Venison Salisbury Steaks
and Mushroom Gravy

We made two large Salisbury steaks with ¾ pound of ground elk meat; AKA “poor man steaks”, or “ground steaks”. Don’t be bound by the amounts of ingredients in recipes. Cooking “procedure” can be quite “scientific”, but exact ingredients are just starting points! (Baked goods are different, but this ain’t cake!)  

Recent Articles

• 
• 
• 

1. Bugling Bull Game Calls made by Rockie and Corie Jacobson

   
   Bugling Bull Game Calls and Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls, by Rockie and Corie Jacobson, are available with free U.S. shipping over $50. The Jacobsons are the first family of elk calling! Steve Chapell…

   Read More

Taste preference is very personal. Use artistic license to make recipes taste like you want them to, not the way someone else says they should. These were great tasting, but we will most likely do something different every time! Let us know in the comments section below how you make Salisbury steaks.

We smoked these ground elk steaks first, and then finished them in the oven.

When we cook, we often use fresh herbs that grow in the window upstairs. We rub them on elk steaks or chicken after soaking them in a little olive oil. Dried herbs are good, too, but you don’t know what you’re missing if you haven’t tried fresh! Fresh herbs are not that hard to grow inside year ‘round. If you’re using dried herbs, add a little and taste. Then add more, if desired. Great cooks don’t always measure. They add and taste!

Here’s a good start for you to make elk, venison, or beef Salisbury steaks with mushroom gravy:

Salisbury Steak Ingredients:

¾ to 1 pound of ground meat

Bread crumbs made from 1 slice of toasted bread (1/3 cup bread or cracker crumbs)

 1/4 to 1/3 cup red and/or green bell peppers, diced

Same amount of diced onions, or to preference

1 egg

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon, or so of black pepper.

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Herbs cut very small:

2 leaves of basil

Fresh rosemary leaves stripped from 3 or 4 stems  

Oregano leaves stripped from 5 or 6 stems

Do This:

We mixed onions in one half the meat and none in the other, due to my wife’s sensitivity to onions.  Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with your hands into the raw burger. Form into balls of 1/3 pound, or so. Then shape them into patties.

Next, we put the Salisbury “steaks” in the electric smoker over some wood chips, not chunks, at about 250 degrees. After 20 minutes, or so we brought them in and put the patties in the oven at 400 degrees. They were plenty smoky after the smoker period, but they were not thoroughly cooked yet. During oven time the mushroom gravy was prepared as below.

Cook the patties to 155-160 degrees internal. The temperature will rise another 5 degrees.

Here’s how we made the Mushroom Gravy:

A small can of mushrooms was sautéed in a tablespoon of butter. A couple of tablespoons of flour were added to that. We had caught some drippings below the smoking patties into a small amount of water. That was poured and scraped into the gravy mix. One tablespoon of beef base was added, along with a cup and a half of water. This was “reduced” while stirring, until the thickness we desired was reached. A half a cup of red wine in place of some of the water would be a subtle advantage to the flavor blend.  

Comments:

Hector, TX: "Wow, that was fast!  It's very pleasant to see your sincere spirit of service and customer care... You are doing way more than selling products to customers like me...we are getting tremendous value from all you do with your site and your business." 

Tim, AZ: "This morning, she was 145# on the hook.  I definitely owe some of my success to your website and your products. Thanks again!"

Jesse, NM: "I just wanted to thank you for taking the time and energy in creating such an amazing and helpful website. As a new hunter, this provides an excellent guide to approaching elk hunting. I just wanted to thank you for sharing such a wealth of knowledge, and giving us new hunters a fighting chance of filling a tag. You guys are amazing!!!"

Skip, (Tucson, AZ) "Your Elk Hunting Tips Web Site is the best, most helpful one I have ever seen. I read and profit more than I can tell you. I just wanted to tell you THANKS!

P. Scott, (BC 2016) "I would like to thank my hunting partner for the great company & this website for the wealth of information that I have gleaned & also the gear bought as every bit of info etc. is required to harvest one of these regal animals." 

Thomas (OR), "Reading your tips has helped me to formulate a hopefully positive and safe game plan for the 2014 elk season!"

Travis (WI), "I just wanted to say thank you for your site, and helpful emails! I got several useful tips from you, and your site. ...got to put the smack down on my first elk, a beautiful New Mexico 300 class bull."

Tristan, Superior, CO: "I feel like I could go on forever here, I just get so excited talking about elk and I don't know many other hunters… Thanks again for the gear, and the website.  I have found it to be very useful and enlightening.

Jordan, MT: "Your website is a great help! I wanted to personally thank you for the great tips on hunting elk. I am extremely excited for this elk rifle season as its my first.  I wish you luck during your hunts and God bless!"

Shop Our Store

Newsletter Opt-in:
"I just get so excited talking about elk.." ~Tristan, CO

Hunting Gear Reviews

Free U.S. Shipping

Bugling Bull
Game Calls

ElkNut Productions

Free Shipping on
ElkNut Products Here

HECS Stealthscreen:
A New Type of Concealment!

$199.99,
Including U.S. Shipping

Montana Decoy Elk/Deer
Available Here!