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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.
>
>
> This reminds me of when I used to try buying "unwatered beef" when
> living in rural China. IME many PRC butchers inject several liters of
> water directly into the cow's heart several minutes before slaughter,
> the H20 gets pumped into the muscle and then stays there when slaughter
> stops the heart. That way there is extra weight when selling the meat.

Wow, you'd think having water injected into the heart would accomplish
the slaughter in itself. Yuk.

>
> Hopefully your local butcher isn't indulging in these practices, but
> there is always the possibility that a bit of extra water is getting
> into the meat somewhere somehow. Maybe you need to find a new source
> of ground beef?

Yes, I do. This came from a small chain grocery store, maybe a bit like
what would be called a convenience store in the US, except that it has
fresh produce and meat. I haven't happened to buy any ground beef yet
since that incident, but next time I'll try the larger supermarket up on
the highway (Hah! I'm really getting used to it here - I called that
road a highway!), or maybe even go to the butcher shop two doors down
the street. I've been sort of avoiding the butcher because he annoyed me
when I wanted to buy veal bones to make stock and he tried to convince
me I should make a stock with pork instead. This, I'm sure, was because
he had pork bones and not veal.

>
> Cheers,
>
> Adilah
>