Seasoning Ground Beef for Vegetable Soup


 
BFletcher

BFletcher

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Many of you are what I am not: a trained cook. I have no formal culinary training, so if a step isn't listed in a recipe I don't know how to deviate.

Today I'm making vegetable soup with ground beef. Sometimes, I sprinkle a mild seasoning once I add the beef to the frying pan, on other occasions I hand mix it into the beef prior to frying, and yet at other times I add no seasoning while browning the beef. I've never taste tested the three methods simultaneously but I'm not convinced that adding seasoning while browning the beef adds any element of flavor.

What do you experts say about this and thanks!

Edit: I did add Susie Q's Original Santa Maria Style Seasoning to the beef during a previous veg soup cook and could taste it... it was not an appropriate flavor for vegetable soup, lol.
 
I like to add tomato paste with the beef and spog. Mix it all and brown it up in the same stock pot you’ll make the soup in. You want that fond (brown stuff in the pan) in your soup for an extra flavor level.

Now soup is always better the second day. I’d leave the beef drippings in the stock, fridge it overnight and then peel off the coagulated fat layer the next day.

This gives a rich and deep flavored soup.
 
Your collective feedback illustrates my affinity for this site :).

Historically, I've always added tomato paste after browning the beef, when adding the juices. Guess what I'll try next time?
 
I'm no professional chef either, but I have been making different kinds of soup for years and honestly don't think it matters what order you add seasonings. All the flavors come together once everything is simmering in the pot anyway.
 
@BFletcher May I politely suggest something like _The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook_, from America's Test Kitchen? It's a good basic intro to a lot of different cooking techniques. Yottam Ottolenghi was also recommended to me over the weekend as a chef & author who favors methods over recipes.

Lessee..... one of my favorite techniques is taken shamelessly from Indian curry methods: bloom spices & seasonings in hot oil before adding liquids like water, stock, beer, wine, etc. For your example above, I'd add the bulk of the seasonings to the ground beef after browning, or possibly after sauteeing the vege (either would help IMO.) This works for curries, chili, a lot of sauces like spaghetti or Cincinnati chili. Salt doesn't profit from this, but seasonings like various chilie powders, turmeric, etc. will extract flavors into the hot oils. Obviously, be careful to not scorch the spices. Oh, and if you're not....... bay leaf. Gotta have bay leaves in any soup I make.
 
Thanks @JKalchik. I've had The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook in my cart for a few months and more recently added The Professional Chef; I should decide on one soon.
 
For the home cook/chef, I would definitely start with The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook. The [New] Professional Chef is a great tome, but it's really more of a collection of industrial scale recipes. It's not a good place to start, unless you're going straight into commercial food prep. Yes, I have both.
 
I have a different take on this. I buy six lbs of extra lean ground beef when it is on sale and brown it up in a huge frying pan I have. I add two packets of low salt beef bouillon to 3/4 cup of hot water along with two shots of Worcestershire sauce, a couple drops of liquid smoke, some granulated garlic, pepper and stir it up. This is added to the browned beef and simmered down until the liquid has evaporated. This is then vacuum sealed in 14oz packages and frozen. I can thaw it out for use in soup, tacos, sloppy cheese burgers, shepherds pie, goulash, you name it. I just keep the seasoning to what works in all these dishes for convenience.
 
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