When it comes to cooking meat, browning is everything. Not only does browning (aka the Maillard Reaction) take the flavor of your meal up a notch, but a crispy brown crust makes it look a whole lot more appetizing, too. Most of us know this is true when it comes to steaks, but few of us apply this same principle to ground beef. This is not OK.
We all deserve better than a pan of grayish meat, which is often the result when ground beef is cooked wrong. As we enter chili and casserole season, it's time to learn how to properly brown this stuff. The folks behind the food blog Kevin & Amanda have shared their secret with us, and it's a real game changer.
Here's the basic idea. Before you do anything, get the pan hot -- like, smoking hot. Then add the beef, without breaking it up. Like so:
Despite your instinct to separate the mass, let the beef sit in the hot pan undisturbed for roughly two minutes. It'll start to sear and get all nice and brown. Once that happens, flip it over and do the same thing on the other side before you mess with it.
Only then, once your meat is browned on both sides, feel free to break it up and season to your heart's content. Looks pretty good, right? Head on over to Kevin & Amanda for their full instructions, and to see what they're making with this beautifully browned ground beef.
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