“Stop cooking the onion first and then the ground meat; it leaves it wet and boiled,” says a chef specializing in Greek cuisine
When preparing a dish with ground meat, the most common practice is to sauté the onion first and then add the meat. However, according to Christina Dynamite, a chef specializing in Greek cuisine, this order could be a mistake if the goal is to achieve well-brown meat with a slightly crispy texture.
The reason is that cooking the onion first releases moisture that can prevent the ground beef from browning properly. Instead of achieving a golden-brown texture and richer flavor, the meat may end up cooking in its own juices, resulting in something more like boiled meat.
Christina Dynamite's trick for cooking ground beef and getting it browned
Christina Dynamite is a content creator and private chef known for sharing recipes, techniques, and cooking tips, especially those inspired by Greek cuisine. Among her recommendations is changing the order in which you cook the ground beef and onions to achieve better browning and retain all the flavor of the ingredients.
“Stop cooking the onion first and then the ground beef. When you cook the onion first, it releases water and the meat boils instead of browning. What I advise is that you first cook the meat until it has the ideal color and flavor and then add the onion,” the chef explains.
According to Dynamite, the ideal way to brown the ground beef is to add the onions once they've browned nicely. This allows the onions to cook in the rendered beef fat, softening them and blending them with the other ingredients without interfering with the browning process from the start.
How to properly brown ground beef, according to the chef
Another tip from Christina Dynamite is to avoid breaking up the ground beef as soon as it hits the pan. Instead, she suggests letting it brown first, without constantly stirring, so it can develop a slightly crispy crust and concentrate its flavor.
To achieve this, you can follow these simple steps:
1. Heat the pan thoroughly. Before adding the ground beef, make sure the pan is hot. Add a little oil if necessary, depending on the fat content of the beef.
2. Brown the meat without moving it. Place the ground meat in the pan and spread it out in one large piece or in several chunks, leaving some space between them. Let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes without moving it, so that the surface comes into direct contact with the heat and begins to brown.
3. Turn and shred. When the bottom is a nice golden brown, turn the meat over and let it cook on the other side. Then, use a spatula to shred it into smaller pieces and continue cooking until it's cooked through.
4. Add the onion. Once the meat is browned, add the chopped onion and mix so it cooks in the rendered fat. Let it soften and turn a light golden brown before continuing with the recipe.
5. Season to taste. Add salt and any other spices indicated in your recipe. Mix well to distribute the seasonings evenly and cook for a few more minutes, until the flavors meld.
These tricks are ideal if you're cooking everything from pasta and Bolognese sauces to chili, taco meat, and many other recipes with ground meat. And you, did you sauté the onion first?
