"--" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ellie C" > wrote in message
> ...
>> 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 sounds like you are starting with too low a heat, or put too much
> ground beef in the pan at once, or are using a pan with low thermal mass
> (e.g, aluminum vs iron), or using too small a pan, or a combination of the
> above. The hint was the release of water - a sign of a pan chilling
> sometime
> during the process
> The meat browns because of its immediate contact with a source of heat
> large enough to fry the surface before the source cools below frying
> temperature-
> e.g., you need a large slab of metal that holds heat (there is a reason
> iron takes longer than aluminum to heat - its storing that heat from the
> burner instead of immediately passing it on), enough oil to "deep fry" the
> surface (the hot oil transfers its internal heat to the food until it
> cools)
> , etc.
> The idea is to have a pan capable of keeping temp, and not dumping all
> the
> meat in, thus to keep the meat from "chilling the pan"
>
> To brown well, use a 10" iron skillet with a layer of oil on the bottom
> heated to medium high (that's roughly just before smoking, and where a bit
> of meat sizzles when dropped in), and put in just enough meat at a time to
> thinly cover the bottom.
> I can't do much more than a half a pound at a time in a 10" iron.
>
> Seasoned iron does a much better job of browning than teflon coatings,
> stainless, or aluminum.
> In one experiment we did with iron, stainless, and aluminum, the same
> amount of meat wouldn't even brown in an aluminum or teflon pan, was so-so
> in stainless, and browned evenly and fully in seasoned iron.

Ok. I'm probably wrong but why would you want to add oil if the hamburger
already has %15 fat? It will provide it's own oil. Also, I agree with
using a thicker/heavier pan than a copper pan. I use a 10" teflon sauté pan
to brown 2lbs of ground beef and a pound of sausage, all at the same time,
when I make my spaghetti sauce and I've never had a problem browning the
meat. I've tried using my SS skillet but it is not high enough to hold it
all.

Something to think about.

Bret



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