Restaurant-Style Ground Beef

I've never been a fan of the over-pungent, preservative-filled, goopy-looking taco-seasoning-packet ground beef. It was always too salty and never tasted anything like any of the Mexcian [American] food (or even TexMex food) that can be had at a Mexican restaurant. And so I set out to recreate the ground beef found at some of my favorite Mexican restaurants. That ground beef was always lightly seasoned and fresh-tasting--a stark contrast to the other stuff. It took a little bit of playing with, but eventually I was able to come up with a recipe that is pretty darn close--if not spot on--to what I can get when I got out to eat.

Since we had tacos for dinner tonight, I thought I would share my ground beef recipe. It's great in tacos, but also pretty fantastic in burritos, quesadillas, nachos... you name it. It takes more time to make than the good-ole browned-beef-and-a-taco-packet variety, and I haven't attempted it in a crock pot, yet (if you have a go at it, let me know how it turns out), so I don't suggest it for a quick dinner night. It needs at least an hour and a half to cook down, so it's best for a night when you have the time. But the following recipe makes enough for the 2.5 of us (Endelyn eats so little of it, she doesn't count as a fully person--not much of a meat fan, that one!) to have it for dinner/lunch twice (and it microwaves very nicely!).

Restaurant-Style Ground Beef

Prep time: Less than 15 minutes
Cook time: 1.5 hours

You will need:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 Large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp oregano
2 Tsp chili powder
1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups of water*
Pinch of cilantro
Sauce pan

*You need the water to completely cover the ground beef in the pan. If you have a smaller pan, you will probably need less water... a bigger pan, you'll need more. But I find that somewhere between 2-3 cups of water is about right for a small-to-medium sized sauce pan.

Step 1: Dice onions and Garlic

Step 2: Place ground beef, onions, and garlic in the pan



Step 3: Cover with water

 Step 4: Add spices

Step 5: Mash up the mixture in the water until all of the beef is broken up and the herbs are well-mixed.

Step 6: Cover the pan and turn the burner on to medium heat. Let it cook (bringing it to a boil) for about 25 minutes.

Step 7: After 25 minutes--or so--the beef should be cooked through. Remove the lid from the pot and let the beef continue to cook at medium heat. (I usually use the other half of the onion to make a pico de gallo, so when I am through with that, I throw in a little minced cilantro, as well. This is only optional)

Step 8: Allow the beef to cook until most of the liquid has cooked down or evaporated (at least an hour)

Step 9: Drain off the excess fat and serve.