Make the Most of Meat
Not sure what to do with your leftover roast? Trying to figure out how to store bacon? Looking for new ways to lower the fat in meat dishes? Check out these helpful tips:
Storage
- Buy meats in bulk and freeze on a cookie sheet. After they are thoroughly frozen, remove from the cookie sheet and place in plastic bags. They will not be frozen together and you can remove them from the bags in whatever quantities you need without defrosting the whole bag.
- Keep bacon slices from sticking together; roll the package into a tube shape and secure with rubber bands.
- Save any leftover meats or vegetables from all your preparations for soups later. Just throw it in a bag and label it and freeze it–you can later add tomatoes, water or bouillon and extra ingredients to finish your soup.
Handling
- Don’t salt meat before you cook it. The salt forces the juices out and impedes browning. Instead, salt meat halfway through cooking, then taste when the meat is finished cooking and adjust the salt as needed.
- The easiest way to drain cooked hamburger is to use your colander.
- Meat loaf will not stick if you place a slice of bacon on the bottom of the pan.
- Ham will slip out of the can more easily if you immerse it in hot water 1 to 2 minutes before opening.
- To quickly separate the gravy from the fat, use a clear plastic gravy baster with a rubber ball on the end. Pour gravy in a glass cup. Insert the baster just beneath the layer of grease and suck up all the good stuff until there is nothing left in the cup but fat.
Cooking
- When working with ground beef, wet your hands to prevent sticking.
- To make uniform hamburgers, sausage patties, etc. use an ice cream scoop.
- Soak any red game meat in canned evaporated milk for 30 minutes before cooking. This will tenderize even the toughest cuts. It’s great for cook-outs.
- To keep meat loaf from coming out greasy, put 12 bread “heels” on the bottom of the pan under the meat before cooking. The bread soaks up the grease and can later be fed to the birds.
- Grind leftover beef, turkey or pork and combine with minced onion and enough leftover gravy to form a paste. Spread the mixture over rolled out biscuit dough, roll like a jellyroll and slice. Bake and serve with additional gravy.
- Meat will brown better if you blot any moisture off the surface with a paper towel. Dusting the meat with flour also will contribute to browning.
- For a juicy hamburger, add cold water to beef before putting on grill–about 1/3 cup per pound.
- With leftover meatballs or meatloaf, make “meat muffins.” Using leftover mashed potatoes (or instant), butter a muffin tin and fill each cup half full with mashed potatoes (to which, add dried onion and salt). Crumble meat and fill cup. Heat through in 350-degree F oven. Great for lunch, after-school snacks, or quick supper with a green salad.
- If your are bored with leftover roast beef, cut it up, add seasoning and leftover gravy. Heat. Add a little sour cream and you have a “quick mini stroganoff.”
- No “curly” bacon for breakfast when you dip it into cold water before frying.
- For extra-crispy sausage patties, dip them in flour before frying.
- When making a roast, grate carrots over it rather than adding whole carrots. The carrots will melt into the gravy, which thickens and flavours it.
- If your gravy is lumpy, put it in a blender. If the gravy is then too thin add flour diluted with cool water or broth (stir the liquid into the flour a little at a time). Cook the gravy again until it reaches the desired thickness.
Excerpt from “Super Tasting Allstar Recipes” from the parents, students and teachers of Langley Fundamental Middle School, Langley, BC, Canada.
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