By Request: Hamburger steak a storyteller’s muse

How much do you adore hamburger steak and brown gravy? Not as much as Ron Sambrano, I’ll bet you anything.

“I just love it,” Sambrano said of his favorite plate-lunch food. Enough to put his money where his heart is and self-publish a book, “The Hamburger Steak Novella.”

Many in his family have worked in Maui restaurants, but Sambrano didn’t go that way, despite some time as a dishwasher and eventually line cook. “I was the uninspired guy, I was more like a cruiser.” (Many of his stories do seem to involve doobies.)

He now works at Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors in Lahaina, cutting fish and making poke.

As a whole, the book is more about Sambrano’s adventures in cooking, eating and life in general — with recipes sprinkled throughout. But his roots in the kitchen do come through.

The prose is an acquired taste, but the recipes are worthwhile. His basic burger formula of ground beef with mayonnaise and panko is a winner of a recipe that he dresses up in multiple ways: with red wine, chilies, coffee-bourbon sauce, hog-blood gravy; topped with deviled eggs, cheese and watercress; in pancit, pad thai and poutine — and on and on.

Gravy is also a passion. His most exacting chapter is devoted to making it from scratch, including simmering a beef stock, and he presents many sophisticated variations. Several types of macaroni salad are also included.

Don’t expect recipes as you’d find them in a traditional cookbook, though.

Except for the gravy chapter, recipes consist of lists of ingredients, followed by instructions in story form. For example: “Squeezed the cabbage dry, got my knife and minced up all the cabbage and tossed it into the mix, wickedly creative. I ripped it off from Aunty Jane.”

The ingredient lists are complete, though, so if you have some basic skills you can follow along. The kim chee hamburger steak recipe that follows is adapted from his book — his concept, but my how-to paragraphs. I also diluted the shoyu, as I found the original too salty. Sambrano says he encourages such modifications.

His book sells for $19.99 only at Maui Comics in Wailuku. Email mauicomicsandcollectibles@gmail.com or call 808-281-0440 to order a copy by mail.

KIM CHEE HAMBURGER STEAKS

• 1 (12-ounce) jar won bok kim chee, drained
• 2 pounds ground chuck (80% lean)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 3 tablespoons garlic chili paste
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup panko
• >> Gravy:
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut in cubes
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water (optional)

Chop kim chee and squeeze out liquid (you’ll have about 1-1/2 cups). Place in large bowl. Add meat; mix lightly. Add remaining ingredients, mixing lightly between each addition. Form into patties about 3-1/2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick.

Heat skillet over medium-high (no need to add oil; patties will render fat). Working in batches, fry about 3 minutes per side. If too much oil accumulates between batches, spoon out some, but leave any little brown bits in pan to make gravy. Remove cooked patties to plate.

>> To make gravy: Combine soy sauce, water, sugar, mirin and oyster sauce, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Using the same skillet, add onions to fat and fond (brown bits leftover from cooking patties). Saute until onions are tender. Add soy sauce mixture; stir to deglaze pan. Reduce heat and let simmer 2 minutes, then stir in butter. If needed, thicken with cornstarch slurry, adding gradually (you might not need it all).

Serve burgers with gravy. Makes about 14 patties.

Approximate nutritional information, per patty with 2 tablespoons gravy (not including cornstarch): 350 calories, 29 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 800 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 2 g sugar, 13 g protein.

Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.