Lately I’ve been doing my damnedest to make myself sick of a really good lentil soup recipe I’ve modified from the back of the bag they come in. It calls for only vegetables in addition to the lentils among other details, but I’ve added ground beef for my own taste. The taste of the finished product is great, but the texture of the beef is quite tough and hard, almost gravelly. I think I may be actually be cooking it for too long such that it’s DONE ground beef rather than just browned.
I suspect that taking it off the heat as soon as there’s no pink left is the way to go, but I’d appreciate some suggestions. I’m using 90/10 ground beef; should I use a higher fat percentage? I’ve also been letting it simmer anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Could that have something to do with it?
For anyone who’s interested, here’s the recipe:
2x32oz cartons fat-free beef broth
1lb bag lentils (washed!)
8oz ground beef (approximately)
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 medium to large carrots, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk (optional)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, or 1Tbsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown the beef in a skillet with a small amount of garlic and pepper, drain, and set aside. Chop the onions, carrots, and garlic, and sautee in the pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil until the onions are almost translucent. Add lentils, broth, ground beef, and 1/2 to 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil while stirring, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered for an hour or longer, depending on consistency.
My bet would be to much salt from the beef broth and added salt. I make spaghetti sauce and chili from ground beef and often leave them simmering for hours without the beef going hard but I avoid adding salt. For instance if I was making your recipe I would use salt free beef stock and tinned tomatoes for the liquid because that what I use in chili and spaghetti sauce and dhal.
I’d agree with adding less salt or possibly using more fat (either in the broth or in the beef). Plus, I think you’re over-cooking your beef, since you seem to be cooking it for a total of 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Think about hamburgers- those usually only take 5 minutes each side!
Other options:
Brown the beef over a lower heat, but for less time.
Don’t bother cooking the beef fully- since you’re going to be boiling it thoroughly, after all, either just lightly brown it (don’t even bother waiting for all the pink to go), or, if you’re really brave, chuck the raw beef into the soup when it’s bubbling hot, it’s still going to be cooking for another hour over a low heat.
When I make lentil soup I use bacon, and usually add the raw bacon to the soup- that way the fat melts into the soup and the bacon pieces stay soft- I’m not a fan of crunchy bacon pieces in my soup. Trust me, the bacon is fully cooked, and I’ve never poisoned anyone.
I agree with irishgirl–it sounds to me like you’re overcooking the beef from the beginning. Since you’re simmering the soup, you literally just need to brown the beef for the aesthetics of it.
I’d also try 85% lean instead of 90%. Also, you might want to see if your grocery store sells coarser ground beef–mine sells something that it labels for chili and it is much better than the regular ground beef, at least for chili.
You might also try cooking the beef in mini-meatballs, rather than crumbling into the pan. Brown them on the outside, then let them cook in the liquid at a simmer (braising, for any non-cooks) until done. Then you can remove them from the soup before they turn into pucks, and add them back in at the end.
Ah, I see what you’re getting at. I wasn’t very clear in the OP, sorry: before I posted the recipe, I didn’t mean that I simmered the beef for an hour, I meant the soup. Browning the beef only takes 5-10 minutes, but perhaps I should have noticed something was up when there wasn’t all that much to drain.
At any rate, I’ll try taking it off the heat as soon as possible. I suppose I’ve just been applying to ground beef what I’ve been doing with stew meat. I find that the latter breaks up much more readily when I’ve browned it more thoroughly. Still, I’ll try experimenting with that when I make it next time too.
As for the broth I use, used to just use the Swanson 99% fat-free stuff, but a few weeks ago I found out that they make a low-sodium variety. I’ve used 1 carton of that the last few times along with 1 of the regular low-fat stuff. After I use up what I have now, I’ll try using only the low-sodium stuff.
Thanks for your help, guys. I’ve got my beef out thawing now; hopefully it’ll be ready by this evening. Please share any more advice you have, though! Any suggestions as to how I could improve the recipe? More/different spices, maybe?
See, years ago I had this buffalo sausage and lentil soup that was absolutely fantastic, and this recipe is the closest I’ve ever been able to get to it. Considering that what I had back in the day was actual SAUSAGE, how would that change things? It was still in ground meat form rather than links, but is this where the extra fat content comes into play? Should I try buying the sausage mix instead of just straight-up ground beef?
Try higher fat beef (we don’t use anything over 85%, there’s just no flavor), and use it fresh. Meat is never the same after having been frozen and rethawed.
Buffalo is quite different from beef in taste and texture. It’s fairly easy to find around here, so you might check your local store to see if they’ve got any. Our buffalo is almost always frozen, but some places carry it fresh in the butcher’s case.
Ground beef is an abomination–for lentil soup you want ground LAMB! Trust me here… An all time favorite EZ-Sleazy dinner is two cans of Progreso Lentil soup heated to a simmer, a pound or so of browned ground lamb cooked with chopped onion and garlic then simmered with the soup for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. Then comes the really cool part. Cube up about 6-8 oz of monterey jack cheese and melt it into the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste and eat with crusty sourdough bread. You will thank me forever if you try this dish on a cold rainy night when your day has not gone well.
Actually… I make my lentil soup with diced ham, and smoked ham hocks. Now THAT’S some good eatin’ ! Same basic soup recipe- lentils, celery, barley, onion, diced potatoes, and ham… simmered all day. Mmmmmmmm… Now I want some lentil soup dammit!!
Use keilbasa instead of the ground beef. Trust me on this. Just cut it into 3 to 4 inch chunck ans put in the soup for 15 ninutes to let it heat thru. Lentil-y goodness.
Ham is good–note it is NOT ground beef, which I staunchly maintain has no place in food!
Me, I use hamhocks with baby limas or pink beans, onions and garlic simmered in a slow cooker or baked in the oven all day, then served over cornbread. Mmmmm…
Try the Progreso lentil/lamb/jack cheese/sourdough thing, it’s infinitely greater than the sum of its parts!
Another delicious alternative would be sausage instead of the hamburger. Linsentopf (Lentil Stew/Soup) with sausages is a very popular dish in Germany and one of the tastiest lentil dishes I’ve ever had. Here is a pretty good recipe that I found: German Lentil Soup
My only complaint is that this recipe is missing potatoes, it should have a diced potato or two in there.
