The Chef Within

How often has a recipe asked you to brown hamburger and onions?  It happens every time you make spaghetti sauce and any number of casseroles.  So you take out your frying pan, add your ground meat and onion, grab the spatula and start the arduous process of breaking the meat into small bits.  It’s not a pleasant task.   But there is a tool that will make such quick work of that job.

Do you recognize the tool in the picture?  It is actually a potato masher.  The metal face is designed in sort of a rounded zig zag pattern and it truly is the perfect configuration for breaking all ground meats into small even pieces.  You can break down beef, sausage, lamb, chicken, pork…The meat pictured in this post is ground turkey (that’s why it’s so light in color).

I might just mention another quick thing.  If you forgot to thaw your meat prior to cooking and are starting with ground meat that is partially frozen or completely frozen take your slab of meat, put it in the frying pan you intend to use, cover it, set it over low heat and allow it to steam for several minutes.  During that time the meat will thaw and when it’s half way there take your potato masher and start breaking it up.  The pieces will be larger at first but as they continue to thaw under cover they will break down nicely.