Hamburger Steak Plate Lunch (Hawaiʻi Local Beef Patty with Onion Gravy)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 12-inch cast-iron skillet or heavy frying pan
• •Rice cooker
• •Wide spatula
• •Small whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the plate

   Get the rice going first, because plate lunch waits on the rice cooker more than the cook. Keep the macaroni salad cold and ready. The rule is simple in Hawaiʻi: two scoops rice, one scoop mac salad, protein with gravy, all on one plate.

2. 2

   Mix the patties

   In a bowl, mix the ground beef, grated onion, panko, egg, milk, Worcestershire, shoyu, garlic powder, salt, and pepper just until it holds together. Don't work it hard. You want a patty that eats tender, not one that fights you.

3. 3

   Shape them wide

   Divide into 4 big patties, or 8 smaller drive-in style patties, and press a shallow dimple into the middle of each one. They shrink as they cook, so shape them wider than you think. That's auntie math, and auntie is usually right.

   If the mix feels loose, let it sit 10 minutes so the crumbs drink up the moisture.
4. 4

   Sear the beef

   Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the patties until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side for big patties, then move them to a plate. They don't need to be cooked through yet; the gravy will finish them.

5. 5

   Brown the onions

   Lower the heat to medium and add the sliced onion to the same pan. Cook until the onion softens, turns golden at the edges, and pulls the beefy browned bits off the bottom. That's where the gravy starts tasting like lunch counter, not just stock.

6. 6

   Build the gravy

   Add the butter and let it melt into the onions, then sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 to 2 minutes until it smells nutty and looks like wet sand. Whisk in the beef stock a little at a time, then add the shoyu, Worcestershire, and pepper. Simmer until glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

7. 7

   Finish together

   Slide the patties back into the gravy with any juices from the plate. Simmer gently, spooning gravy over the top, until the centers reach 160F and the onions sit soft around the beef. If the gravy gets too thick, loosen it with a splash of stock or water. No panic. Gravy forgives.

8. 8

   Plate lunch style

   Put two scoops rice on each plate, set the hamburger steak over or beside the rice, and flood it with onion gravy so some runs down into the grains. Add one scoop macaroni salad. Plastic fork, paper napkin, everybody eat while the gravy still shines.

Chef Tips

• •Use 80/20 ground beef if you can. Lean beef dries out faster, and hamburger steak is supposed to stay tender under the gravy.
• •Short-grain white rice is the plate-lunch rice. Brown rice is fine at home if that's how you eat, but the drive-in memory is white rice catching gravy.
• •Mac salad should be cold next to the hot gravy, soft but not soupy, with the macaroni cooked past Italian-style firm. Hawaiʻi mac salad has its own lane.
• •This is Hawaiʻi Local food, not pre-contact deep food, and that's okay. The deep foods kept the genealogy. The plantation foods tell how working people survived and fed each other.
• •Leftover gravy is never a problem. Spoon it over rice the next day, add a fried egg if you want loco moco energy, and keep moving.

Advance Preparation

• •Shape the patties up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate them covered. Let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before searing so they brown more evenly.
• •Macaroni salad is better made a few hours ahead or the night before, after the noodles have time to drink in the dressing.
• •Cook the rice fresh if you can. If using leftover rice, reheat it covered with a splash of water so it softens before the gravy lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 640g)