Ground beef is used in cooking for the preparation of various dishes. From it you can easily and simply prepare a meal for lunch or dinner. Ground beef goes well with dough, vegetables, mushrooms, spices and herbs. It is the basis for cutlets, meatballs, various rolls and many other dishes. In addition, minced beef is used as a filling for dumplings, meatballs, casseroles, peppers, cabbage rolls, meat sauces and broths.
How to choose minced beef?
Ground beef is minced beef with added spices and fat. It is prepared from the loin of beef carcass. By-products and any trimmings should not be present in its composition. The best ratio of ground beef is 80% meat and 20% fat.
In order to get a tasty and healthy dish, it is important to be able to choose the right minced meat. How to choose high-quality ready-made minced meat in a store or on the market?
First you need to pay attention to the color and smell of the product. Quality ground beef has a dark red color with small white patches of fat. Fresh minced meat should smell like meat and produce clear juice. If there are foreign odors in the minced meat or it smells of spices, then most likely it is not the first freshness. The addition of spices speaks of a tainted product, which dishonest sellers try to hide. If you bought a frozen product, and after defrosting, a cloudy juice emerged from the minced meat, then it is of poor quality.
In a supermarket where minced meat is sold in packaging, you need to pay attention to its tightness and transparency. If there is a matte film on the product, then this indicates its spoilage.
The package must be hermetically sealed, have the “A” marking, which means that this meat product is of the highest category. In addition, you need to look at the expiration date, storage conditions and the date of manufacture of the product.
Useful properties and nutritional value of minced meat
Ground beef contains a large amount of biologically active substances necessary for human health. It is useful to use ground beef dishes to restore the body after injuries, skin diseases and anemia. Beef tends to increase the number of red blood cells in the blood. It contains 20% fats, 17% proteins, which are well absorbed and saturated with amino acids useful for the human body.
Minced beef contains a large amount of vitamins, such as: A, K, E and all B vitamins. When cooked, unfortunately, many of them break down. You can save vitamins if you cook minced meat dishes or smoke them in the form of sausages.
In addition to vitamins, beef contains useful minerals - zinc, manganese, potassium and others.
The calorie content of ground beef in 100 grams is about 254 kcal. Ground beef can be considered a dietary and low-calorie food, especially when steamed.
How to make homemade juicy ground beef?
To make sure you're looking at quality ground beef, it's best to cook it at home. It is very easy to make delicious and juicy minced meat. Most often it is prepared from a loin, shoulder blade, or sacrum. Sometimes pork, lamb or poultry meat is added to it. For the preparation of minced meat, it is better to take the pulp without fat and tendons. But if they are present, then they need to be cut out. Minced beef will turn out to be more tasty and juicy if you add to it another type of meat - pork, turkey or chicken in a ratio of 70 to 30%. Adding other ingredients such as onions, bread, potatoes will be needed to make cutlets, meatballs, meatballs. Minced meat can be frozen without additional ingredients, and add additives before cooking. If the minced meat is dry, you can add the following products to your choice: milk, water, vegetable oil, melted lard or chopped butter. To make the minced meat even more magnificent and softer, you need to knead it well, and then beat it on the table for a few minutes.
Classic Ground Beef Recipe
Ingredients:
- Beef, pulp - 500 gr.;
- Pork, pulp - 150 gr.;
- Potatoes - 1 pc.;
- Onions - 1 pc.;
- Garlic - 2 cloves;
- Milk - 100 ml;
- Yesterday's bread - one slice;
- Egg - 1 pc.;
- Pepper - to taste;
- Salt to taste;
- Greens to taste.
Step by step cooking:
1. Wash the meat well, cut into pieces and mince. To make the minced meat more tender, it is better to do it twice.
2. Peel the potatoes, wash them and pass them raw through a meat grinder.
3. Chop the onions and garlic by hand or using a meat grinder.
4. Add a raw egg to the minced meat to bond all the ingredients together.
5. Soak a slice of white bread in milk, add to the minced meat for satiety.
6. Add salt, pepper and herbs at the end of the minced meat.
Moussaka with ground beef
Musaka is a traditional dish of Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Arabic cuisine. Each kitchen adds its own ingredients to this dish. But eggplants and ground beef remain unchanged. This version of moussaka is prepared quickly, but it turns out to be very satisfying and tasty.
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Recipe for: 5 persons
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. ground beef;
- 2 eggs;
- 5 tomatoes;
- 2 eggplants;
- 2 onions;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 150 ml of dry red wine;
- 150 g any cheese;
- 500 ml sour cream 15% fat;
- 250 ml of water;
- vegetable oil;
- 1 tbsp. l. oregano spices;
- Bay leaf;
- half a bunch of parsley;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Step by step cooking:
1. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, fry in vegetable oil.
2. Add minced meat to vegetables, fry, then pour wine and let alcohol evaporate a little.
3. Cut the tomatoes into cubes and place with the minced meat and wine. Add water.
4. Sprinkle the minced meat with vegetables with finely chopped parsley, salt and spices. Simmer over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Cut the eggplants into thin slices and fry.
6. In a separate bowl, prepare the sauce: combine sour cream, eggs, salt, spices and half of the grated cheese.
7. Preheat the oven to 170 - 180 degrees. Put the minced meat with vegetables in a deep mold, then the eggplants, pour over the sauce, sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
Beef roll stuffed with potatoes
This recipe is perfect for a New Year's feast. It is easy to prepare, it looks beautiful and festive when served!
Ingredients:
- 750 gr. ground beef;
- 150 g white bread;
- 125 ml. broth or water;
- 1 egg;
- 2 onions;
- salt and pepper to taste.
- 500 gr. potatoes;
- 70 gr. parmesan;
- 1 tsp oregano;
- 1 tsp salt;
- a pinch of black pepper;
- half a bunch of parsley.
- 5 pieces. canned tomatoes;
- 2 tsp mustard;
- 50 ml. meat broth;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Step-by-step preparation of minced meat:
1. Soak bread in water or broth, leave for 2-3 minutes to soak.
2. When the bread is soaked, stir in the minced meat, egg, salt and pepper.
3. Put baking paper on a baking sheet, brush with vegetable oil.
4. Roll the minced meat into a layer on a baking sheet.
Step by step preparation of the filling:
1. Peel and grate potatoes, finely chop the onion.
2. Grate Parmesan, finely chop the parsley.
3. Mix potatoes, cheese and parsley, salt and season.
Step by step preparation of the sauce:
1. Remove the skin from the tomato.
2. In a blender, beat the tomatoes along with the broth and mustard.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
On a baking sheet with minced meat, place the filling in the center, shape into a roll, pinch the edges. Place in an oven heated to 180 - 190 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove the roll from the oven, pour over the sauce and bake for another 10 minutes.
Serve hot beef roll with vegetable salad.
Tender steamed beef patties
Steam cutlets can diversify your menu and surprise with their taste. They are very tender and juicy, easy to digest, and low in calories. This dish can be prepared for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those on a diet.
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. ground beef;
- 1 slice of yesterday's white bread;
- 50 gr. milk;
- 1 egg;
- 1 onion;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Step by step cooking:
1. Grind the beef twice in a meat grinder. Finely chop the onion; you can add one clove of garlic, mix with minced meat.
2. Remove a slice of yesterday's bread from the crust and soak in milk.
3. Squeeze the bread, add to the minced meat, beat in the egg. Salt and pepper the minced meat.
4. Form patties, roll in breaded. For her, crackers or flour are suitable. For dietary nutrition, you can use oatmeal ground in a coffee grinder.
5. Cook the patties in a double boiler for 30 to 40 minutes.
Sprinkle with herbs when serving, and garnish with stewed vegetables or mashed potatoes.
