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I finally tried that 'stretch your ground beef with mushrooms' trick my sister swore by
She told me to finely chop mushrooms and mix them half and half with the beef for tacos. I was skeptical because mushrooms are like $3 a pack now anyway. But last Tuesday I did it with a 1 pound tube of 80/20 and 8 ounces of cremini. Honestly could not tell the difference in texture or taste. Saved about $2.50 on that meal. Anyone else tried this or have another way to stretch meat?
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paulw632d agoMost Upvoted
Yeah, the "could not tell the difference" part is exactly what surprised me too. But here's an angle I haven't seen anyone bring up - what about doing this same trick but with a different type of mushroom? Like, @morgan.mary mentioned the moisture thing with zucchini and lean meats, but you could actually use something like shiitake or oyster mushrooms if you want more of an umami punch without the texture change. The $3 thing bothered me too until I realized that buying a bulk bag of dried mushrooms and rehydrating them is way cheaper, plus you get that concentrated mushroom liquid you can use for broth or gravy. Just make sure to chop them really fine after rehydrating, otherwise you'll get chewy bits that stand out way more than fresh cremini would.
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morgan.mary2d ago
Wait have you tried it with other meats yet? Ground chicken or turkey works even better with mushrooms because they're so lean and the mushrooms add moisture. Also try grating zucchini into ground meat, it disappears even more than mushrooms do. I do half meat, half mushrooms, and a quarter cup of grated zucchini per pound. You get way more volume and it keeps the meat from drying out if you're using lean stuff. Just make sure to squeeze the extra water out of the zucchini before you mix it in or your tacos will be soggy.
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