# What does the stage before "browned" with ground beef look like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2015, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429 "2015-03-07T10:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/1 "2015-03-07T10:42:45Z")
I’m looking at a recipe that says to cook out the pink in ground beef, but do NOT brown it. This puzzles me; it seems to me it goes right from red/pink to brown. What should ground beef in such a state look like? ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/2 "2015-03-07T11:23:05Z")
Gray. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/3 "2015-03-07T12:14:47Z")
Gray. It doesn’t turn brown until it starts to carmelize. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/4 "2015-03-07T13:41:07Z")
I believe it is more of a grey. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/5 "2015-03-07T14:34:06Z")
But aren’t there like 50 shades of gray? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/6 "2015-03-07T16:19:43Z")
Only if you beat your meat. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/7 "2015-03-07T16:26:46Z")
If its going from red/pink to brown you are cooking it at too high a heat. Cook it at lower heat and you’ll get that ghastly medium gray color. Basically for gray, you want the temp just above what it takes to boil it. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/8 "2015-03-07T17:54:06Z")
What’s the recipe? I’ve never encountered that particular instruction. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/9 "2015-03-07T18:53:37Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > What’s the recipe? > I’ve never encountered that particular instruction. Some chili recipes call for grey, rather than browned, ground meat. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/10 "2015-03-07T18:58:02Z")
Those are not recipes that should be followed then. Boiled beef in chili? I have to go lie down. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/11 "2015-03-07T19:30:01Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Boiled beef in chili? I have to go lie down. It’s a must for Cincinnati-style. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/12 "2015-03-07T19:39:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It’s a must for Cincinnati-style. Whenever I make Cincinnati chili, I boil the beef in beef broth. I experimented with Bovril once when I had no beef broth or bouillon cubes. Worked surprisingly well! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/13 "2015-03-07T19:57:54Z")
The common term for the stage before browned is “gray”, although to me, it’s not really gray. It’s a shade of brown- maybe gray-brown. Browned OTOH, means literally browned. Relative to the “gray” meat, browned meat will be a more rich brown/red color. It’s the result of Maillard reactions in the meat, and is the same as a good crust on a steak. It adds a lot of flavor when you do this, but for a lot of recipes, it’s not strictly necessary. What I’d recommend doing is taking some ground beef and cooking it in the microwave until it’s not pink anymore - that’ll be “gray”, and probably not “browned”. Then take that, dry it off a little bit, and fry it in a pan- you’ll see the color change. That’s browned. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/14 "2015-03-07T22:44:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It’s a must for Cincinnati-style. Yep. I was going to mention that. I also do it for my bolognese. It’s mostly a textural thing, but also the flavor is a little different. Ground beef that is not browned has a more delicate texture and flavor than beef that has been browned. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/15 "2015-03-07T22:45:54Z")
This terrible WikiHow on [how to brown ground beef](http://www.wikihow.com/Brown-Ground-Beef) shows you exactly what non-browned, but not pink meat should look like. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/16 "2015-03-08T02:24:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yep. I was going to mention that. I also do it for my bolognese. It’s mostly a textural thing, but also the flavor is a little different. Ground beef that is not browned has a more delicate texture and flavor than beef that has been browned. I also do it for perushke. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/17 "2015-03-09T01:49:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > This terrible WikiHow on [how to brown ground beef](http://www.wikihow.com/Brown-Ground-Beef) shows you exactly what non-browned, but not pink meat should look like. That’s really terrible, and exactly what the stage _before_ browning looks like. Way to go, Wikihow! ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/18 "2015-03-09T02:09:54Z")
Wikihow has you adding water when browning ground beef? Whut? ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/19 "2015-03-09T13:22:28Z")
It would prevent any of that icky “brown” color from showing up, I guess. Which seems to be their intent. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429/20 "2015-03-09T13:50:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > This terrible WikiHow on [how to brown ground beef](http://www.wikihow.com/Brown-Ground-Beef) shows you exactly what non-browned, but not pink meat should look like. I’ve never had ground beef look like that. Pork, yes, but never beef. I cook it on medium heat, and it goes right from red to a color that’s at least tan - certainly not gray. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-stage-before-browned-with-ground-beef-look-like/714429.md?page=2)