Extra Simple Recipe, but Gotta Get the Potatoes Right
With an uncomplicated recipe requiring only two main ingredients, all I have to do is cook the potatoes to the right firmness.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
After testing a recipe for Dongbei-style braised chicken thighs, I fell in love with cooking with a skillet. As a result, I looked for more Asian skillet recipes.
Inspiring Recipe
While searching for skillet recipes, I stumbled across a very easy way to make Ground Beef with Potato from the blog, Simply Asian. This was a perfect recipe for my first time using ground beef and russet potatoes.
First Try
After buying ground beef and potatoes, I was ready to cook!
Ingredients to Use
There was no need to change any of the ingredients except for the oil. For that, I used avocado instead of olive oil for the higher smoke point.
Steps to Prepare
For the first three steps, I followed them as written. However, when I got to the last one, I made a couple of adjustments. After lowering the heat to medium and simmering for 15 minutes, the liquid wasn’t getting absorbed by the potatoes much, so I covered the wok and cooked everything for another 10 minutes before the potatoes were tender, bringing the total simmering time to 25 minutes.
Time to Eat
When it was time to taste the beef and potatoes, I was ready to see how this dish was a comfort food, since I’ve never had it growing up.
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣* | 🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
The potatoes came out soft and the dish had the right amount of saltiness and good beefy flavor.
Second Try
During my second attempt, I wanted to speed up the liquid absorption during the simmering process.
Ingredients to Use
To decrease the time it took for the water to dry up in Step 4, I added only 3/4 of the original amount of soy sauce and water. Below is my adjusted ingredients list:
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing rice wine
- 3 large russet potatoes
- 3 ounces of soy sauce
- 2 1/4 cups of water
Steps to Prepare
This time, after lowering the heat to medium in Step 4, I simmered the mix for 20 minutes with the cover on.
Time to Eat
After the dish was done, I was anxious to find out whether the changes impacted the texture and flavor of the dish.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣* | 🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
Unfortunately, the potatoes were too soft. However, since each bite was lightly salted, I could’ve eaten the dish without rice if I wanted to.
Though I don’t plan on making this dish again in the future, I would repeat it if I had to use up some ground beef and potatoes.
If I cook this dish again, I would use the amount of ingredients and steps for the process from the second try as the baseline, but make the following modification:
Continuous Improvement
- Shorten the simmering time to 15 minutes in Step 4.
Since this was my first time buying russet potatoes, I learned the following that I’d like to share with my dumber self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- If a store has Idaho potatoes that look like russet potatoes, they are russet potatoes. (For an explanation, check out the post, The Difference Between Idaho® Potatoes And Russet, on the Idaho Potato Commission’s website. While you’re there, you can read about the hotel that looks like an Idaho potato!)
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the recipe, Ground Beef with Potato, from the blog, Simply Asian?
- Share your trick on not overcooking russet potatoes?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)