Unnecessary things.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't no one ever commented about the taste so I assume its always the same.. I do use extra lean mince so there isn't any fat to take off.

When I do one and a half kilos of braising steak in the slow cooker I never brown as it takes forever, I do fry the onions and streaky bacon and then layer it up. It tastes just fine.

Never brown!

Browning the onions certainly makes a difference as the sugars in the onions caramelise and that adds to the flavour.

I never brown anything either but then again I m no expert,just chuck it in and hope for the best. If only I had a dog it would be the best fed animal ever.lol

Never brown either. Waste of time.

I.always brown onions and garlic then the meat. .......adds to the taste in my opinion.

I usually brown and sometimes then continue cooking in the same pan. I can then get away with the cheaper fattier meat and skim/pour the excess off. For stews I like to coat the meat in seasoned flour and mix it in with the fat as this then thickens the gravy.
Yes to browned onion and garlic base too!

I always brown meat and onions.

Thank you for that info from your butcher, daddima. I've been unconvinced about "sealing in" meat juices for many a year and so have tended not to bother with it much. Nice to have my evidential observations confirmed by someone who ought to know.

Caramelising onions is another matter entirely. Caramelised onions are fab.

No, I never brown meat, it goes straight into the slow cooker, and I don't do onions either unless they're a side dish or trimming to a meal eg with steak.

@tanith - I don't use anything under 20% fat, since that's where the flavour is. If I do get stuck with some lean mince I have to add oil anyway...

Like others here I have iong been suspicious of the instruction to 'seal' the meat - I can't see how that could work... must give the un-seared version a try.

The theory is, you brown the meat to seal in the flavour, but as some TV cook pointed out if browning really did seal in the flavour then as the piece of meat heated and the moisture within the meat expanded as it heated up, sooner or later the piece of meat would explode, much as a baked potato can if there are no breaks in the skin when it is put in the oven.

I always thought the idea was also to caremalise the outside of the piece of meat to enhance flavour, which of course works well if you are cooking a steak or chop, but with a stew or casserole, once you add the liquid that will dissolve the caremalisation into the gravy.

Having said tthat I have always been far too lazy to brown meat. I put all the ingredients into a pan bring them to a boil and put them in my slow cooker. I doubt anybody can tell the difference.

Rarely have steak except braising/stewing sort - just put it straight into the slow cooker overnight without worrying about browning it first! I love onion gravy but grandkiddies won't eat it if there is onion in it so don't add it unless just cooking for me and daughter. When my kiddies were little and I was cooking a roast at the weekend I would do a tray of caramelised onions, the little ones you get to pickle, pain to peel but tasted so nice!

The only reason i brown, and this doesn't apply to mince (browning mince is a waste of time), is that browning adds flavour to casseroles and stews. Tossing meat (especially beef and lamb) in seasoned flour and then browning on a high heat will enrich the sauce that it is cooking in. The only thing i have noticed is that, if i have added chicken or pork that hasn't been 'sealed' to a sauce (curry or something similar) it does leach out the juices which can make the sauce look sort of curdled. It doesn't seem to affect the flavour, but it doesn't look nice.

That makes it sound more like a sauce thickening exercise than anything to do with the meat itself, gd. DH informs me that the only proper way to thicken curries is to use onions. If they are properly fried first, they disintegrate in the curry and have a thickening effect. There's also boiling down to reduce stock/sauce. That happens naturally in a slow-cooked stew.

Perhaps browning with flour was originally done to speed up the cooking time?

I agree with your DH's onion base for curries; it's what i do with mine. And yes, the flour does thicken the sauce, though not significantly, and you could just brown the meat without it; but browning, IMHO, does give the stock a richer flavour.

I brown meat not really to seal but to look better. In a slow cooker it can look a bit unappetising especially mince if not browned.

Does the look not depend partly on what other ingredients one includes, if there is enough variety, for instance? Stews with more ingredients generally do taste and look better than those with few. At least, that's my experience.

I remember (just) when i was at school, our first actual cookery lessons were brown and white stew. For brown stew, we were required to brown cubed beef of some description a few bits at a time so that the temperature of the fat didn't drop, allowing the meat to leach its juices and create steam. I can't quite remember what we did for white stew, except that it was horrible. Come to think of it, so was the brown stew!?

Browning meat adds colour and flavour- through the process of caramelisation, but adding stock in the shape of cubes/powder does very much the same thing. Our grandmothers of course didn't have access to instant stock so tended to use browning more. If you doubt what browning does try cooking mince without browning or stock-resulting flavourless pale mess is terrible. I prefer to brown and use a small amount of stock powder because commercial stock also adds a lot of salt.

Sometimes I brown the meat, especially mince, but sometimes I do what DM did which was to 'scald' it with boiling water instead of browning in fat when she was in a rush and her casseroles etc were always lovely.

I am veggie but remember using mince. From what I remember it is a way to get a lot of the fat out. I think that, as with many foods, caramelizing would add flavour.

Am I the only one who cooks their mince (and I prefer half lamb mince to half lean steak mince) in the microwave? I then add seasoning, depending on whether it's for a cottage pie, lasagne or bolognese sauce. Seems to taste just as good - fast & less mess & smell ...