Tried browning meat first versus dumping it in raw for chili and the difference was huge

Made two batches of slow cooker chili back to back last Sunday, one with pre-browned ground beef and one with raw meat dropped straight into the pot, and the browned batch had way deeper flavor while the raw one tasted kind of watery and flat even after 8 hours on low, anyone else notice this or do you have a trick to make the no-browning method work better?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.shane1d ago

Yeah I used to be one of those 'just dump it in raw, it'll cook down' people for years. Then I actually did the side by side like you and yeah, the browned meat batch was just way better. I think the browning creates that crust that's basically pure flavor, and the raw meat just releases water instead of building any of that. I've tried searing just half the meat and leaving the rest raw and that gets closer but honestly now I just brown it all.

lucas631d ago

Did you already dump the browning liquid back in after searing or just toss it? Curious if mixing the fond back in makes a difference vs starting fresh.