Favorite way to cook ground beef?

If making ground beef, actually brown the meat, don't "gray" it.

Let it sit in the pan undisturbed for a little to develop a crust before you start breaking it up.

I don’t eat meat anymore and haven’t for years but when I did I found a lot of people cooked ground beef in a way I didn’t love. They tended to overcrowd the pan and cook it on too low of heat because they were afraid of things sticking.

As a result you’d end up with a pale grey beef that was okay but wasn’t nearly as flavorful as it could’ve been because it wasn’t browned, it was basically steamed because so much liquid from the fat released and the pan was so crowded that the water content of the fat couldn’t cook off fast enough and you’d basically just cook it in a 1/4” layer of liquid. The flavor was weak and the texture was mushy.

So basically cook it in smaller batches, how big depends on your pan size, but say 1/3rd a pound at a time, preheat the pan of course, and cook over medium high heat with a bit of neutral oil (just enough to thinly coat the pan as plenty of fat will render, this is just for the initial bit). Don’t move it until it releases naturally, and cook it until it’s browned, not greyed. It should have a bit more texture but it shouldn’t be crispy, you don’t want to burn it. Then do the next batch and so on until you’re done

More labor intensive but more flavorful, Maillard reactions and such, more texture/tooth/bite/whatever you want to call it. Spice with salt and pepper plus whatever makes sense for your application

My favorite thing to do with ground beef is make smash burgers

Brian Lagerstrom shows a method using a sheet pan and your oven's broiler in this video (the linked time has the prep, 11:23 for the results) if you want to try something other than the usual stove-top browning. It's worked well for me, especially when I don't want to babysit a pan.

BLOOD is my personal secret!

My current favorite ground beef meal prep:

• 70/30 ground beef (if its more lean, I render down some fat/lard first then add the meat to get the ratio up)
• Salt
• Jalapeno (sliced, with seeds)
• Blood (pig / cow)
• Eggs
• Liver (diced)

Using a medium/large sized pan. If I have salt crystals, add them when warming up the pan so they can dissolved (i'm lazy to grind). Brown ground beef on high heat, then reduce to medium. Add diced liver, jalapenos, (salt), and blood. Once liver has taken some color, mix, make a hole in the center with everything piled up on the sides of the pan. Add eggs to center. Once the eggs have started to cook, mix everything. Once eggs are almost done, remove from heat! Eat from the pan for easy cleanup!

I've experimented with different spices (paprika/rosemary is really good), but I find using real fat, and blood adds a real depth to the taste and it doesn't really need spices except for variety. On occasion I'll add diced crispy bacon at the end, its great!

Most butchers will have fat (usually free), and blood - but if not available you can often find blood in the asian market.

Love a meatloaf