Whacky Doodle Ground Beef
Years ago I made a terrible mistake. I froze 10 of pounds ground
beef. That big block of frozen burger languished in my freezer
for years. What was I thinking? I should have browned it first
then froze it in usable portions. But browning beef can be so messy!
A few weeks ago I came upon another cheap ground beef opportunity.
The expiration date was nearing and my supermarket needed to get
rid of--you guessed it—ground beef. Ten pounds. I almost walked by.
Then I decided to try something different, albeit a little weird.
I put the entire 10 pounds of raw ground beef into my big stock pot.
I added enough water to cover and set it over high heat to come to
a boil, no cover, no salt. After about 5 minutes I gave it a stir
to break up the big clumps, which were few. The hot water was
doing all of my work for me--no splatters, no mess. When all of
the pink color disappeared I knew it was done, even though it
had not started to boil.
I placed my large colander into a big bowl in the sink and
poured the now cooked beef into the colander. I did this in
batches because my colander would not hold all of it at once.
This drained off all the liquid into the bowl including the
fat, leaving uniformly fine-textured ground beef in the
colander. No clumps! I could have done the same thing scooping
the meat from the stock pot with a large sieve, transferring
the drained beef into a large bowl. (When done draining I put
the beef broth in the refrigerator. Later I skimmed off the fat
and will use the broth for soup.)
I measured 2 cups of cooked beef (the equivalent of about 1 pound
of raw ground beef) into each gallon-size zip-type freezer bags,
pressed out the air and zipped. Then I laid each one on the
counter to flatten it thin; stacked them like sheets of paper
and popped the stack into the freezer.
Because my bags of beef are so flat I can use them frozen—no
microwave required. I take one of these flat frozen package
of ground beef, whack it on the side of the sink to break
it into pieces, unzip and pour the contents into a non-stick
skillet. It’s ready for all uses. Here’s the best part:
This method removes the fat leaving the ground meat
virtually fat free.
Quick as a Flash Burrito Filling: Two bags of boiled beef
whacked and dumped into skillet (equivalent of 2 pounds raw
ground beef), two packets of Lawry’s Burrito Seasoning mix
(any brand will do), 2 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil,
reduce heat and allow to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
Done! Wrap in warm flour tortillas with grated cheese. Serves 8.
Sloppy Joes: Two bags boiled beef (equivalent of 2 pounds
raw ground beef) whacked and dumped, 1/2 cup chopped onion,
1 cup chopped celery, 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato
soup, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, 1/4 cup
packed brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce,
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and 8
hamburger buns.
Place ground beef in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Add onion and celery, cover the pan and cook over medium heat
until beef is thawed and onions and celery are tender, about
5 minutes. Stir the tomato soup (undiluted), ketchup, vinegar,
brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce into the beef mixture.
Season with salt and garlic powder. Simmer over low heat
until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Spoon the hot beef
mixture onto buns, which may be toasted first. Serves 8.
