Ground Beef Recipes

Ground beef recipes use a ground version of beef as a key ingredient. Common recipes using ground beef include spaghetti, tacos, hamburgers, casseroles, chili, enchiladas, and sloppy joes. Ground Beef is considered to be an inexpensive meat that can be mixed with other ingredients and stretched to feed a number of people. Lean ground beef contains a maximum of 22% fat and extra lean ground beef contains a maximum of 15% fat for those watching the fat in their diet.http://stirlaughrepeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/ground-beef-facts.html

The history of eating ground meat dates back to the days of Genghas Khan and times of the creation of the original version of "steak tartare". These times, in the 1200s, were times when the warriors had no time to cook their meat so they carried ground patties to eat when they could.http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm

The history of the original hamburger is not clear but is believed to have been brought to America by the Europeans in the 1800s, when the first indications of a cooked patty on bread is seen in literature.http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm Ground beef recipes like meatballs date back to the Medieval Arabian times when the meat was minced finely and made into cakes to cook.http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmeats.html#meatloaf

In 1970, General Mills created Hamburger Helper which was designed to help the average homemaker stretch the available ground beef further within the family meals.http://www.foodreference.com/html/fgroundbeef.html

Ground beef recipes may involve use of the beef alone such as meatloaf, hamburgers or meatballs. In addition to these meat meals, ground beef can be included in recipes for stews, soups, and casseroles or as a part of a dish which contains pastas or other starches.

1. Ground beef casseroles may include Beef and Potato Casserole, Tatertot Casserole | Beefaroni, or Tamale Pie
2. Ground beef stews and soups may include Beef Stew. Vegetable Beef Soup, or Chili
3. Other ground beef dishes include Shepherd's Pie, Cabbage Casserole, and Mexican Casserole

Use fresh ground beef in dishes that the meat is the focus for best results. Using frozen meat in a casserole or sauce has no difference in the flavor. Leaner blends of ground beef have less fat, resulting in less shrinkage. Cook at a moderate temperature, cooking at higher temperatures will cause more shrinkage. Also, this will have a tasteless dry results because of evaporation of the juices from the meat.

Dip your hands in cold water before handling the meat to avoid ground beef sticking to your hands. When making patties do not overhandle the meat, keep a light touch and do not compact too much.

To keep your burgers from puffing up in middle, make a depression in the center with your thumb. The depression will disappear as the meat cooks.

Never use the spatula to press down on the burger patty, you will loose all the juice and flavor. Turn with tongs or spatula, poking with a fork will loose juices and flavor.

Make sure your grill fire or pan is hot before adding your burger. This sears the surface and seals in the juices.

Extra-lean burgers may stick without added oil or spraying grill. A sprinkling of salt in the pan will prevent lean meat from sticking.