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jackofspades49@reddit

Because that's the kind of chili that goes well on spaghetti.

but for a baked potato, I want some chunks.

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LilMissStormCloud@reddit

I understand all those words individually

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jackofspades49@reddit

Make spaghetti. Put chili on it. Add some cheese. Mix it up. I KNOW it sounds weird. But its quite good.

It also goes really good on potatoes. Baked or fried. Try it out. :)

But I like chunky on potatoes because it gives contrast. I like the finer chili meat on spaghetti because it mixes in with the noodles more when I wrap it up.

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ImLittleNana@reddit

I do this for one recipe - copycat Wendy’s chili. It dries out quicker too, which is the goal for that day old ground up patty consistency.

I think this process is what OP is calling chopping, and he's asking how small the browned chunks tend to be.

For me it depends on what I'm cooking.

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

For me, it depends entirely on how much patience I have that day. Fuck whatever I’m cooking, it turns out, however it turns out based on my tolerance level.

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HaplessReader1988@reddit

Fuck whatever I’m cooking, it turns out however it turns out based on my tolerance level.

I feel so seen. I just get tired of breaking up the clumps.

It does help to use my least flexible heavy duty spatula, and not too much ground meat at one time. I cooked off a bulk package of ground meat recently and it turned intro irregular meatballs because it was too much for the size of the pan. (Better than having the meat go bad because I'm cooking for one.)

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

Wooden spoon/spatulas with a slope to a blunt edge are good for this. My mom had an awesome one. All the accessories from the 70s were the best.

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FurryYokel@reddit

Have you tried one of those meat breaking up tools before? It’s usually a star shape on a handle.

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Foreign-Percentage13@reddit

Quick and easy way my mama showed me and it hasn't let me down.

Buy a handheld spiral silicone meat chopper Brown meat and chop up best you can in the pan Add ground beef to a deep mixing bowl and finish chopping in that until desired size. Add back to the pan to caramelize the little bits and deglaze pan with beef broth or set meat aside and sauté veggies to deglaze

Hasn't failed me. The bowl forces the meat to be chopped against itself. Super efficient and a time saver like no other.

I make a ton of spaghetti bolognese and consume my fair share of ground beef. I swear by this way

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praetorian1979@reddit

I use a potato masher while I'm browning it. I find beef ground in store and placed on cellophane and plastic wrap crumbles much easier than the stuff shoved into plastic tubes.

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Top-Committee-954@reddit

For me the secret to the most minimum ground beef is using as fresh as possible meat and using a nylon/plastic potato smasher with as many vanes (those 4 bangers are worthless) as possible to constantly smash it while it browns over medium heat (or heat where it doesn't just immediately cook the meat). Doesn't take more than a few minutes.

I used to have just copper bottom aluminum pans (not nonstick, just metal) and would bend a big fork so the head was at nearly a 90 degree angle and use that to smash it while it browns, but I have non stick stuff now and don't want to use metal in the pan. That was more of a workout.

My mom seems to think a freezer is a time machine, though, and tends to just drop a brick of icy ground beef from the last Christmas sale into a pan, brown/thaw at the same time, declumping with a wooden spoon, before putting it in a food chopper. It may taste funny, but that chopper gives it a fine grate....grade?

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mtysassyone@reddit

Look up ‘ground beef chopper’. I tried sharing a link but Amazon shortens it and because I’m old, LOL, I don’t know any other way to post it.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

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lol. No.

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jlt6666@reddit

Yeah it sucks ass. It's also hard to clean. My Mom used a potato masher and it worked way better.

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echeveria_rn@reddit

I love mine! I resisted for a long time, then got one as a gift, and it's fantastic.

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Outrageous_Chart_35@reddit

I've always used something very similar to this. On mine the blades are curved a little. I may switch to this one though; I don't think you'd get as many beef bits stuck in it as on mine.

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WebHungry1699@reddit

I see your oxo and raise you

Serial_Hobbyist12@reddit

This is one of the few unitaskers I can get behind

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katyggls@reddit

You can definitely use it to mash other things. I've used it to mash up eggs for egg salad or shred pork for pulled pork. And to mash bananas for banana bread or strawberries for strawberry shortcake.

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osteologation@reddit

i like it chunky. i love finding little nuggets of beefy deliciousness while eating. why else use real meat?

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venus974@reddit

I'm picky so it also helps to find those little bits of ligaments and tendons, or what ever those little white pieces are, and the little clearish shiny things that don't cook down.

You have room for spatulas?!? I’m jealous 😭

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This includes hamburgers! Just grab a hunk, don’t even roll it into a ball, and lightly push on it (or “mash it”) on a piece of waxed paper enough to flatten it into a patty. It’s just like making biscuits, you don’t knead it like bread dough—the less you work it, the better. Otherwise you’ll have hard biscuits instead of the kind that fall apart and soak up the butter and gravy the way everyone wants.

The same with meatloaf or meatballs. It might sound odd, but be gentle when you’re mixing up the ground meats, especially the veal with the beef and pork.

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KW5625@reddit

I make a large patty, sear until well crusted, flip, chop into grape sized cubes, let that side brown, then chop up until bean sized pieces and stir until cooked. In the end I have pea sized bits of ground beef with seared bits for flavor

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

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StrawberryKiss2559@reddit

I’m sure someone else has mentioned it, but there are special utensils made for doing this. They’re cheap as hell.

Upgrade Meat Chopper, Heat... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JLC49HY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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AdelleDazeeem@reddit

I got this as a gift and originally thought it was stupid. Now, I use it all the time! It’s great!

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burnednotdestroyed@reddit

I just put the cold meat in a bowl or in the pan before turning it on, and use the tines of a dinner fork to separate the shreds. Then I cook it. Takes no more than a minute. Any chunks left are so small that they get broken down when I'm stirring whatever I'm making.

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PromiseThomas@reddit

I chop it up while it’s browning in the pan—I couldn’t tell from your post whether you do that or not. I just kind of go at it with a metal spatula and it breaks apart as it cooks.

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Wrench-Turnbolt@reddit

I've seen what is basically an asterisk shaped tool used to chop ground beef as you cook it.

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Premium333@reddit

I don't want meat dust. I also rarely eat things that are made with ground beef that has been chopped up into a sauce.

For me chili I use coarsely ground steak trimmings.

For pasta sauces I italian sausage and I chop into bite sized chunks, maybe 1/2" sized, but only after browning as a patry both sides, then as 4 patties, then after smashing them open... Many parties..... You gotta limit the surface area exposed to heat to reduce the moisture release. This leads to much better browning through the maillard and better flavor profiles.

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SheenPSU@reddit

I prefer the Midwest mom method. I prefer everything to have a little bit of everything so I prefer my ingredients finely chopped

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RadiantReply603@reddit

If you want the Sloppy Joe texture, you need to add liquid from the beginning. See the below recipe. Kenji adds beef to 2 cups of chicken broth to make the sloppy Joe texture.

Reference_Freak@reddit

I buy as fresh as I can find and gently separate it along the grind lines while it browns.

Chunks of 3-5 grind lines is preferred, they then break up on their own as manipulated in the pan.

My sister would chop it with the straight edge of the spatula while browning. She likes tiny pieces because textures bug her.

I like bigger chunks so I chop it less.

D3Bunyip@reddit

I make ground beef tacos a lot and that's my preferred texture for taco meat.

I break it up along the natural grind lines as I add it to the pan (if you're using supermarket ground beef.) This doesn't work so well on some of the pre-packed ground beef so you just break it into smaller chunks by hand as you add it to the pan. The worst method is to add it all in one go and try to chop up a big hunk of meat.

Why? Break it up as it cooks.

Just fuck with it lots. Metal spatula, deep pot (not pan) and stir it, just obsessively. see a large chunk? cut it down (stop after shooter marble sized) and just lots of stirring and folding and messing with it. any few big bits left smash up nice under the spatula.

One thing I never tried, but did learn recently for shredded chicken that may work? Throw it (cooked) into a stand-mixer with a beater paddle on medium-high. For chicken breast it shreds it in under 2 minutes and is fantastic. should mince burger very well too.

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browsing_around@reddit

I like chunky.

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Scavgraphics@reddit

Hand held mixer/egg beater while it's cooking..breaks it up just fine.

AMAZING for shredding beef or chicken also (I used it in combo with my instant pot often)

In my childhood hometown, hot dog sauce is very popular and thats the meat texture in the chili seasoned sauce. The raw burger is added with all the tomato sauce and all the other ingredients and slowly simmered till done.

Btw the trick to getting tiny nodules is water after the sear, then a food processor.

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nerowasframed@reddit

Marble sized sounds too large to me. I try to break it up into small pieces as it cooks, anywhere from rice sized to corn sized. I really hate getting a big chunks of ground beef in something like chili or bolognese.

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superanth@reddit

Use a grinder. Electric mixers have attachments for that, plus there are old-style ones you can buy online. Thats how butchers make ground beef.

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iceph03nix@reddit

Depends what I'm making, but usually I'll use a spatula to cut the tube or block 8-9 times across the length, and 2-3 times down the length, and then add whatever seasonings, and then do a lot of smooshimg to mix it in til it seems right.

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BHobson13@reddit

I don't understand the concept of chopping ground beef. I mean, it's GROUND beef for goodness saje. Throw it in the pan, separate while browning and get on with it. When you are cooking in your own home, do whatever the hell you want. Some people waste way too much time worrying about what others think or do.

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AwkwardDuckling87@reddit

If you start in medium heat and stir the first 3 minutes or so before turning the heat upu you get the little pieces.

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TurtleSandwich0@reddit

You take it out of the freezer, unwrap it, and put it in a frying pan. When the bottom part turns brown your scrape off the cooked meat exposing frozen meat underneath. Keep turning and scraping until it is cooked all the way through.

I use my potato masher. In my younger, more time-rich days, I just used a wooden spoon and my pent up rage. But these days? Potato masher.

For what it's worth, you probably have the heat up too high. The meat is setting before you get a chance to break it up. Turn the heat down. Keep the meat constantly moving. When it starts to get even a little less pink, starting chopping/mashing at it. If you wait until it's actually browning, you're making the job harder on yourself. Also, you can splash a little water in there at the beginning. The extra moisture can make it easier to break up. You're gonna drain your juices anyway. It doesn't take much and does not affect the flavor.

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jk_pens@reddit

I used to have one of the star shape meat breaker-uppers but it disappeared when I moved. Now I just use a bench scraper and it works great thanks to the long straight slightly sharp edge.

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Usual-Ad6290@reddit

I use a potato masher when making chili as I like the meat to be small pieces that can be saturated with the liquid.

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Electrical-Arrival57@reddit

This is what you need: https://woodspoon.com/product/lazy-spoon-spootle-12-inch/

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No-Tart-1157@reddit

More often than not I’m browning the beef so I divide the ground beef into pretty large pieces maybe the size of my thumb so that a light brown crust forms. When it’s just about formed a golden crust I break it down into smaller pieces just to cook out the pink and then immediately add the other ingredients, serve, Etc.

This way the beef retains moisture and doesn’t seep it all out into the pan and dry out or boil in its fat (assuming it’s not my usual lean beef). It’s good for making tacos or meat sauce for pasta

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paddlepedalhike@reddit

I’ve never heard of of chopping ground beef. It’s already ground. It seems any more and it’d be paste.

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It doesn't take that long. My mom did the big size and I hated it.

Adding water can help, too, because it keeps the buts separate (doesn't work for pork). But then you have to boil off the water.

I do make turkey chili and turkey sloppy joes, using ground turkey, and it does clump more than I remember beef doing so. I use the Oxo chopper that someone else mentioned for the sloppy joes, though I’d forgotten it was called a chopper. I can’t imagine using a wooden spoon for this; it just doesn’t do the job. I don’t think the chili needs it as much, because it has much more liquid.

I also use that Oxo device for salmon croquettes, but I’ll use an electric mini chopper for the onion (actually, it’s a mini chopping bowl that fits on my blender’s base).

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tookurjobs@reddit

One trick I learned from my ex wife is to add some water to the pan while you're browning. It seems to make it easier to break it up into finer pieces

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DVDragOnIn@reddit

I’ve always just crumbled my ground beef by hand into the heated pan

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Dalton387@reddit

Okay, so ground beef is a bit of a thing with me. I start by telling people to brown their ground beef and not grey it.

People tend to over crowd a pan. The liquid in the meat fibers gets squeezed out and the beef literally boils. It’s not pink, so people consider it done. It’s cooked, but not done. It would be like if you boiled a steak or burger. Safe to eat, but gross compare to what it could be.

So brown the ground beef. You can do smaller batches and it’s easier. You can even do it crowding the pan, but it takes longer. Either way, you need the water to evaporate, so that the grease left behind can begin to fry the meat and brown it. I’ve seen many people spooning and paper toweling “grease” when it’s mostly water. Let it evaporate and let your meat brown and get crusty. It’s many times better, no matter your end dish.

Let’s talk about breaking it up. We aren’t making a giant hamburger patty, so we need to break it up. Saying that, you can certainly start it out like a big patty. Preheat your pan, put a little oil in it, let the crust form, the break it up. This will give you a more coarse texture like you say you prefer.

Texture is the name of the game here. What are you going for? No style is wrong. Asides from greyed. It’s about texture and that’s personal preference. I like chunky for chili and fine for hot dog sauce for instance.

You can also do it in stages. Pop the meat in. Take a spatula and chop it up. Let it cook a little while, and chop again. It doesn’t take many times to get a finer texture. They sale tools that do it more efficiently and ergonomically. They look like a tiny mace. A handle with plus shaped blades in the bottom. It’s all silicone.

Funny enough, to get the finest texture, for something like hotdog sauce. You don’t actually pan cook it like the rest. You add all the ingredients to a cold pot and add liquid. Like ketchup and water. You turn the heat on and as it comes to temp, use a potato masher or the aforementioned mace tool to continuously mash it. You can stop when it comes to a simmer and is a fine texture. Don’t stop till then or it’ll try to clump. That leads to a super fine texture.

So it depends on what you’re going for. It doesn’t take much extra effort. Same amount of time. Just how you processor and what you’re looking for, for your application.

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NeverRunOutOfBeer@reddit

My partner (GRHS) boiled ground beef. It does give you the texture what you’d expect on a chili dog and I’m told it’s the way Cincinnati chili is made. I’ll leave it to the more informed to comment on either.

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uapyro@reddit

I boil it. A pot of water (with a strainer built in).
Makes it super easy because basically all i do is stir and it breaks apart. Then when the meat is "cooked" i just drain the water out (usually in a trash can outside

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Kooky_Possibility_43@reddit

My wife found out that i get it to the stage you want, and now chopping up ground beef is my job exclusively.

I use tongs as it’s cooking, squeezing and turning as the meat cooks and it’s in pretty small pieces by the time it’s done. I prefer smaller chunks.

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Arievan@reddit

Depends on what it's for. For sloppy joes I like it completely minced. For spaghetti bigger chunks. Chili is in between, a little on the smaller side

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CrumbShallot@reddit

Immersion blender

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Crazyhorse_73@reddit

I picked up one of these 'hamburger helper meat chopper' things ages ago, and its served me well. Its not really much different than using a spatula or whatever but maybe a little more effective because of 5 "blades" vs 1 and a little more ergonomic because of how it's held. But there's nothing wrong with doing it old school.

https://www.influenster.com/reviews/betty-crocker-hamburger-helper-meat-chopper

lithomangcc@reddit

At first I thought you were asking how to make it ground beef. It’s chopped already you break it up in the pan as you cook it

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GrilledCheeseMnky@reddit

Why would you chop up ground beef? It will break up as you cook it…

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forestinpark@reddit

What do you mean chopping ground meat? It is already chopped since it is put thru meat grinder.

If I want ground meat, I buy shoulder with fat and grind it myself using a manual grinder.

Or you mean cooking it down, not chopped?

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456name789@reddit

We use the back of a slotted spoon to get that BB size. Didn’t know I was keeping a secret, lol!

Voodoo330@reddit

I put the cooked meat in a in a fine strainer/colander and mash it with a potato masher or something similar.

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Ok-Equivalent8260@reddit

I like mine as small as possible

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cans-of-swine@reddit

I like mine chunky

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Hungry-Treacle8493@reddit

That’s what she said. 🫤

augustwest30@reddit

I have this chopping tool I use. It’s like a handle with 5 curved plastic cutting blades radiating out from the central shaft.

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MotherTeresaOnlyfans@reddit

It's literally already been put through a meat grinder.

It does not need to be chopped.

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cans-of-swine@reddit

Some people chop the chunks to almost a meat paste as it cooks.

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Sufficient_Fan3660@reddit

wood spatula

comes out the size of pinky fingers

tastes the same

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LionsAndLonghorns@reddit

Keep in mind you can buy different sized grounds If they’re getting a really fine size, they may be getting finer ground meat from the butcher.

My store carries regular and rough ground. I think it’s common to find rough ground in stores in Texas because it’s better for chili. Finer grounds work for smash burgers or tacos, but you need to request that from the butcher counter where I live as I’ve never seen it premade.

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BeBopBarr@reddit

Depends on what I'm using the ground meat for. Tacos for example, chop it up in the pan either using the cooking spoon or the meat chopper tool. Hot dog chili, I brown it and wait for it to cool, then smash it up in my hands to make teeny tiny pieces before adding the sauce & whatnot.

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I'm not Midwestern, I'm Southern. I use the meat smasher tool. While the ground beef browns, the tool does the breaking up of the meat. It looks like an astrick kinda.

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And for larb (ground pork in that case) I like variety.

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BSch2023@reddit

The ground beef should be in quarter sized chunks or thereabouts. Otherwise it just disappears into the dish. In my opinion, just keep making your marble sized pieces

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RevolutionaryWind249@reddit

I wish there was an easier way. I've done the potato masher thing and that's just about as much work as doing the wooden spoon thing.

I don't think there is a super easy way. You just have to keep breaking it up as it cooks. There should be some sort of elegant solution though. Maybe something like a vegetable chopper combined with a fry pan. Or an air fryer combined with a food processor?

If you could figure out a way to manufacture that inexpensively it would probably be a good infomercial type product although God knows none of us needs another specialty appliance in the kitchen.

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Nemlui@reddit

Stab it methodically with a spatula. Takes a couple of minutes

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porcelainvacation@reddit

My wife has this star shaped meat masher that is intended to make that meat powder. I hate using it because it hurts my wrists and I prefer bigger nuggets. When I have to make powdered meat I use a metal (in a cast iron pan or on a grille slab) and do it in stages. Start big, let it brown, chop it smaller, let it brown again. It should only take about 10 minutes at the right heat setting, if it takes 30 you need more heat or are grossly overcooking.

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Dangerous_Spirit7034@reddit

I have a specific tool for that does that, you just use it to stir ground meat while it’s cooking. I stir it and like twist/spin while it cooks. I don’t personally car for ground beef all that much, but I get pieces like half the size of a grain of rice on turkey and even smaller on beef

this is exactly what I have

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