Really brown your meat

I like the taste of meat but like a lot people I try to keep my meat consumption at a reduced level for environmental reasons. Aside from mostly cooking vegetarian meals, this means making cuts of meat go as far as possible. I save the fat that renders out when cooking e.g. from bacon, I make stock from the bones, and most of all I properly brown my meat. To properly extract as much flavour from the meat as possible it should be a dark brown, almost black, not grey. Whether its a steak, diced beef for pasta sauce, or a roasted chicken. I'm not talking about cooking your steak so well done that its just a charred lump -- you can still have a rare steak with this method -- but really get that outside dark.

In many cases you can use half the amount of meat if its primarily there for enhancing flavour. For example, when making shepherds pie I often use a small fraction of the amount of mince that most recipes call for, but I properly brown it, and then I add lentils to pad it out; it's just as meaty, even more so if you add a teaspoon of yeast extract. Just today I made chilli and rice, and only used a small amount of smoked pancetta rather a whole pack of mince, but rather than bubble the chilli away on the stove I stuck it in a casserole dish uncovered where the dry heat caramelises the sugars in the tomatoes and further darkens the meaty sauce.

As a result my food is more savory and has a deeper flavour, all whilst reducing my environmental impact and the cost in my wallet.

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Last Updated: 2023-06-17

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