Browned ground beef

Heat a wide 12-inch pan over high heat until water drops bounce (Leidenfrost effect); wipe the drops out.

Add just enough oil to barely coat the pan and add the ground beef.

Break up the beef and scrape the bottom of the pan hard with a wooden spoon so it does not form meatballs or burn; the water that leaks out after about a minute dissolves the brown bits.

Cook until all the pink is gone.

Variation: drain the fat in a colander, pressing with the back of the spoon (about 25 ml, 22 g of grease from 500 g beef).

Variation: in a 10-inch pan the same amount grays rather than browns; keep stirring to boil off the water so the beef crackles and fries in its own fat for a second browning phase, without letting exposed pan scorch.

Variation: boiling off all the water and toasting every grain fully brown gives a pebbly, bitter, one-dimensional result; not recommended.

Preferred: spread oil over the whole pan and smash the meat into one flat layer edge to edge; leave a couple of minutes until the bottom is very brown.

Stir it up, using the released water to deglaze the pan; scrape and break up the chunks, then cook just until the pink is gone.

Salt at the start or at the end; stirred well, no difference was tasted, and salting at the end allows seasoning to taste.

Variation: disperse baking soda, dissolved in a little water, evenly through the beef and wait at least 15 minutes; it browns in under two minutes and stays juicier. Too much makes meat taste of fish.