Wacky Tools: The "Let's Make Finely Ground Beef" Tool

My Best-Ever Way to Prepare
Cooked Finely Ground Beef

     I was talking with a friend last week about cooking with ground beef, and she mentioned that she enjoys cooking with ground beef except that she hadn't figured out a way to get the ground beef fine enough to work well in tacos.

     That got me to thinking. 

    I know - that's scary.

     But once in a while, I have a good thought or two.

     I mentioned to her that I had a hair-brained idea a number of years ago, and I grabbed my el-cheapo old-fashioned-style potato masher and began using it to separate the ground beef as it was cooking.

     So how did the potato masher work out? 

     Well, after all these years, I find that I always use this when cooking ground beef in my frying pan - and I never use it for making mashed potatoes.

     How's that for odd?

Here's how it works:

     Instead of standing at the frying pan, using a spoon or other utensil to break up the ground beef for 10 minutes as it is cooking, I use the potato masher in much the same way I'd use it with mashed potatoes.  Holding it upright, I push down in circular motions. 

     The difference is that instead of standing at the frying pan the entire time, working on breaking up the ground beef, I just need to work at it a few times every few minutes with the potato masher. 

     Sure, the partially raw meat tends to get stuck in the grooves back and forth in the masher, but I just firmly tap the masher against the edge of the frying pan, and the meat quickly falls back into the pan to cook.

     Now to you, maybe it's no big deal to stand at the frying pan for 10 minutes, trying to break the meat up into very small pieces.  But even then, it's much more difficult to get the ground beef fine enough, taco-style, when you don't want larger clumps of meat. 

     I'm slower in the kitchen...I don't sling hash like some women can...so any time I can save a few minutes to enable me to work on other parts of the meal, that is a good thing!

     I haven't seen an old-fashioned potato masher in the stores for a while now...but I admit I also haven't been looking for one, either.  Amazon.com has my favorite brand of kitchen utensils, OXO Good Grips, and they sell an old-fashioned potato masher.  I guarantee you, the OXO masher is far better than what I currently own.  But since mine ain't broke, why fix it? 

     I'm not an affiliate for Amazon.com, so I have nothing to gain from linking to the picture, below.  If you're curious in learning more about the OXO Good Grips potato masher, just click on the photo, below, and you can check it out.

     That's my "wacky tool" of the week ~ a tool I use regularly in our home that isn't being used as it was originally designed!

     What wacky tools do you have in your home, that you use for a different purpose?

Julieanne
Joy In Our Journey.com