[x-posted to rec.food.historic]

I was going to say something about Salisbury steak being invented by the
druids who built Stonehenge, but in the interests of sanity (and the
possibility that this might turn into an interesting thread) I shall
refrain.

Here's what I found here:  http://tinyurl.com/34nwq

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In the first place, there's been a change in the recipe for "Salisbury
steak" over the years. Today's "Salisbury steak" is usually
(theoretically, at least) ground beef mixed with bread crumbs, eggs and
milk, cooked and served as a sort of thick patty and often covered in
thick brown gravy. Salisbury steak is, ironically, often found on the
menu at both the high and low ends of the dining spectrum.
Fancy-schmantzy restaurants that would never dream of serving plain old
hamburgers offer it to children and other vulgarians, while the
ground-and-gravy aspects of the dish make it a perfect dumping ground
for whatever mystery meat less selective chefs may have on their hands.

The original "Salisbury steak," however, was simply well-cooked plain
hamburger, and was "invented" in 1888 by Dr. James H. Salisbury, an
English physician. Dr. Salisbury, who seems to have been pretty
seriously whacked, maintained that a diet of well-cooked hamburger three
times daily, washed down with large glasses of very hot water, would
cure almost any disease.

"Salisbury steak" would probably have faded away along with the odd Dr.
Salisbury had not World War I come along and inspired a popular drive in
Britain and America to rename all things German. Sauerkraut became
"victory cabbage," hamburgers (named after Hamburg, Germany) became
"liberty sandwiches," and "Salisbury steak" became the preferred name
for the bunless hamburger up to then known simply as "hamburger steak."
Although the names "hamburger" and "sauerkraut" reappeared as soon as
the war was over, "Salisbury steak" stuck, probably due to its
usefulness to restaurateurs as a fancy euphemism for humble ground beef.