Salisbury steak is the Sysco frozen entrée of American comfort cooking. It is also, in the hands of a chef who runs Society in Fort Myers and GLAM Vegan in Miami, a ground-meat technique exam.
Todd Erickson chose it for the 2017 season premiere — a Hail Mary of a dish to bring against Bobby Flay, who has spent thirty years lifting the genre above its TV-dinner origins. The technique Erickson would have leaned on is the panade: bread soaked in milk, kneaded into the ground beef before salt hits, so the proteins don't tighten into a hockey puck. Then a hard sear in cast iron, a quick pan gravy built on the fond with mushrooms and a glug of Madeira, and a finish where the patties bathe in the sauce just long enough to drink it in.
Bobby's, the judges suggested, was a hamburger with brown sauce.