Salisbury steak is similar to chicken fried steak in that both are different kinds of ground beef (or ground beef pressed into patties) fried in a pan and served up with gravy on them. Neither are baked in an oven. But the former, salisbury steak, is more likely to be served up with brown sauce while the latter, chicken fried steak, is more likely to be served up with white sauce. Another feature that contrasts the two, is the presence of an egg based battered coating in chicken fried steak, something never found with salisbury steak.

A research team in Nebraska is hot on the trail of E. coli - found in beef - which can kill if it reaches the dinner table. Their objective is to save children's lives. In 2007, more than 30 million pounds of ground beef were pulled off the market because of E. coli contamination. Sunstroke author David Kagan wrote of food contamination in Medscan.

Ground beef is no longer about these traditional recipes. There are many things you can do with it to spice up your dinner.

No powdered mixes. Just use ground beef or turkey and 3 other simple ingredients (not including buns). What could be more simple for dinner?

One Saturday night I was poking around in the fridge looking for something to make for dinner. I had thawed some ground beef, but I was surprised to see we didn't have any hamburger buns left. But we did have a few hot dog buns...