Cogito wrote:

Do you think it matters what you use or how you break down the meat? I was thinking of trying a potato masher instead of the chop-chop routine.


The water takes care of that for you. You will see once you try this method, but you have to add the water to the pan while the meat is still totally raw. This prevents the clumps from forming. It then doesn't matter what you use to rotate the meat as you're just helping to move it so it cooks evenly. A fork will work fine.

That's a damn good looking dish of sloppy mac, Hammond. However, i think that if you wanted to truly authenticate the meal as it was originally intended for college students, a large water bong and acase of Milwaukee's Beast would be a much appropriate accompaniment than a bottle of wine.

Just a clarification... Made picadillo last night myself and the actual ratio of water to each pound of ground beef was actually more like 1/2 cup to 1 cup to get the desired "smooth" texture. It came out great.

Artemesia wrote:Just a clarification...

Thanks, I'm going to try it. You don't do anything rldr differently, just fry the meat and chop it up until the water evaporates?

Yes, in essence I guess you are "steaming" the meat in the water vapor until it is done, but it gets rid of the clumps and doesn't really conpromise the flavor. You can later "brown" the meat to get that caramelization, if that's what you're after. But picadillo for tacos really doesn't require that. And you're probably going to add chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion, etc. anyway, so the flavor's still there.

Hope you like it!

YourPalWill wrote:That's a damn good looking dish of sloppy mac, Hammond. However, i think that if you wanted to truly authenticate the meal as it was originally intended for college students, a large water bong and acase of Milwaukee's Beast would be a much appropriate accompaniment than a bottle of wine.

Right, yes, and then a night sitting bloated on the sofa playing Warcraft.

With relatively high-protein dishes like this (meat, cheese, etc.), however, I usually prefer the fruits of viticulture -- seems more suitable somehow (I'm sure McGee could explain why).

I froze a number of Sloppy Mac servings and had one yesterday -- it held up very well, which is not at all surprising. Next time, I'm considering cooking in slivers of some kind of chili.

Hammond

Our favorite way to enjoy this concoction is this:

My family loves Mamwich Bold sauce. So you make you sandwich.....then you make a Stouffer's Mac-N-Cheese and spoon it on your plate. Now....when you bite into your sammie, some of the Mamwich falls into your mac-n-cheese, creating the perfect amount of tastieness!