Unnecessary things.

I don't brown meat, but find mince sometimes comes out in big lumps if I dont. I like lumpy mince, but always think I haven't cooked it properly if I cook it without browning to seperate it

Cooked a whole chicken with vegetables in the slow cooker yesterday and it was fabulous- I won't be roasting one in future!

I always brown mince, but mainly to break it up, other meats I don't. Very rarely peel the spuds - my family now prefer mash with the peel in it, and I think with roasties you get a better finish with the peel intact.

I gave up browning after seeing Jamie Oliver. I agree it makes no difference to the taste. However I have to cut off fat from stewing/braising steak to avoid DS 'picking' at it on his plate. He also dislikes onions so I grate them in so he doesn't know. I do believe they bring out the flavour of the meat. I sometimes grate carrots into a stew too. I use Oxo and Bisto which gives a good colour to the finished dish.

I only brown mince to release any excess fat, if it's very lean I don't bother, and stopped bothering with other meats, just cut any excess fat off first, makes using a slow cooker much less faff too!

I've got a great beef stew recepie that doesn't need the meat to be browned, I just chuck everything in. I do brown mince though as it tastes better and makes it look nice and brown instead of a nasty grey colour.

Never thought of cooking mince in microwave,I have always browned then added onions ,carrots and peas an oxo cube and bisto.simmer in ordinary pot for about an hour then thicken with a little plain flour,my GGC call it a granny meal and just love it,

It isn't exactly always necessary to brown mince, but you get a beter flavour if you do. What is unnecessary is using any oil or fat to brown it in, even if you buy 'lean' mince there is always enough fat in it to make adding any to the pan a waste of time and money.

Jack: I think you could maybe have triggered off a whole new thread on slow cookers. My DD is at the moment trying to persuade me to have one and I must admit I see recipes everywhere for slow cookers. I am seriously thinking about one.

Just made 'stew,' using beef skirting haven't browned first have added veg and it smells lovely never brown first

I brown my mince so that it is almost crispy because I don't like the taste or smell of mince but that makes it palatable.

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.

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.

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 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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.