Have You Been Browning Your Meat Wrong?

In the words of Wild & Whole's Danielle Prewitt: "it's called browning meat, not graying meat."

When you are browning any ground meat (bison and venison included), you need enough heat to start to crisp up and caramelize the meat... but first, you want to get all the moisture out of the meat.

Here are a few steps for getting better browned ground:

1. Start by lining a dinner plate with paper towels.
2. Place your raw ground meat onto the plate.
3. Using two paper towels, press down on the meat, forming it into a thin "pancake" shape.
4. The goal is to remove the blood and moisture from the meat, while creating a thin pancake that has maximum surface area in contact with the hot pan.
5. Add a little oil to your medium-high pan (particularly for leaner meats like Bison and Venison) and lay the meat in the hot pan, allowing the bottom to brown sufficiently.
6. Lift the edge of the meat to peak at the progress regularly, so as not to burn it.
7. Once you're happy with the level of done-ness of side one, flip the whole "pancake" over and brown the other side.
8. As the second side browns, you can start to break up the meat with a wooden spatula to ensure it gets cooked through.  

This is when you would want to start adding your seasonings. Taco mix if it's taco night, or follow our Italian Sausage Bison Pizza recipe if pizza is on the menu.