Bobby Flay's Salisbury Steak Recipe

No matter what version of Salisbury steak you're making, the main ingredient is always ground beef. Flay recommends ground chuck for his recipe, so that's what Johnson has gone with as well. To flavor the meatballs and help them come together, you'll also need an egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano, breadcrumbs, garlic, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

For the sauce, gather together cremini mushrooms, a white onion, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and half-and-half. You'll also need canola oil for cooking, and fresh parsley to help finish off the dish and add a pop of color.

This is where things get a little messy. In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano, breadcrumbs, garlic, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper until all of the ingredients are evenly worked through the beef mixture. Johnson recommends starting with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper, but stresses that, "The amount of salt and pepper is best determined by taste. With meatballs, I always make a small test first to make sure the seasonings are right." In other words, cook up a small amount of the meat mixture to taste, and adjust as necessary before you begin cooking up batches of meatballs.

Once your meatball ingredients are well combined, form them into balls with your hands, and set them aside on a plate. Johnson recommends aiming for 1 to 1 ¼-ounce meatballs, but in case you don't have a kitchen scale handy, shoot for a size of "about a golf ball."

Into the same hot skillet that you just used for the meatballs, add the onion and mushrooms, giving them a good stir or shake. Once the onions are tender, add the Worcestershire, tomato paste, and beef broth, and stir to combine. If you want to change up the flavor profile a little more, you can substitute red wine for some of the beef broth, although you'd then be straying even further from Flay's original recipe.

Once the sauce has simmered for a few minutes, add the half-and-half, and then add your meatballs back into the skillet. Spoon the sauce over the tops of the meatballs so that they're completely covered, allowing them to finish cooking in the sauce. "Taste the sauce as you go, and adjust," Johnson reminds home chefs, since this will be your last opportunity to make sure your seasonings are just right.

While the ingredients of both Bobby Flay's version and Johnson's are the same, Johnson's twist changes up the preparation and presentation of the dish, shaping the meat mixture into balls instead of patties, and serving it over pasta or potatoes instead of as a standalone dish. So, although the flavors are the same, the textures and eating experience will be different. Additionally, the noodles allow the Salisbury steak flavors to stretch farther, infusing not just the meatballs themselves, but the pasta that will help soak up all of the mouthwatering sauce, making sure not a drop goes to waste.