TikTok is full of cooking hacks, ranging from the ingenious, life-changing ones to ridiculous hacks like this "family-style spaghetti." This TikTok user shows us how to make healthy cooked ground beef, and it might be the most distressing thing we've seen all year.
The Versatility of Ground Beef
Ground beef is a go-to ingredient for Italian meals like meatballs and lasagna, along with comfort food dishes like shepherd's pie, meatloaf and sloppy joes. Not to mention, it goes great in enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos and nachos. We all have different philosophies for cooking ground beef- you can buy fresh ground beef or frozen ground beef, and you can cook it in the oven, stove top, or instant pot.
Many ground beef recipes are flavored with taco seasoning or a mix of garlic powder and other flavorings. As for leftover ground beef, it can be stored in the fridge for a few days or frozen in an airtight container or freezer bag to defrost for an easy recipe, ideal for weeknights.
To Drain or Not To Drain
If you're a fan of this crispy and flavorful protein source, you probably also have an opinion about whether or not to drain the extra fat and grease from it. Ground beef has a notoriously high-fat content that causes lots of polarization in the ground beef community.
Some feel that after you brown ground beef, you should drain it to lower cholesterol and fat, while others simply buy lean ground beef. Other ground beef lovers still feel that the idea of removing fat from your beef is an abomination that fully ruins the ground meat.
No matter which camp you're in, this TikTok video unites all ground beef lovers in disgust and devastation. We can all agree that ground beef should never go through something like this.
"Healthy Ground Beef"
@eemilydharperr Another kitchen tip for you ? #ThinkingAbout #HouseTour #cooking #fyp #foryou #viral #kitchentip
TikTok user Emily Harper starts her video by saying that she'll teach you a healthy cooking hack that she learned in nutrition class. Sounds fine so far, right? She cooks it in a skillet for a few minutes, breaking it up with a spatula, and then prepares to drain it.
But then, Harper pours the beef into a strainer over the sink and rinses it under cold water for so long that the grease is completely gone. In her post, she says "all this grease is disgusting, so get rid of it!"
This statement, along with her unconventional and disturbing draining methods, was too much for the internet to handle. The video went viral immediately, and currently has 288K likes and a slew of horrified comments, which Harper has since turned off.
i keep thinking about that tiktok where they rinse ground beef after it's cooked and wash all the grease down the sink .... girl we literally live in a society ...
— ? chrysa @ working on comms! ? (@cautiousamber) February 8, 2021
One of the issues with Harper's "healthy" ground beef technique is that pouring grease down your sink can harden the pipes, which you definitely don't want. Many people pour their excess grease into a cup and throw it away when they cook ground beef, while others use it to fry future meals.
However, most importantly, getting rid of all of the grease will make your ground beef dry and flavorless! The whole point of ground beef is its yummy flavor and fat, which many on the internet have pointed out.
Still thinking about that girl who rinsed off her ground beef...
...and all the people who followed who also rinse their ground beef. pic.twitter.com/9rlfBHKoLE
— Michael James (@mvchaeljames) December 18, 2020
Viewers of the video all over the internet have come to the same conclusion in response to this excessively drained ground beef- a bit of grease can be a good thing!!
