Ground beef is the working class of the butcher counter. It's dependable and affordable, but sometimes it can feel . . . well, a little boring. Sure, the first time you throw a few burger pa tties on the grill, it can be a great feeling--the official launch of summer. But how many burgers can a man eat before he wants to scream, "Enough already?"
We sought out some of our favorite chefs and butchers--guys like Tim Love, Curtis Stone, and the cleaver-wielding artists at Fleisher's Craft Butchery--and asked them for their best beef ideas. They came up with five original recipes that will change the way you think about ground beef.
And for more amazing receipes like this, pick up a copy of Guy Gourmet. It's got more than 150 amazingly delicious recipes, many inspired by top chefs.
Asian Beef and Vegetable Lettuce Cups
(Image courtesy of Penguin/ Random House)
Recipe by: Curtis Stone
Serves 4
The bestselling author--his latest is Good Food, Good Life: 130 Simple Recipes You'll Love to Make and Eat--and host of Bravo's Around the World in 80 Plates suggests a ground beef recipes that's on the lighter side, what he calls "a variation on Chinese san choy bow, where ground meat and lots of fresh vegetables--bean sprouts, carrots, and cabbage--are spooned into lettuce leaves and eaten just like a taco."
What You'll Need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 ¼ cups finely shredded green cabbage
1/3 cup hoisin sauce, plus more for serving
1 1/2 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 large carrot, coarsely shredded on the large holes of a box grater
3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced on the diagonal
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ heads iceberg lettuce (12 to 20 leaves) 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges, for serving
(Related: Iceberg lettuce gets no respect, but it's one of 6 Foods With Stealth Health Powers.)
How to Make It:
1. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil, then add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon for about 4 minutes, or until it loses its raw look. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl.
2. Return the pan to medium high heat and add the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the onions and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute, or until the onions begin to soften.
Stir in the garlic, followed by the celery and cabbage, and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly tender.
3. Stir in the hoisin sauce. Return the meat to the pan and cook for about 30 seconds to blend the flavors.
4. Stir in 1 cup of the bean sprouts, the carrots, and one-third of the scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Remove the pan from the heat.
6. Arrange the lettuce leaves on four plates. Spoon some of the beef mixture into each of the leaves and garnish with the cilantro, remaining bean sprouts, and scallions. Serve immediately, with lime wedges and hoisin sauce on the side.
Picadillo
(Photo by Nina Cazille)
Recipe by: Jose Garces
Serves 4-6
The Philadelphia-based, James Beard award-winning chef--and one of seven chefs in the country to be crowned Iron Chef--recommends a Cuban-inspired Picadillo.
"It's incredibly versatile," he says. "Beyond just serving over rice, it can be used in empanadas or as a taco filling." Or try our recommendation: Just eat it straight from the bowl.
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What You'll Need:
2 lbs of ground beef (80-20 blend)
2 cups red bell pepper diced
1 cup onion medium diced
4 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 tablespoon adobo spice (store bought)
¾ cup white wine
½ cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon chipotle peppers (canned) should be blended smooth
1 cup ketchup
1 cup queen olives sliced thinly
¼ cup capers
1 tablespoon achiote paste
2 tablespoons blended oil (vegetable or canola)
Golden raisins ½ cup bloomed in warm water.
How to Make It:
1. In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add ground beef.
2. Cook over medium high heat until beef is cooked through and fat is rendered (approximately 10 minutes). Season with salt.
3. Carefully remove the beef from the saute pan and strain the fat.
4. Place the saute pan back on the heat, add achiote paste and blended oil. Cook until achiote paste is dissolved. Approximately 5 minutes.
5. Add red bell pepper, onion and garlic, and sweat vegetables until they are tender (approximately 5 minutes). Add white wine and cook until white wine is reduced by 2/3rds (approximately 3 minutes).
6. Add strained beef back into the pan along with adobo spice, chipotle, ketchup and tomato paste.
7. Simmer all ingredients over low heat until beef is tender (approximately 30 minutes)
8. Remove from the heat. Add in olives, capers, and golden raisins and season to taste.
Ground Beef Stir Fry with Soba Noodles
(Photo by Sophie Grant)
Recipe by: Fleisher's Craft Butchery
Serves 4-6
Fleisher's--one of our favorite butcher shops in New York, if not the whole darn country--is all about "finding new ways to enjoy ground beef," says Sophie Grant, Fleisher's Marketing Director.
"Ground beef is so versatile. It can be stuffed in peppers, baked into pies, formed into a meatloaf," she says. "It's a blank canvas waiting for you to create your masterpiece."
(Related: The Best and Worst Sandwich Meats)
After polling the Fleisher's butchers for ideas, they settled on the following stir fry recipe.
What You'll Need:
2 lbs of ground beef (1/3 to ½ pound of meat per person)
Salt, pepper
1 tsp of ginger
1 tsp caynene
½ white onion, chopped
2 Cups of seasonal vegetables diced
Use any combination of the following to equal two cups: broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms or what's in the fridge, from the farmer's market or what you love.
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
½ tablespoon beef tallow (substitute coconut oil)
1 teaspoon chili oil (optional for spice)
1 package of Soba Noodles prepared
2 green onions, sliced
How to Make It:
1. Mix meat and seasonings well in a bowl with your hands.
2. Heat coconut oil in pan or wok until liquid. Over medium high heat sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Mix in chili oil in well if you like spicy.
3. Crumble beef into wok and cook until browned. (drain excess fat)
4. Fold in diced vegetables and cover until the veggies are al dente. They don't need to be soggy or too crisp, right in the middle. Color of the vegetables should be at its brightest.
5. Place Soba noodles (hot or cold) into the bottom of 4 bowls and top with meat and veggies. Garnish with green onion and sriracha if you really love it spicy. Or mix it up with This Hot Sauce That Could Be Better Than Sriracha.
The Multi-Purpose Sloppy Joe
(Photo by Jill Paider/SLS Las Vegas)
Recipe by: José Andrés
Serves 6-8
James Beard award-winning chef José Andrés, who owns over a dozen restaurants from Lon Angeles to Washington, D.C., offers a recipe for sloppy joes straight from the menu of his famed steakhouse Bazaar Meat in Las Vegas.
"Even a person who has difficulty cooking a burger--knowing how much oil to use, when the grill is ready, or when to turn it over--they can make this because you don't have to go through the pain of that cycle of thinking," Andrés says.
(Check out the Men's Health Grilling Center for all the tools and knowledge you need for perfect backyard cooking, from the 5 cookout mistakes that make you sick to how to find the grill of your dreams.)
"And best of all, it reminds me of the stews my mother would make growing up," he says. "She would brown meat with tomato and serve it on top of fried potatoes. Now, it can go into a bun, and you can eat it with one hand."
What You'll Need:
2 pounds ground beef (80/20 blend)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup small dice green bell pepper
2 to 3 garlic cloves minced
1/8 cup small dice celery
1 1/3 cup small dice Spanish onion
2 2/3 cups canned tomato puree
1 1/2 cups ketchup
2/3 cup demiglaze (a French sauce base that can take all day to prepare. A common substitution is beef stock.)
1 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
How to Make It:
1. Sear ground beef in a pan with oil.
2. Season meat with salt and pepper.
3. Add vegetables and continue to brown everything.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until sloppy joe consistency.
5. Fry the steamed bun until golden brown.
6. Take out of the fryer and let it drain.
7. Cut in half and fill with hot sloppy joe and can be topped with straw potatoes.
Middle Eastern Meatballs with Spicy Greek Yogurt Sauce
(Image courtesy of Tim Love.)
Recipe by: Tim Love
Makes 16 meatballs
We'd expect nothing less from the official chef of the Austin City Limits Music Festival than a recipe that, in Love's words, is best made "with some Texas heat."
It's on the menu his Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth, Texas--which we named one of The Manliest Restaurants in America--but Love claims that the meatballs "are almost better at a tailgate. Smokey, yet light and refreshing at the same time."
What You'll Need:
1 lb ground beef
3 chopped garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of Marquez spice mix (a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste that can typically be bought at Whole Foods)
2-3 tablespoons harissa (a spice blend that can be made or purchased.)
How to Make It:
1. Place all ingredients in electric mixer and mix with paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes (until all ingredients are incorporated). Or mix by hand in large bowl.
2. Form mix in 1oz balls.
3. Brown in an oiled hot skillet but not until done, just brown the outside.
4. Finish in the oven at 350 degrees and until meatballs are cooked at 155 degrees internally.
5. Serve with spicy greek yogurt sauce and melange of sweet peppers.
(Related: Tim Love Explains How to Grill Pickles)
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