On 7/17/2014 1:05 PM, Gary wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>>
>> Sorry. You brown and drain the beef, add the noodles which come in the
>> box, then add water and the seasoning packet. The seasoning varies
>> depending on which one you bought. God only knows what's in that packet
>> of powdered seasoning but you can bet it's mostly chemical:
>
> Jill. You make a good point about hamburger helper. It is more
> expensive and the only difference is the sauce package. Trouble with
> me is I'm somewhat sauce challenged. The sauces I make seem a bit
> bland and this also applies to others that have told me how to make a
> killer tasty sauce. Most of them fail and are bland.
>
> With the HH sauce pak, they do have good flavor.
>
> I have a box of it here. It's HH Salisbury and their sauce pack \
> gravy is very tasty. You say you can make your own sauce quickly and
> easily. Tell me how you would recreate this dish.
>
> one pound ground beef
> package (or equivalent) of egg noodles
> sauce to flavor it all.
>
> The HH spice package is very flavorful. Can you beat that or make some
> just as good easily? Give me a recipe and I'll try it side by side
> with the HH.
>
> G.
>
When I make something like this I don't use a recipe. It depends on
what flavour you're going for as to how you season the sauce.

When making something like this from scratch, I'd certainly add onion
and garlic to the ground beef when browning it. Meanwhile, cook the
noodles in salted water. Add them when the water starts to boil, stir,
then remove from the heat. Don't worry, they'll continue to cook. When
the beef is done, drain the beef and drain the noodles. Put the beef
back in the skillet.

If your sauces are bland, you should probably adjust the salt. For the
"sauce" for something like this, since you don't have a packet, don't
use plain water. Use beef stock.

Herbs & spices are important. I have a pretty good stock of both. You
have to season or add things to it depending on the desired results.

I don't know what this HH meal you're describing tastes like so I can't
help you there. Not fair to try to do a side-by-side comparison based
on that.

Anyway, stir in the noodles; simmer (uncovered) on low heat about 20
minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is reduced. You might
need to thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry towards the end... it
depends on how much liquid you added.

Jill