What do I need to do to make meat taste less "meaty"?

Cheetah Designs · 21 Aug 2017 at 21:45

I know this is a big a of a silly question, "given that I am eating meat - surely I want to taste meat?"

Lets say I am trying to make a dish that uses minced beef an some sort of marinade/spice combination. I take the beef, marinade for 6-8 hours and then cook....but I can never seem to taste the spices - only the meat?

Am I not marinading long enough? I am putting what I feel is a considerable amount of spices in there - do I need to overload? Perhaps someone can link me to a receipe they know that definitely doesn't turn out meaty at the end (but actually contains meat

)

These will be quite hard to answer without me saying what I am putting in and in what quantities...but I am hoping there is a "common mistake" i'm making.

hornetstinger · 21 Aug 2017 at 21:49

Cut your tongue off. You won't taste it then.

Cheetah Designs · 21 Aug 2017 at 22:22

hornetstinger said:
Cut your tongue off. You won't taste it then.

haha love it

bobbyspangles · 21 Aug 2017 at 23:26

Never come across marinating minced beef, what recipe are you trying to make?

Cheetah Designs · 22 Aug 2017 at 08:18

bobbyspangles said:
Never come across marinating minced beef, what recipe are you trying to make?

As an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyti_kebab

FrenchTart · 22 Aug 2017 at 11:14

You could swap out to a less flavoursome meat. Try minced turkey (make sure it is thigh mince).

The above recipe strikes me as one where the flavour of the mince is meant to be a primary component. Perhaps try reducing the meat content and adding some additional fresh vegetables (spring onions, peppers, etc) at the end. Also, make a sauce to add, with additional spices.

edscdk · 22 Aug 2017 at 11:16

are your spices 3 years out of date? ours were.... stuff was better when I noticed and threw them all away...

hood1971 · 22 Aug 2017 at 11:54

If you want to make beef mince dishes to taste lighter use combination of beef and pork mince.

HazardO · 22 Aug 2017 at 12:46

Or quorn mince..

Glaucus · 22 Aug 2017 at 15:15

also what's your actual issue, you don't like the strong meat taste, or you just want to taste the seasoning as well.
Looking at that like FT says its more of a seasoning rather than a heavy tasting marinade.

Putty · 22 Aug 2017 at 15:25

HazardO said:
Or quorn mince..

Just what I was going to say - if you're finding meat too meaty then try Quorn. It should take on the flavours of whatever you're marinating it in.

tom_e · 22 Aug 2017 at 15:26

In general I don't mind most Quorn stuff but the mince is where I draw the line, it's got the texture of mushy cardboard.

koolpc · 22 Aug 2017 at 15:36

Cover it in super duper strong marinade

hughtrimble · 22 Aug 2017 at 15:43

Marinade for longer. Also, fresher meat tends to taste less 'meaty', if we're using 'meaty' in a bad sense. There's a very particular taste to not particularly fresh lamb or beef mince, and it can be somewhat overpowering.

Macky · 22 Aug 2017 at 17:37

Turkey mince! Tasteless and lean.

sigma · 22 Aug 2017 at 18:50

Use fresher herbs and spices.

Hater · 23 Aug 2017 at 12:50

hughtrimble said:
Marinade for longer. Also, fresher meat tends to taste less 'meaty', if we're using 'meaty' in a bad sense. There's a very particular taste to not particularly fresh lamb or beef mince, and it can be somewhat overpowering.

Yep and you won't find fresh stuff in Tesco. British beef sold in supermarkets always has that strong beefy smell, fresh stuff is way milder on the nose.

Cheetah Designs · 23 Aug 2017 at 19:42

I'm looking to taste the seasoning more.

I'll try the following based on above:
- Getting meat from butchers
- Turkey mince
- Marinade overnight.

Jolteh · 23 Aug 2017 at 19:56

Cheetah Designs said:
These will be quite hard to answer without me saying what I am putting in and in what quantities...but I am hoping there is a "common mistake" i'm making.

While all the other replies are good advice, I think there actually might be a common mistake you're making that is causing the problem.

Properly browned beef mince that isn't out of date is pretty mild tasting, but boiled beef mince that happens when you don't brown it properly does taste quite strong and unpleasantly meaty, and can overpower other tastes. I think everyone has experienced the grey worms of boiled beef mince before. They smell bad and taste worst. It's not down to the beef, it's down to the cooking.

It's actually pretty tricky to properly brown mince and if you cook it the way they seem to demonstrate it on most cooking programmes you end up boiling more often than not.

I'm pretty confident, based on the description you've given, that this is the problem you're having. Some of these other tips might be true, but if you were surprised by the taste of the mince, it's more likely you fluffed the browning.

As an aside, I really like this recipe as an example of a really simple mince meal (and pretty good for a low carb meal). I think if you can't pick up a piece of mince out of the pan like he does in this video and enjoy it, then you've probably bodged the browning of it.

Cheetah Designs · 23 Aug 2017 at 21:04

Interesting....however Im not sure how that would apply with thicker chunks of mince....I cook at a high temperature anyway, but I have to make sure its cooked through