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The other day on FaceBook there was a post going around. The post was:
“I want all my FB friends to comment on how you met me!
After this comment, copy this to your status so I can do the same for
you. You'll be amazed at the responses you get.”
I got a kick out of reading some of the comments, so I went ahead and posted it on mine. Here’s the reply from a friend of my sister, Alice Hall Stewart:
“I walked into your house (on Maple?) with Diane and Ard and you were in the kitchen in your underwear, cooking hamburger meat. Diane said you were "scrambling hamburger" to eat with ketchup. I still call it "scrambling hamburger" today.”
The post was correct, I was amazed. Diane is my sister. I was in either 7th or 8th grade at the time. Isn't it always amazing the tiny things that we do and how it affects the lives of others. Thanks Alice, for the comment. I'm sorry you had to see that and carry it with you all these years... hahaha!
Since then I haven’t changed much. I still cook in my underwear. Although I haven’t used the phrase “scrambling hamburger” for about 40 years, I may start using it again.
What the phrase refers to is the fine art of browning hamburger. We laugh because browning hamburger is easy and everyone does it for sloppy joes, chili, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, tacos, and a whole slew of other recipes. But, I want to share with you just a simple trick I learned while working at the Cuckoo, a long gone fast food restaurant in my home town. They did this for taco meat. The trick is a simple addition of a cup of water.
Most people start with a skillet or saute pan and put it on a hot burner. Then they add the hamburger by picking off itsy bitsy pieces at a time and placing them strategically in the pan. Then they stand there stirring, chopping, and separating the hamburger for 15 to 20 minutes. They use a spatula, a spoon, or a fork. I’m sure that’s what I was doing while standing there in my tidy whities back in the 60s.
What I do now is that I throw that pound of hamburger in the skillet whole. I don’t bother with separation. I add a cup of water and I don’t bother measuring. I place the lid on the skillet and I go do something else. I come back every once in a while just to make sure I don’t need to adjust the heat and see how things are going. That’s when I take my wooden spoon and do a simple crumble of the burger as necessary, mostly to see if it’s done. What happens is this. The water stops the burger from sticking and burning to the pan. It also creates steam that combined with the lid cooks more evenly. The heat then breaks down the fat and what you have left is finely ground hamburger. I little chopping at the end separates big chunks. Then you drain in your calendar like always to get rid of all that fat and grease. I even do this using frozen hamburger, although I monitor it a little closer. Sometimes, I’ll use a crock pot.
I also throw in the chopped onions, garlic, etc depending on the recipe. The difference is if I want the onions carmalized, they’ll go in the pan first with a little butter and when they’re done, then the hamburger and water.
So now you know how to scramble hamburger. While we’re at it, here’s a favorite recipe using the scramble.
Goulash
Scramble up then drain
a pound of hamburger
medium chopped onion
tblspn chopped garlic
medium sized chopped green pepper
While your doing that, cook two cups elbow macaroni. When it’s done, drain it and set aside.
In a blender, food processor, or using a hand held immersion blender, mix up the following:
2 tblspns chili powder (the hotter, the better)
5 dashes of Tabasco
¼ tspn ea salt and pepper
1 can Mexican style tomatoes
1 tblspn ea 57 sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce
Throw the whole thing together in a skillet and low simmer about a half hour.
Stir once in a while to keep from sticking or burning. This also will burn off most of the moisture (nobody wants a runny goulash)
I hope you like it.
Feel free to send me your favorite recipes. They may even end up here on Uncle Ron’s Kitchen.
