AMISH POOR MAN'S STEAK

 Das Dutchman Essenhaus is a place I hope to get to sometime when we finally take that road trip that we had to postpone last year due to COVID. It is on U.S. Highway 20 in Middlebury, Indiana. Until then I will just have to enjoy two of their cookbooks full of recipes from the restaurant and its employees. Friend Jean gave me Volume I last week to go with Volume III I already had. 

Poor Man's Steak, one of Manager Sue Miller's recipe is the first one I decided to make from Volume I. It was really good and I changed the directions for making it just so I could make half with onion for Wayne and the other half without onion pour moi. He was so excited to smelling onions cooking in the kitchen. He was like a kid. It turned out okay the way I did it so I don't think Sue would be upset with me.

The only substitution I made was using a can of Golden Mushroom soup instead of cream of mushroom. Actually as I recheck the recipe, she only says a can of mushroom soup so maybe she uses Golden also. I prefer the flavor of it.

For a printable copy of just the recipe, click HERE.

POOR MAN'S STEAK

1     lb. ground beef

1     cup milk

1/4  teaspoon pepper

1     cup cracker crumbs (about 20 saltines)

1     teaspoon salt (I omitted since I used saltines for the crackers.) 

1     small onion chopped fine

1     can mushroom soup (I used Golden Mushroom Soup)

Sue Miller's Instructions: Combine the ingredients except soup mixing well and shape in a narrow loaf. Let it set for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Slice in pieces and fry till brown. Put slices in layers in a roaster and spread mushroom soup on each piece. Bake 1 hour.

My Instructions:

Combine the ingredients except of the soup in a large bowl,

mixing well. 

Divide mixture in half. Add onion to one of the mixtures. Form the mixture into patties. (I made 3 with onion and 3 without.) Wrap individually with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator on a plate overnight. (I guess I was tired that night and forgot to take pictures.)

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Then add some oil in a skillet and brown the patties on both sides.

Place in baking dish and

then spoon the undiluted soup and spread over each patty. Cover pan with foil and bake for 1 hour or until done.

We ate one each and stored the other four in a sealed container in the refrigerator for another day. For leftovers, I warmed two up in a covered dish in the oven (350 degrees F.) until I could smell that wonderful smell of them coming from the oven. So good. As good as the first time.