Unnecessary things.

I always brown mince to reduce the fat content. I also seal the braising steak with seasoned flour for flavour. I've worked in kitchens a long time & it is the way I was taught

I never want to reduce the fat content of meat. It's part of meat's nutritious value.

Browning any meat, especially red meat, seals the outer protein, thereby sealing in the natural flavour instead of losing it in the stock. For the same reason you should always put a joint of beef in a very hot oven for 25 mins, seals in the flavour.

My mum used to brown the mince, I only do it, if I am making a Shepherd's pie or a Spag bol otherwise, I just put in the slow cooker as you buy it, I don't think it makes much difference,it's with watching your parents etc x

Can't believe you could have a debate - about mince????

Hear! Hear! Smithy. But it's fun to have a light thread occasionally. Just for the record I brown onions, then add mince and don't add anything else until all the meat is brown. I made a cottage pie for eight last night and the verdict was "fantastic". We were feeding five oldies (well, my age) and three teenagers, so I must have done something right. PS: There is a little bit of pie left over so I shall mix it up and create a couple of rissoles for tonight's supper. I do the same with leftover fish pie to make fish cakes. Works every time - and no waste.

Sounds nice jack unfortunately there is never any leftovers in our house lol.
We have lamb shanks for lunch today and yes I did brown them first coated with flour followed by the onions then veg finally deglazed the pan with red wine added stock and the whole lot went into the slow cooker over night it smells lovely can't wait to tuck in so yes I will be browning my meat still. don't like Jamie Oliver much anyway I prefer James Martin

I hate waste too, I think our age group is more likely to find a use for left-overs and not just throw them in the waste. I never get to feed eight at once though!

I used to brown mince and still would do this for a dish that needs added caramelisation like a shepherds pie. But if I'm adding strong tasting ingredients (well browned onions mixed with spices, or a sauce) I probably wouldn't bother cooking the meat first.
I do agree with an earlier writer that unbrowned mince disintegrates a bit (she suggested that it looks curdled) but in a sauce this doesn't really matter to me.
The lower fat content of the lean mince that we all use now means that it does not brown very well anyway, so in my opinion it is really a bit of a waste of time.
The exception for me is Moussaka, the only dish for which I use lamb mince which I prefer to fry and drain as it is always so fatty.

We don't all use low fat mince. Just saying.

Greyduster, so that's why school stew always looked so unappealing! The cook (where I worked a few years ago) must've just thrown the horrible, cheap, tough, fatty, sinewy meat in with everything else, boiled it up briefly and called it pork marengo! There were always greyish white bits floating about in the watery stuff. No wonder there was so much waste. Children with their milk teeth couldn't chew it or swallow it. No disrespect to school cooks in general, btw. I've had some excellent food in school canteens. This particular 'cook' was pretty bad though.

If I cook mince, I put it in a lidded pan, dry, and brown it then drain it through a sieve. You can drain an awful lot off fat off this way. I don't brown the onions.

My mum always browned mince and I've never thought of not doing so - having said that, my husband is very particular about what meat we buy - must be from quality butcher and not with all the fat taken off; as soon as there's no fat, there's no flavour either!

Talking (or writing) of unnecessary things ... who else doesn't bother to peel potatoes for mash anymore? We call it 'rustic' in our household - otherwise, trendy 'crushed potatoes' if we are entertaining ha ha.

I always brown mince just to break it up. My DP doesn't and his mince based meals always have great lumps of meat in them. Not good if it's in a sauce to go with pasta.

I've floured and browned diced meat for so many years now that it would feel just wrong to do anything else

I'd peel potatoes for mash (don't actually like bits of boiled potato skin) and for roast potatoes. Plain boiled always in skins. Never scrape new potatoes, either. Just wash them. Unpeeled potatoes have a much better flavour.

No I'm still a peeler I'm afraid however I do like crushed when out or being entertained ?.

Depends what I'm cooking - if its a chilli in the slow cooker or stew I don't bother and just put everything in together. If I'm doing mince in the pressure cooker I tend to brown it just to get rid of a lot of the fat (or finish defrosting it if it's still a bit frozen - to break it up). I don't bother peeling potatoes if they're newish and we're not having mash but I usually peel them to mash them - some of the skins are a bit tough.

Sorry, not read past the first pag. Once saw a nit of Nigella and she doesn't brown the meat. Neither do I. DH is making a casserole for tonight and he is not browning either. Waste of time and makes no difference to the flavour as we put lots of other things in anyway.

Never toss in flour either, just makes it thicker and adds no flavour. If it is too runny we just reduce it.

Always brown onions, then add mince and keep browning. It just looks better. I agree with some previous posters about some fat adding flavour. For many years, I bought beef and trimmed off all fat, then minced. I didn't have to worry about fat, but it did lack flavour. I now buy my butcher's mince (over £9.00 a kilo ), and it has much more flavour, and not too much fat

Yes I brown the mince and I have no idea what it tastes like...I'm veggie but it gets eaten!

I peel potatoes, unless they are new potatoes. Sometimes DH carefully peels the new potatoes and leaves the skins on his plate!

I remember staying with friends in Ireland many many years ago and the mother boiled the potatoes in their skins, then everyone took the potatoes on their fork and peeled it with their knife. As my DM always peeled potatoes (I don't even remember having jacket potatoes when I was young) and new potatoes were always scraped, I had never seen anything like it! It required some degree of skill not to end up with burnt fingers!

I think the real reason for 'sealing' meat by browning it is to kill any nasties which have arrived on the exposed surface from the unhygienic practices of unknown others who have handled the meat.
For this reason browning of mince, which is entirely made up of exposed surfaces would be even more important.
Possibly less so these days when food hygiene practices are more closely monitored and mince is quite likely to arrive in your kitchen untouched by human hand.

Oh Jalima, your post so reminded me of my dear Dad. We had new potatoes, in their skins, for lunch one day. Dad carefully removed all the skins, leaving them at the side of his plate, then scraped around and forked up the skins, and down his throat they slipped. So like him.

I always brown my meat including mince, I know what Jamie said, so I tried it once, I felt it lacked a richness, so I continue to brown meat.

You lot certainly don't mince your words do you! One last word on mince etc. I had no idea so many people had slow cookers. Why? What have I missed? What's wrong with an oven? Help, please.