Back before ground beef doubled in price I would make a huge batch of chili for canning. I did the math in January of last year and it worked out to a 28% savings over buying it but the downside was that it cost $50 to make the batch.

Of course the upsides were knowing every ingredient and here I am two weeks short of a year later eating chili that now costs way more to make because of beef cost increases.

This time I added a can of black beans during the reheat because I didn’t feel like making corn bread.

Cost per person: $3.06

  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
    1·
    4 days ago

    Brownong meat is an essential step to just about any dish. The maillard reaction does an amazing amount of work.

        • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          Okay, so to be clear-- browning via searing is just one of many, many ways to achieve the result. For example, simply by sprinkling ground turkey in to the chili dish, then cooking around 300°F for an adequate time will produce the maillard reaction in the turkey (plus whatever other ingredients), right?

          • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
            2·
            3 days ago

            No, because the meat won’t actually reach that temperature. Anything simmering on a stove will reach a maximum temperature of 212°F.

            You could spread the meat on a sheet pan and broil it, form it (perhaps with a binder) around skewers and char it on a grill, or set it on a fireproof surface and take a blowtorch to it, though. But browning in a pan, turning, and chunking can yield a more even browning with an end result of chunks of meat at the desired granularity - plus you can do the onions at the same time.

              • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
                2·
                2 days ago

                People keep asking me that. Nope, just an engineer who really likes food. By learning first principles, I can understand what causes certain results to come from various ingredients and the methods that are applied there to.

                If you want to start going down the rabbit hole, Alton Brown had made a lot of this very accessible, especially in his show Good Eats; if you prefer textbooks, Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking is a definitive work.

                • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
                  2·
                  3 days ago

                  Well, cooking being both a science and a practical matter, it makes much sense to me that being a curious engineer can get you very far as a cook. And I don’t think it’s a major leap in the slightest to observe that even people who frequently cook can have a very limited understanding of the science of cooking… including the likes of me.

                  Hehe, I do happen to like Alton Brown, but usually just enjoy his occasional stuff I bump in to on YT. Right, then-- I’ve pulled up a bunch of his videos on cooking science and stashed them at the top of my “TV” folder. Bingo.

                  Hope to run in to you another time, perhaps here or otherwise. I really appreciate how you stayed with the discussion until I properly realised my error. Thank you for that! <3

                  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
                    2·
                    3 days ago

                    Well, I couldn’t just stand by and let somebody be wrong on the Internet.

                    Thank you for hanging in there as well! I’m all over Lemmy quite frequently, so it’s not unlikely we’ll run into each other again, especially now that I’ve got you tagged.