sandwich is a great way to use up those leftovers too!