How brown do you brown your mince?

Scam · 16 Jun 2011 at 18:34

I always have this argument with my girlfriend. Her idea of 'browning' the mince is to put it in a warm pan until it goes well.. grey. That's not browning it!

I treat the mince like a steak. Get the pan really hot so that you can properly brown and colour it. Colour = flavour. Caramelising the sugars in the meat is the key and that's where you get the best flavour.

If you get burnt bits on the pan that's all good because you can deglaze it with your wine/tomatoes/sauce etc.

Participant · 16 Jun 2011 at 18:45

Periodically draining off any water it releases is another good tip.

Maximum Triceratops · 16 Jun 2011 at 21:56

Robbie G said:
Periodically draining off any water it releases is another good tip.

Are you not pouring flavour away though? is it not better to just cook it until any water evaporates leaving all the flavour in the pan? this is why I mentioned the wok, makes it much easier to brown.

pspcpog · 17 Jun 2011 at 11:59

I brown it with chopped onion. It may not be orthodox but it makes a bloody tasty bolognese.

D1ngd0ng · 18 Jun 2011 at 12:41

Really brown it so the sugars in the meat caramalise. Also don't overload the pan so that the meat doesn't steam/boil in its own juices.