Cooking Tip: Make Hamburger Crumbles the Easy Way

Chili for Family or Friends

I discovered a quick way to crumble hamburger to use in pasta sauce, tacos, lasagna, sloppy Joe’s, chili, chili dogs, etc.  This only took me how many years to realize?

Last night I plunked 3 pounds (cooking for the freezer) of raw ground meat into my large skillet and proceeded to break it up with a large cooking spoon as usual. My skillet was large enough (new pots), but the task of breaking up 3 pounds of ground meat gave me pause. There had to be a better way. A light bulb goes on in my head. Use the pastry blender!

Old Fashioned Pastry Blender

You might not have a pastry blender in your kitchen drawer. It’s sort of an old fashioned tool from the days when people made pastry for pies a lot more often than they do today. Most people I know don’t make pies or just buy a ready-made crust at the store for pie or quiche. Or else they use a food processor to make quick work of it. The old fashioned pastry blender is what my mom used and she made apple pies so good they brought tears to your eyes. You should be able to find a hand-held pastry blender for just a couple of dollars at any store that carries kitchen gadgets.

Back to the frying pan where the ground meat was slowly cooking. I gripped that pastry blender and got to work. Like magic the ground meat turned into crumbles. It was a thing of beauty. So easy.

Of course I couldn’t have used  this metal tool on my old teflon-coated skillet. I am the proud owner of a real stainless steel pan with a heavy aluminum bottom core. I can cut in the skillet with any sharp knife or utensil, even a pastry blender.

I don’t often give kitchen tips, but I must pass this one along in case you have a stainless steel pan with no plasticy non-stick surface. I decided I didn’t want plastic cooking with my food anymore.

Making Pie Crust

Forgive me for getting so excited about this, but it’s a wonderful thing for cooking beef quickly. I freeze the cooked beef crumbles in meal-sized portions in glass containers with plastic lids. I love having these on hand for a quick meal. It makes my life a little easier.

I might need to get out more, but this made me truly happy. Oh, the many bowls of chili to come!

By the way, if you want recipes for making pastry, click on that label below this post. It’s really not that hard to make and is super cheap. If you don’t want pies, think about some wonderful quiches!

One last tip: get a pastry blender with a wooden handle. Some have plastic handles and you can’t get as good a grip with the plastic.