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I love it when cooking shows and channels are like "but here's my fav way to do x" and promptly start doing things exactly how I do.

You forgot the alternate way that my parents used: start the beef in a cold pan, turn the pan to medium low, and simmer it in its own water over the course of 35 minutes. Make sure when you drain out the grease to drop half of it into the sink and then scoop it back into the pan. Perfectly beiged beef, 70s style, with a hint of Dawn. Never salt it or it will be too spicy!

I do like 'overbrowning' if the beef will be used in a meat sauce like Bolognese. All the browning gets dissolved, so there's no textural difference, and it amps up the beefy flavour to more aggressively compete with everything else you've got going on in there.

Adam back with a basic skills video? Nice.

6:02 Adam here fights back the urge to deglaze the pan with white wine.

Really my favorite kind of Adams Videos: cooking techniques and home kitchen experiments!

Basically taking the smashburger technique and applying to browning ground beef. I've been using this technique for taco meat for a while and it makes a huge difference!

I always just use the pan that happens to be clean

This is one of the best in-depth cooking channels but I really love these shorter vids tbh

I always use a wooden spatula. Way easier to scrape then a wooden spoon

The ATK Baking Soda trick is amazing for anything that will then simmer for an undisclosed length of time. (Ground beef chili or Sunday Ragu, etc.)

Last week I listened to Adam talk while walking down a street and now I am in his kitchen. I like this channel!

Down in my area a lot of people use soy sauce rather than oil, reduce that soy on medium heat to almost dry and then add the ground beef. It immediately deglazes the pan, leaves a wonderful "browned, not burnt" flavor to whatever you're putting the beef in

there is one thing that I hate, people draining off the water. truly grinds my gears

Any thoughts on the Brian Lagerstorm method of doing it on a sheet pan in the oven?

A great method I developed is to add about 2t of potato starch to the pan per pound of ground meat at the start. It absorbs the liquid the meat gives off, so it effectively stays dry while cooking and therefore browns much better, even if the pan is a bit crowded. It also adds a lovely glossiness to the meat as if you added gelatin or demiglace.

You are such a great presenter and content creator. I'm glad to see how successful you've become, I remember watching your pizza videos years ago. You've inspired me to eat healthier and cook better for myself.

I missed these videos :)

Good old Ragusea Experimental Kitchen is back!!! Cool!

Adding the smashburger method to my ground beef cooking from now on!

The sodium bicarb trick is also classic in Balkan and Turkish Köfte/Cevapi types of meatballs. It gives them a springy texture and makes them tender.

When I had the freezer space for it, I liked to freeze raw minced beef and cook in the pan from frozen. You let one side of the block get browned, flip, scrape off the browned layer, and repeat. Allowed for better portion control and nice not have to plan and use the ground beef asap. Tasted best for stews but also worked pretty well for taco meat imo.

Happy to get such simple content. I do like that you keep making videos

I basically do the smashed patty method you like, but I pre smush it on the cutting board before adding to the pan because I worry about putting too much pressure and a finger slipping though and touching the hot pan

Literally just cooked satay minced beef 30 mins ago (exactly when you uploaded the video) and I'm upset that it didn't get crispy... Definitely gonna try your techniques next!

I've switched from wooden spoons to potato mashers for browning my beef, it gets the beef down into smaller pieces faster, so you can evaporate that water sooner and get real browning.

Always love your input in all things kitchen!

It's a countdown video, including the calling out of a specific element of the list. Wild.

i love the vibe of your videos so much

Love these kind of videos!

Really great to see this style again!

I brown the same way as your favorite. Only safety caveat: a lot of store ground meat is placed into the package in almost a circle, with a hole/well in the middle. If you press this meat down with bare hands, steam can shoot through that hole and cause serious burns.

Great video, Adam! I learned some useful things and i was entertained.

I was today years old when I learned BAKING SODA can go on ground beef... Fascinating. I grew up with Hamburger Helper as a staple dinner (like many of us po' kids, I'm sure) - these days with various diet restrictions I don't even bother buying the boxes anymore, I just make my own "rice and gravy." Which is just my family's generic term for ground beef, browned up and seasoned in some fashion, then mixed together with rice or pasta and some type of sauce. (Usually brown gravy from powdered mix, which gives us all the salt we need for the whole pot of food: but we're all of us on low-sodium diets.) This video also informs me of just why I had immense trouble browning some meat a week or so ago... my heat was too high and the pot I was using did NOT have enough surface area on its bottom to handle the job! There were some other factors as well, bad mental health day and so forth, but this was the physics at play in my mishap. Good to know! I gotta try this "velvet" thing next time we put together a batch of rice and gravy though!

My favourite way to brown anything, not just ground beef, is applying heat to it. Works every time!

I've heard of the baking soda method before and never gave it much thought, but hearing your good opinion on it makes me want to try it. Other than a wait of 15min before cooking it seems like adding the baking soda is the best method for getting that perfect combo of browning and juiciness.

You don't need to use any oil or butter when cooking ground beef in a pan.. and you also keep cooking it for longer to get a crust on all of it, THEN you add butter to make it juicy.

That last method is something I started trying after making my first smash burgers, I do flip it once though. Love it.

I tried your favorite way and it worked great for meal prep. Made the meat taste way better.

As someone who makes a ton of Hamburger Helper I have found this video to be very useful. Thanks Adam 👍.

I like the taste of beef that's been browned all over. Beef that's been broken up and browned like that is usually served as part of a dish with multiple components, like chili or spaghetti sauce or tacos, so it's fine for it to have only the single best dimension it can provide, because the other components add other dimensions.

I tried your preferred method and it was delicious. Thank you!

YES!! Steak-like is the target flavor. That's why I use my 14" skillets to brown 1 lb. portions of beef, pork, lamb, etc. Water doesn't pool as much, limiting humidity in the pan. So the meat browns faster and with more flavor. Love your contrast/compare demos!!

I love these kind of videos where Adam just explains everything.

It's funny, I went through a period where I ate a LOT of ground beef, and your method was the method I settled on too.

Thanks For this as always adam! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I'm a fan of the Kenji method for some dishes. Use a potato masher when the meat is added to the pan to totally break up all the chunk before it sets. If you want to replicate the restaurant beef taco or sauce texture, this is the trick to use.

I personally use method No. 3, and will get baking soda ASAP to try the alkaly treatment. Nice video! Very informative and entertaining, you´re looking and sounding great, man!

This is cool, I use a method like the fourth normally but I never tried pushing it into the pan like that... excited to get into the kitchen and cook some beef now

I thought I was the only one who browns ground beef that way, turns out its Adam's favorite method. Cool.

once the mince is releasing a lot of water I like the tilt the pan to free the meat from the liquid allowing it to brown quicker, this also allows for vegetables to then be added to the liquid side of the pan, enriching them in the beef juices, whilst also dissalowing any of the finley chopped veg to be burnt.

I'm surprised that you didn't go with the Brian Lagerstrom method- laying the beef flat on an oiled sheet pan and broiling in the oven. This method gives you an even browning without overcooking (since the other side stays un-broiled), is low on labor, and reduces the grease splatters and smell that comes with searing in a pan. You also preserve 100% of that great browning. Works amazing for dishes like bolognese and chilis with low effort.

"You watch Adam for the video or for the ads?" "Why not BOTH?"

Thanks for this. Apart from using a sauce pan, to minimise splatter, I've used the puck-smash method whenever we have meat, though that's less often now.

I use the baking soda method. Since eating mostly carnivore, I browned some hamburger in the morning and put a couple easy over eggs on top. Delicious! I also use a little hot sauce for zing sometimes

I do a version of the last method; The meat here comes in a square packet. I put the square on the pan at a pretty high heat and press it down a bit. The water tends to stay on top or go to the sides, while the surface is browning in oil/own fat. (When the meat is on the fatter side, sometimes I use very little oil or even none, but then I start it off on a cold pan so the fat can render) I then turn over the square and brown it on the other side as well before chopping it up with a spoon or similar tool. I imagine it's a very similar result.

I use TWO wooden spatulas! It’s a lot easier to mix and get the crusty parts that can get stuck to the pan before they get overcooked. Just push both to the center and lift over and over, flatten everything to the edges of the pan, wait a bit then do it again

I personally use method 3. Works every time, and leaves the meat juicy and browned to perfection.

Browning beef is the best thing and the most fun you can have while making a meal

Woah here so early.alwayd happy to see another vid Adam!

I started doing this after cooking a lot of smash burgers glad to see its actually a solid way to do it

The science of that is because the beef has been transmuted into fish. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Salt also draws out moisture. If you want it to brown more up front, then don't salt until the end.

cooking basics video???? yesssssss..... ground beef?!!?!?!??! DOUBLE YES just what i needed

Ah blessed yet again with another video

4:54 This may be excessive for most things but for authentic Sichuan mapo tofu this is exactly what you want, in fact going a little further is preferred. You want little crunchy beef grains and flavorful beef fat that you then use to make the chili oil.

yesss adam love this vids!

I press it flat and then turn over large segments with the Turner because it makes sure to brown it really evenly sand is just plain satisfying.

Been doing the giant patty thing for years. I flip it and brown both sides, because, ya know, more browning is better.

Just crack 2 eggs to the overcooked one, and wo la. Best breakfast dish ever. I'm Turkish and my mom used to cook that for us for breakfast.

Apearantly we have the same favorite method. Wasn’t expecting that but kinda glad

If you want to break down the beef really fine and don't have to worry about scratches use high heat... and a whisk. You will get a lump of meat inside the whisk but while stirring the meat will break down. If you want really small grains of ground meat, a whisk is magic.

Wow! Never seen anyone else do it like I do it. So neat to see! 😃👍 ❤ I flip it and brown the other side, and then break it apart. But still cool to see!

I use a similar "patty" technique for browning ground turkey. Oil the pan (crucial for meats with lower fat content) and smoosh the meat flat across the whole pan. After a certain amount of time the sizzling noise dies down and that's usually when I take a peek at the underside. I love a lot of browning though, and Adam already thinks turkey tastes bad so eff it. I go for broke, flip the oily thing like a terrifying pancake, smoosh it again and let it brown a little more. Then I break it up and deglaze with some broth, which also helps to rehydrate it (?? it sounds gross I know). Sorry to everyone who read this far.

My God those pans are fantastic looking. I've always wanted to pick up a few and I'll def keep that discount in mind :)

Adam cooking beef and dropping a "heterogeneity"! HE'S BACK!

I use a flat wooden spoon to "chop" my mince up in the pan and to scrape as well. Much better than a wooden spoon. And if smaller pan, cook portion of mince at a time for the size of my pan - batches instead of one big pile. I also use a wok with wooden chopsticks to break up and stir the beef mince.

Love this content!

i love basic stuff like this

this video came a day too late. Now I'm stuck eating boiled ground beef for the rest of the week :(

I really like a method that Brian Lagerstrom did in one of his videos - browing the ground beef in a sheet tray in the oven/grill (broiler). Has a fairly uniform browning effect over the whole topside of the spread but the bottom has that contrast of less browned bits. Notably he doesn't use this for every recipe but I believe he used it for bolognese (or maybe chilli)

The big burger patty thing is what i have always done! Works great

Another method - in a large, deep baking tray, top half of a hot oven, kind of like the 'patty' method here, but it browns both the exposed top and the mince in contact with the tray. When the time comes to break it up use the wooden spatula but you can use a potato masher with it. Deglaze as usual at the end.

old school ragusea! yay adam's method for broken-up ground beef makes sense and has worked for me, where you _start_ it like it's a smash burger to get that killer browned crust on that one side before breaking it up, that way you can get some good browned flavor into whatever you're making without blasting all the beef into dried-up crumbles and before anybody jumps in with "but kenji says", i think kenji's advice about not pre-mixing salt into ground beef was for _burgers_ specifically, where it would make the patty pull together like sausage and be tough

This is similar to how Marco Pierre white does it. He said if you start breaking it up straight after you put the meat in the pan, you're only doing to things. One - every time you stir you're releasing heat and lowering the temperature of the pan. Two - meat contains water, so if you're constantly stirring you're lowering the temperature of the pan but also you're basically going to be boiling the meat not frying it. Which makes sense. He said it's best to leave it on one side until most of the moisture has evaporated and then break it up.

6:12 "i like having a little textural variety in there" Adam trying his best to avoid saying heterogeneity more than once in a video.

I have a chili recipe that starts off putting a couple pounds of ground beef in boiling water. You then add in aromatics, spices and tomato. This is the Cinncinnati Chili Cockaigne recipe from the Joy of Cooking. Great chili, especially if you let it sit overnight. It's super easy and there is still plenty of beef flavor. I think it's because the fat over time emulsifies with the water, similar to a ramen broth...

If I can shill for Adam’s sponsor, I do like madein pans good quality and versatile

I cannot explain how many times I've cooked ground beef for something else and ended up eating all of the beef straight out of the pan instead.... The Mrs Loves when I do that. 😂

IDK about in the US, (prob the same) but in Oz supermarkets, if you buy minced beef and/or lamb etc, when you cook it TONS of water comes out and it boils! What they DO is, when putting the beef offcuts thru the mincer, they add in crushed ICE to waterlog the meat, making it HEAVIER, then you pay MORE for less meat and MORE water! Total GYP! That is why i NEVER buy my meat in general but esp NOT minced meat from the supermarkets! (Aldi is an exception!) If I need mince, I either buy beef scraps from the butcher & mince it myself or buy theirs! It is often SUPERIOR to the supermarket stuff and has NO ice added to it or as not, offal! My local butcher is Asian, (VN) and very good! Their mince is good stuff, usually topside, around 90/10 mix which I prefer!

Collab idea: go talk to Vlogbrothers about Beef Days

You just brought a big smile to my face, Adam. Through trial and error over many years, I arrived at the same method that you prefer for browning ground beef. Great minds think alike. lol What I'm doing now is using 8 ounces of beef, made into a burger shape, and cooked mostly on the first side, then flipped for just a minute, and then I start to break it apart and deglaze the stainless-steel pan with the juices. Then I pour off the excess fat, return to heat, and add whatever final stuff goes in. Lately, it's onion and green pepper, finishing with crushed tomatoes, and finally spices, which are basically a chili combo, but less intense than actual chili. When it's cooled to eating temperature, I add some apple-cider vinegar and mix through. Even though I eat this most days because it's easy and convenient, I never get tired of it, because it's so damned delicious. Thanks, Adam, for this video, and for helping me to believe in myself as a cook.

Add pepper, at the beginning, (with salt) and also Worcestershire sauce at the very end for an amazing flavor

Did this ‘smash brown’ technique tonight for taco Tuesday. My wife asked if I did something different with the beef! Great tip

If there will ever be a video revisiting this topic, i recommend that you experiment a bit with treating the meat with both diluted citric acid or lemon juice (~7%), and also with both that and baking soda (which will result in sodium citrate). Some interesting results can come from that, in my own experience.

Love these “back to the basics but with a sciency twist” kind of videos

I make a lot of ground turkey as part of my weekly meal prep, and the "browning pancake" method is definitely my go-to. FWIW I find you can flatten it fine with just the spoon--the important part is the bottom is flat, it's OK if the top has spoon divots. That browning period is also a convenient time to apply seasoning to the top IMO, tho I'm guessing beef doesn't need as much seasoning as turkey.

My mom used to do this: Start with just beef, no oil (the fat is enough) It releases water Water evaporates Then add oil and turn down the heat to low-medium I don’t claim to understand the science behind but it would taste delicious this way

Adam + Meat = Awesome