Techniques
Cooking Method
Skill
Beginner
1 min

Brown and break up minced beef in a pan for better texture

Add minced beef to a hot pan, break it into small pieces, and cook until browned before adding other ingredients.

Put the beef straight into the pan and use a utensil to break it up as it cooks. Keep cooking until you see browning develop, then proceed with adding flavourings and vegetables.

The short version

  • Break up mince early so it browns evenly.
  • Brown the meat before adding wet ingredients.

What you need

  • frying pan/Any pan suitable for browning meat./
  • spatula or wooden spoon/For breaking up the mince./

How to do it

  1. 1

    Add minced beef to a pan.

    /Don’t add any packaging or paper to the pan./

    Watch this step
  2. 2

    Break the beef up into small pieces as it cooks.

    /Keep pieces small for more even browning./

    Watch this step
  3. 3

    Cook until browned before adding other ingredients.

    /Look for visible browning rather than just grey meat./

    Watch this step

What goes wrong

Adding sauce ingredients before the beef has browned

Brown the beef first, then add vegetables and liquids.

Leaving the mince in large clumps

Break it up as it cooks to increase browning and even cooking.

Why it works

/Browning adds deeper savoury flavour and breaking it up increases surface area so more of the meat can brown./

Put it to use

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