Ellie C wrote:
> Sheldon wrote:
>
> > Ellie C wrote:
> >
> >>I cooked up some American Chop Suey for lunch today, using
hamburger
> >>from the local market. I've now come to the conclusion that this
> >
> > ground
> >
> >>beef is just weird. It's 15% fat, so I generally add a small amount
> >
> > of
> >
> >>olive oil to the pan before I start to brown the meat. But, as is
> >
> > usual
> >
> >>with this ground beef, it never browns. Here's the sequence of
> >
> > events: I
> >
> >>heat the olive oil in the frying pan, then I add the beef. For a
few
> >>seconds it sizzles normally and then it starts releasing water,
> >
> > enough
> >
> >>so that it's actually boiling and it never browns again. Does this
> >
> > mean
> >
> >>the meat has been watered? If I cook it for a really long time the
> >>"water" boils off, but the meat by this time has turned into little
> >>crumbles and never becomes browned - the crumbles just get harder.
> >
> >
> > It's possible water was added but not highly unlikely with plain
ground
> > meat, markets do not want to risk stiff fines for mislabeling.
However
> > with sausage ice is often added, but then the package would say
"Water
> > Added" and what percent. Animal flesh is normally about 75% water,
so
> > if cooked at too low a temperature water will exude and need to
> > evaporate before the meat can brown... you need to increase the
cooking
> > temperature so that the water naturally contained in the meat
> > evaporates more quickly than it exudes. You are very likely
> > overloading your pan... try browning only a samll amount of meat at
a
> > time. Of course you shouldn't be using stupidmarket ground meat in
the
> > first place, get yourself a meat grinder, then you'll know what and
who
> > is in your meat.
> >
>
> Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I should grind my own beef, but it's not
> something I'm really interested in doing. Life is too short to do
> everything perfectly.;-) I do have a meat grinder but it's a hand
> operated one and I used it once. That was enough. I know, I can hear
you
> saying something like "Well get an electric one." Sure. Except that
if I
> turn on the electric oven or a hairdryer I have to be sure to turn
off
> the electric heater in at least one room or I'll blow the circuit
> breakers and have to reset that damned clock radio for the 14th time
> that day. So another electrical appliance is not an option; it would
> just be another annoyance. Besides they cost about 100 euros and it's

> hard to think of spending that mich on something that will only make
me
> spend more time doing something I'm not interested in doing.
>
> I don't think I was overloading the pan, and it was a copper pan on
the
> highest flame on a gas stove, so the pan was quite hot. Possible,
> though. Next time I buy some ground beef I'll try cooking just a bit
of
> it first and then adding more.

You have a lot of problems and no solutions.

Sheldon