tips on cooking mince please?

milo · Guru

tips on cooking mince please?

Happywanderer · The Master

Milo, you should brown it in the pan first perhaps with some onions. Don't let it stew, it will go horrible.
Instead of adding a bottle of Dolmio, I never use processed bottles of stuff, Cut up your own tomates and anything else you want to put into it, Mushrooms, garlic, fresh herbs or maybe the tubed herbs like basil, coriander etc.
You can always add a small tim of corn, peas or beans, gives it some colour.
I've actually had some for tea tonight, very tasty. Sprinkle parmesan over the top once on the plate of spaghetti.

Sheba · Guru

I like Capsicum in it too Milo.

Cheers,

Sheba.

Pejay · Guru

Hey Milo, have you heard of the Drover's Stew? What ever you've got, goes in the pot!! It;s amazing the flavours you get, and each time you make it, it tastes different. That's dinner tonight for us, all the bits and pieces that won't fit into the van fridge when we 'run away' in the morning.

milo · Guru

a stew sounds nice,not sure how to do one tho

Sheba · Guru

milo wrote:
a stew sounds nice,not sure how to do one tho
Google it Milo.
Cheers,
Sheba.

Happywanderer · The Master

Milo, Large pot on stove. Brown some diced meat, maybe beef, take out and hold in bowl to the side while you brown onions, carrots, celery and maybe parsnip in the pot with the remains of what meat you were browning. Don't wash pot in between.
Pop meat back in with all those veges and add any others you might want, as someone said above, any left overs in the fridge. Now add a couple of containers of liquid stock, Meat, or veges, your preference.
Then let it stew away (simmer) till its how you like it. Add what you like to your taste. Herbs, salt, pepper after the stock as sometime that has enough of a taste.

Another way is after the browning, put it all in a casserole dish with lid on in the oven at 180 degrees C. for an hour or two.
Either way keep an eye on it till its to your liking.

milo · Guru

ill try that one day HW

Cruising Granny · Guru

Start with a hot pot, add a sprinkle of olive oil. Add the 500g mince or diced meat and brown, stirring frequently or until meat is brown. Add 1 onion diced, 2 teaspoons of crushed or minced garlic or more to taste, mixed herbs 1 desertspoon, add chopped veges of choice. Then add stock or 500ml water, bring to simmer and reduce heat. Stir occasionally, but too much, until the veges are cooked. Maybe 30-45 minutes.
This method is the basis of all stews or one-pot meals. You can use skinless chicken thighs diced, or lamb.
The veges can be whatever you like. I use tinned diced tomatoes for my spag bog sauce.
Eat what you want. I let it cool, store left overs in meal-sized containers 350-400ml, then freeze for future use.
The trick is the hot pot with the hot oil, but as soon as the oil shows signs of being hot the meat must go straight in, and you must stir it or it will cook into a clump and burn, especially mince.
If you have everything prepared before you start cooking, veges cut up and standing by, then it should all flow, and you should end up with a tasty meal. Good luck.
This method has stood me in good stead and I haven't been kicked off a cattle station by burly cowboys yet.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

Take your basic mince stew (as above) - browned with onions/garlic +/- other herbs and you have options

1. add the veges to the mix, chunky potatoes, carrots, pumkin, parsnips etc = irish stew

2. add chili, capsicum, mushrooms, and canned tomato = spaghetti sauce

3. add bit less water, and when more or less cooked, place in an open proof dish, top with instant mash, garnish with cheese and grill = shepherds pie

4. add a bit of gravy mix to thicken, place it in a pie shell, pastry over the top, bake in the oven till nice and golden = meat pie

5. leave out the water/stock, add teas spoon of curry powder to taste, place a big spoonful onto pastry sheets (frozen from supermarket)and roll into parcels, bake on an oven tray till golden = sausage rolls

03_troopy · Guru

or put about 6 of whole cloves, one or two star anise, half a dozen cardamon pods, a desert spoon of chilli flakes and a teaspoon of salt in a coffee grinder (old blade type one, or a chilli pounder if you have one) and grind to a powder. Mix that with a desert spoon of garam marsala and add it to the oil before you fry the meat. Throw in a couple of teaspoons of crushed garlic, and crushed ginger and chopped onions and fry off the meat till browned. Add a can of chopped tomatoes, couple of teaspoons of sugar and any veggies you want. These are pretty loose quantities and you can halve or double the amounts to suit. This would be a pretty mild mix for 1Kg of mince.

-- Edited by 03_troopy on Thursday 7th of June 2012 08:18:29 PM

brian pepe wyatt · Newbie

spot on troopy! and the teaspoon of sugar essential if using canned tomatoes. we use a fresh chilli or two but deseeded unless you like that firery feeling next morning !! if you're using powdered spices let them stick to the bottom of the pot (not burn) the indians call this singe-ing and we add a little flour at this stage to give the sauce some body and when you add the stock it releases the spices from the bottom,sometimes you may assist the release with a wooden spoon, to infuse in the sauce . cheers enjoy, ps.adding the flour before the stock means you don't have to thicken at the end thereby loosing a lot of flavour.