Salisbury Steak is actually super weird
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You probably know Salisbury Steak as the rubbery, gravy-covered puck found in a frozen TV dinner, but its origins are far stranger than you could ever imagine. This video uncovers the bizarre true history of Dr. James H. Salisbury, a Civil War physician and early germ theory pioneer who believed that vegetables were poison and that the path to perfect health lay in eating exclusively chopped beef. We dive deep into 19th-century medical history to reveal how this iconic cafeteria staple began as a revolutionary health food and “cure-all” designed to treat soldiers suffering from dysentery and disease during the American Civil War.
Discover the grueling medical experiments behind the Salisbury Diet, where human test subjects were forced to survive on nothing but baked beans, only to be “saved” by a strict regimen of lean ground beef and piping hot water. We explore the rise of this proto-carnivore diet (decades before Keto or Paleo became trendy) and meet Elma Stuart, the obsessive follower who turned Dr. Salisbury’s prescription into a global fad diet craze. From his theories on “meat teeth” vs. vegetable teeth to the demonization of connective tissue, learn why Victorian society became obsessed with the idea that the only safe food was a meticulously processed beef patty made with an antique meat chopper.
Finally, I trace the tragic devolution of the Salisbury Steak from a premium health product to the industrial processed meat we recognize today. See how World War I anti-German sentiment, USDA regulations, and the rise of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) transformed a doctor’s dream into a symbol of cheap, frozen food. I break down the shocking legal definitions that allow modern Swanson and Banquet meals to contain fillers and pork, explaining how corporate loopholes destroyed the legacy of America’s first famous superfood.
@Collinburns95
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I love a good tv dinner
@abbieb8130
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
At 9:05, I thought she was saying to drink a pint of really hot butter.
@IsaacKuo
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I love salisbury steaks. (Born in 1971.) I love putting salisbury steak between bread so it's like a gravy laden burger.
@mpeg2tom
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
When I was a kid in the 1970's and stayed over at one of my set of grandparents' house, they would always get me a Salisbury Steak TV dinner, with a fruit pie in it, and I loved it!
@furripupau
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
why is the video so dark?
@N1njaSquirrel
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
you should look at the history of quorn and how it's US rival gardenburger did them dirty to get an advantage over the competition, including a report done by the FDA
@joelhall5124
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
In England, we pronounce it "sallsbree", "salls" rhyming with "balls", as in "sorlsbree"
@scubor
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I actually love salisbury steak in basically all forms
@ahwhite2022
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I've got red hair and I aint white enough for this shit. 😂 Those lyrics where you heard something that remind you of German (yes, it's German) were Moskau, tor zur Vergangenheit (Moscow, gate to the past)
Spiegel der Zarenzeit (Mirror of the times of the Tsars)
rot wie das Blut (Red like [the] blood)
As for Russian music, that's a whole rabbit hole, they've got example of more every western genre, huge hip hop scene, incredibly talented pop musicians, and then the more local folk music oriented stuff. I can't think of anything that's really broke through to the international mainstream except the Ukrainian (but Russian-languages) pop song from a Eurovision contest about a decade ago, loosely translated as "everything will be OK." It was very much in the spirit if maybe a more modern version of this song, that Euro-folksy-disco thing.
@myoldaimsnwastaken
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
So I hate to ask, but I can't pretend I wouldn’t watch a video on this. Why, in the name of all that is good, is Miracle Whip still a thing? I looked up what made it different from Mayo once and saw that it was promoted as a substitute during the Great Depression, but what made it stick around?
@maxheadrom3088
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
The connectors you see on beef can be different things: grease, ligaments and protein (gelatin). Ther are two types of fat and one tastes nice but the other not so much; the ligaments are extremely hard; but the gelatin is excellent! You'll find some meat cuts that look fatty but they are actually lean and what you see is gelatin. Here where I live we prepare pork and cattle feet and it produces a huge amount of liquid protein. Some people from developed countries think that is disgusting so they usually eat the same thing after it's filteres, bleached and enriched with artificial flavours and sugar.
@maxheadrom3088
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Well … what would people say if he paid 6 women to live with him? His method was really good specially for someone who did not know multivariable analysis – something that did not exist at the time, btw.
@maxheadrom3088
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Beans are actually very good = rich in iron, protein and fibers. It reduces the Glycemic Index of other foods – like rice – because of the protein. It also makes your bowel work properly. It will cause flatulence if you're not used to high fiber diet but that lasts just a couple of weeks.
@thequeenofsporks
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
The history of oatmeal/cereals is pretty wild
@mrhaloisgamer
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Delaware easter egg
@ThousandBlade
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Not a fan of Salisbury Steak, unless it also gives +9 rads
@Sirmenonottwo
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Homemade salisbury steak is so good! the TV dinner stuff is not nearly as good.
@simonster-9094
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I usually don't cook, so I always brought a TV dinner (usually a Salisbury Steak) to work for lunch, and it basically became one of my personal trademarks to my coworkers. 😂
@dcg-doomsdaycultforgamers
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
great work with the strange and different Scottish accent. 🙂 Thank you!
@quinnlewis5286
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
In terms of spotlights on meat grinders I'm sure it happened with Sweeny Todd.
@benlu
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I wonder how he would have said his name
@FRBlitz117
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
i always knew something was sus with it
@kurtispalmer8168
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Idk what it is even to this day i still love them. But they did taste much better in the late 90s early 2000s.
@apcolleen
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I have dysautonomia and I can't watch this because of the flickering effect. Please don't use this kind of effect in videos.
@conkle7955
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
The weirdness of food history and its related sciences. Odd, but fun
@urDumbDummy
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Great vid! Interesting for sure. Made me hungry tho
@krombopulos_michael
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
That bad Scottish accent sounded more like a bad Irish accent tbh
@CountryBwoy
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
12:09 served with a side of Freedom Fries
@katsuyaeastcoastecho7667
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Your not fooling anyone this shit is ass
@slaytronic
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
those socks are a rip off cost way too much just buy carharts they feel amazing at much less money and even after 12 years of rough us no holes and stay up and still feel great
@beegee1327
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I love Salisbury steak so much and I’m very weird. Love this for me❤
@xkittiekatx
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I'm sorry to ask this but at 6:04 is that an AI rendered ball sack?
@Keenath
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
5:40 I'm sure after three weeks they were feeling like garbage just because of B-12 deficiency, a common issue with meatless diets. Salisbury described the patients suddenly getting clearer heads and more energy after eating his beef, and like — yeah buddy, if you have a B-12 deficiency from not eating any meat and then you eat meat, I bet you do suddenly feel a lot better!
@Keenath
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
In my house growing up, "salisbury steak" was a synonym for "hamburger steak with onion gravy", a southern classic, but we didn't really do the whole TV dinners thing, my mom just cooked stuff.
@bibfortuna298
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
The craziest part is finding out Upstate New York ties into this story. Wow
@rexmann1984
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
10:40 Kelly Hogan has entered the chat.
@burritowarrior5367
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
It's soft cheap and easy to chew with bad teeth ,I basically live off it
@joltjolt5060
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Salisbury steak is meatloaf, minus ketchup, in patties intead of loaf, with brown gravy in a pan.
@Abar_ID
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
8:02 Jerma985
@Goon-124
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
I do love me some gravy meatloaf, me.
@HannahFoley-o7y
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
What’s with the big Delaware map in the background with notes 👀 inquiring Delawareans want to know! 🥇
@BeanJones
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Good old TVP! I worked at a taco place and we'd use that for our vegetarian chorizo, honestly once you douse it in seasonings and salsa it tastes fine.
@VintageToiletsRock
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
Who would have thought going from eating only 1 thing to eating other things would help your nutritional standing.
@davemeyers9425
May 29, 2026 at 3:09 pm
“A dangerous patty melt d’Copper Penny was a breaded salsbury steak in a shake-n-bake, covered with a provocative sauce of velvita and half& half, smothered in Campbell’s 😊 tomato soup.”
~Tom Waits
Night Hawks