Does anyone have this ground beef tool? Recommendations?

[Kim Shook]

I've been seeing these ground beef utensils on TV lately and have become interested.  Does anyone have any experience of them?  What I use now when cooking and breaking up ground meats is a flat edged wooden spoon (about the only thing I use a wooden utensil for - I find them mostly useless).  I have arthritic hands and holding onto the wooden spoon for long periods breaking up the meat as it cooks is uncomfortable.  Do you think this would be useful for me.  Or should I just concentrate on trying to remember to crumble the meat up with my fingers as I'm putting it in the pan? 😁

[heidih]

Crumble before is simple and potato masher  - not a one-off tool fan

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Do you think this would be useful for me.  Or should I just concentrate on trying to remember to crumble the meat up with my fingers as I'm putting it in the pan? 😁

Some people recommend using a pastry blender (I tried it years ago) but I think far better to break it up with your fingers before adding it to the pan. If you happen to have a pastry blender it would be worth trying it I suppose. 

[AlaMoi]

I use a wooden spatula - flat edge .... not a spoon - indeed that would be an exercise in lump pursuit.....

lotsa' to choose from . . . the left/right handed version are extremely good for 'two spat flipping' stuff in the pan (crab cakes/etc)

[mgaretz]

I have one, only used it a few times and it's been in a drawer for many years.  I use my wooden "spoontula" (a word I just made up) that I bought at an Asian grocery years ago for stir-fries, but II use it for almost everything in a pan or wok.

[Kim Shook]

Yes - that's what I use, @AlaMoi - flat edged wooden spatula.  And I suspect that my experience would match yours, @mgaretz!  I have SO many unused utensils.  They just make the best stocking stuffers (😄).  And I think you are right, @Anna N - crumbling by fingers would be best.  I use mostly non-stick pans, so I don't think I'll try the pastry blender 😉!

 

Thanks to you all!

[Darienne]

YES!!!  And I love it.  Mine is turquoise and looks more like this one. 

A friend gave it to me years ago and I ignored it for years, although Ed used it regularly.  Then I tried it and was sold on it immediately. 

 

 

[weinoo]

I use my cat.

[heidih]

32 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I use my cat.

How has your hairball experience been? 

[btbyrd]

I use a wooden spatula or a Foley fork.

[teonzo]

What about using a whisk?

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Toliver]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Some people recommend using a pastry blender (I tried it years ago) but I think far better to break it up with your fingers before adding it to the pan. If you happen to have a pastry blender it would be worth trying it I suppose. 

When my mom was alive, I was her sous chef for holidays.

I would pre-cook her pork sausage for her turkey stuffing in her cast iron skillet. I would crumble the sausage into the pan and cook it but would use the (metal) pastry blender to break the sausage up into smaller bits so there wouldn't be any big sausage chunks in her stuffing. The pastry blender worked very well for this job.

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, mgaretz said:

I have one, only used it a few times and it's been in a drawer for many years.  I use my wooden "spoontula" (a word I just made up) that I bought at an Asian grocery years ago for stir-fries, but II use it for almost everything in a pan or wok.

 

I do the same, but mine are metal. We call them 铲子 (chǎn zi) or just 铲 (chǎn), but I'll happily go along with "spoontula". This one is 30 inches / 76 cm long. Sort of like a remote  control!

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[GloriousDawn]

Think I’m with @heidih on the general aversion to single-use kitchen tools. The only one I have (and love) is the Avocado Mangler™️ which makes producing guacamole in quantity at a gallop much less annoying. I don’t use it often, but I’m always grateful to have it when I need it. 

 

As for ground meat, my big ole silicone spatula does the job beautifully. 😍

 

[Anna N]

39 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I do the same, but mine are metal. We call them 铲子 (chǎn zi) or just 铲 (chǎn), but I'll happily go along with "spoontula". This one is 30 inches / 76 cm long. Sort of like a remote  control!

 

I have always known such a tool as a wok shovel.

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I have always known such a tool as a wok shovel.

 

Yes, 铲子 can also be translated as 'shovel'.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Forgive me for being late to the discussion.  I use a stainless steel wok shovel, similar to what @liuzhou posted.  One of my happiest kitchen purchases of all time.  I am also fond of wooden wok implements but I don't as a rule use wood for meat.

 

If I crumbled ground meat adding it to the pan I'd be vainly scrubbing my greasy fingers in the sink as the ground meat charred and vaporized while the smoke alarm went off.  Both of them.

 

[Maison Rustique]

18 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I've been seeing these ground beef utensils on TV lately and have become interested.  Does anyone have any experience of them?  What I use now when cooking and breaking up ground meats is a flat edged wooden spoon (about the only thing I use a wooden utensil for - I find them mostly useless).  I have arthritic hands and holding onto the wooden spoon for long periods breaking up the meat as it cooks is uncomfortable.  Do you think this would be useful for me.  Or should I just concentrate on trying to remember to crumble the meat up with my fingers as I'm putting it in the pan? 😁

 

Years ago I bought a couple of them on some sort of special deal--BOGO or whatever--figuring I'd keep one and give one to someone. I have absolutely no idea where they went, but I decided recently that I wanted to try one and couldn't find it. My arthritic hands and tendinitis make certain motions extremely painful and stirring more solid or harder things is not fun. If I am using a regular pan, I can use one of the other tools suggested, but if it is a non-stick skillet, I can't use a metal tool. Soooo, a friend recently was having a Pampered Chef party and I felt obligated to buy something. I bought one of these and it is now here. I plan to keep track of it so I can actually find it when that occasion arises. Mind you, this means that I will now find the original one or two of them that I bought. I guess it will mean I will then have a collection of ground meat breaker-uppers.😝