How to brown ground meat: this trick makes it perfect

Delicious nachos todos or perfect lasagna sauce: it all starts with browned ground meat. And sometimes so much moisture comes out of the ground meat that you end up stewing it rather than frying it. This trick puts an end to that in one fell swoop.

Heat a little oil or butter, add the ground meat to the pan and fry until browned. That sounds simple, but it certainly isn’t always. Sometimes so much moisture and fat comes out of the ground meat that there is no way to fry it until nicely browned. What do you do then? Scooping out some of the fat and moisture in between can help. Or fry the ground meat in batches, so the moisture can evaporate more quickly.

The trick: baking soda

But there is another solution to that problem. Stir a spoonful of baking soda through the ground meat, let it sit for about fifteen minutes and the meat will release less moisture. It has something to do with the high pH value of the baking soda, which affects the protein in the meat. How exactly all of that works chemically, who knows, but the result should be that you can fry crisp, nicely browned ground meat.

And juicy

The Test Kitchen tried it out, and indeed: less of that strange moisture from the meat, but nicely browned ground meat. According to the experts, this should also work with plain ground beef, ground lamb and even sausages. What’s more, the meat stays deliciously crisp thanks to the baking soda.

Also read:

• Why you shouldn’t fry meatballs in an egg carton (and how to do it properly)
• Recipe: Spanish meatballs for a tapas evening
• The juiciest meatball

Source: The Kitchn