A Go-To Protein for Economical Meals
I wish I liked the phrase 'ground meat' as much as I like the dinners you can make with it. Ground turkey, chicken, beef, pork and other meats are the delicious and easy-to-prep foundation of meatballs, kebabs and burgers, a key element of countless sauces and curries. 'Ground meat' isn't super appetizing to me; a platter of nachos strewed with browned beef is.
This week's newsletter is devoted to this ubiquitous but sometimes undersung ingredient, which is economical, convenient, easy to cook and hard to mess up.
I'm sorry to those of you who don't eat meat! Usually you'll find at least two meatless recipes here in the newsletter every week. Instead I'm going to send you to this collection of vegetarian sheet-pan recipes, and there's a tip on using plant-based meat below. And do you get The Veggie, our weekly newsletter devoted to vegetarian recipes? If you don't, sign up here; it's free.
A few tips: Most kinds of ground meat can be used interchangeably (especially ground turkey and chicken), though you'll probably detect a difference in flavor and texture. Nothing major. (Melissa Clark even wrote a recipe for meatballs using any kind of meat, and I love Tejal Rao's flexible keema.)
If you're using ground turkey or chicken, use dark meat if you can, though don't worry if you can't. It's harder to find but worth looking for; it has more flavor and is less prone to drying out.
Don't forget sausage, which is just ground pork, beef or other meat that's been salted and highly seasoned — which is to say, highly flavorful with no extra work from you. It's famously sold in links, which you can split open if you just need the meat itself, but I like to buy bulk (or loose) sausage, which is just the seasoned meat, no casings.
Plant-based meats, from companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, are their own thing. While you can often just swap them into recipes, you'll get tastier results if you read this article that Kenji López-Alt wrote for us and follow his tips. (He also created recipes for vegan cheeseburgers, chili and Turkish kebabs.)
It depends on what other ingredients are in them, but recipes made with ground meat tend to freeze and reheat well. (The meat itself, properly packaged, freezes perfectly.)
Thoughts? Requests? Email me at dearemily@nytimes.com. I love to hear from you.
Porchetta pork roast; citrus salad with fennel and olives; sheet-pan pierogies with brussels sprouts and kimchi. Image Credit... Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.
Kay Chun takes mildly flavored ground chicken to a better place by browning it with ginger, garlic and scallions, and then simmering it with sweet potato in coconut milk.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
2,800-year-old royal tomb discovered near King Midas' home in Turkey
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Archaeologists have discovered an eighth-century-B.C. royal tomb of a relative of King Midas in the ancient city of Gordion, southwest of Ankara, Turkey. The burial mound contained dozens of rare artifacts and cremated human bones from an elite individual from the ancient kingdom of Phrygia. "Based on these artifacts, we estimate that the person in the tomb chamber may be a member of the royal family associated with Gordion and Midas," Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the Turkish minister of culture and tourism, said at a news conference Tuesday (June 3), the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Ajansı reported in Turkish. Gordion was the capital of the Phrygian kingdom, which lasted from 1200 to 675 B.C. In the eighth century B.C., the kingdom was ruled first by Gordias, who was associated with the Gordian knot that Alexander the Great eventually cut, and then by his son Midas, who is famous for the story of turning everything he touched to gold. But Gordion, like ancient Troy, was occupied many times over the centuries, leaving archaeologists with a tangled web of fortification walls, tombs and houses to dig through. The largest tomb found at Gordion is called the "Midas Mound." One of more than 120 mounds, it was built around 740 B.C. and included the burial of a high-status person — possibly Midas' father, Gordias — in a log coffin on top of a purple textiles and surrounded by bronze treasures. The newly announced tomb is the 47th such mound excavated at Gordion. The mound is about 26 feet (8 meters) tall and 200 feet (60 m) in diameter, archaeologist Yücel Şenyurt, co-director of the Gordion excavation, told Anadolu Ajansı in Turkish, and it includes the oldest cremation to date at the site. "This shows the burial customs of the Phrygians," Şenyurt said, and "clearly shows us that the person buried here was not an ordinary person." Related: Ancient inscription reveals lost civilization in Turkey that may have defeated King Midas At the news conference, Ersoy said that the mound included a wooden burial chamber that measured 10.2 by 9.2 feet (3.1 by 2.8 m), along with dozens of bronze artifacts, including cauldrons and jugs, some of which were still hanging from iron nails on the walls of the burial chamber, Anadolu Ajansı reported. "These artifacts that we have unearthed are the most concentrated group after the findings in the previously excavated Midas Mound," Ersoy said. RELATED STORIES —2,600-year-old inscription in Turkey finally deciphered — and it mentions goddess known 'simply as the Mother' —Grand tomb of Roman gladiator found in Turkey actually contains the remains of 12 other people —3,500-year-old tablet in Turkey turns out to be a shopping list "It's possible that it belonged to someone in Midas's family because his tumulus is nearby," C. Brian Rose, Gordion excavation co-director and an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said at the news conference, as reported by Anadolu Ajansı. "What's really interesting is that it's a cremation burial," Rose said, because "this is the only example from the 8th century" at the site. The newly discovered artifacts are now at the Gordion Museum, where they will be conserved and restored before being placed on display. Excavations at Gordion have been ongoing for 75 years, but archaeologists are nowhere near finished with their investigation of the numerous tombs and settlement structures. "The area that has not yet been excavated is much larger than the area that has been excavated," Şenyurt said.
Atlantic
a day ago
- Atlantic
Oceans Awash in Plastic Waste
An estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans each year, according to the U.S. State Department—and some of it accumulates in highly visible ways. Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty Turkish free diver Şahika Ercümen dives amid plastic waste on the Ortaköy coastline to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, and to observe the conditions in the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 27, 2020. Nhac Nguyen / AFP / Getty A Vietnamese woman gathers shells in a coastal forest littered with plastic waste that stuck in branches after it was washed up by the rising tide, in Thanh Hoa province, about 150 kilometers south of Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 18, 2018. Nina Gomes recovers a discarded plastic bag from ocean waters near the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 19, 2024. Bags of plastic waste and garbage recovered from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are unloaded at the Port of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on July 23, 2024. The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization founded in 2013 that develops and deploys technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. A plastic ball floats in the Strait of Gibraltar, about 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) away from the nearest shore, near Barbate, Spain, on July 31, 2018. Bhushan Koyande / Hindustan Times / Getty Children walk through tons of plastic waste on a shallow shoreline near Badhwar Park in Mumbai, India, on June 4, 2025. Raşid Necati Aslim / Anadolu / Getty A giant 11-meter-long whale sculpture called Whale on the Wharf , made of recycled plastic waste, is placed in London's Canary Wharf area on April 15, 2025, to draw attention to plastic pollution in the oceans. In this photo taken on October 22, 2019, plastic and other debris sit on a beach on Midway Atoll in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. According to a study released in 2020, more than a million tons a year of America's plastic trash isn't ending up where it should. The equivalent of as many as 1,300 plastic grocery bags per person is landing in places such as oceans and roadways. In this photo from October 22, 2019, small pieces of plastic waste are shown in the decomposed carcass of a seabird on a beach on Midway Atoll. In one of the most remote places on Earth, Midway Atoll is a wildlife sanctuary that should be a safe haven for seabirds and other marine animals. Instead, creatures here struggle to survive as their bellies fill with plastic from faraway places. Josep Lago / AFP via Getty This photo taken on January 12, 2024, shows plastic nurdles at La Pineda beach in Tarragona, Spain. Cem Ozdel / Anadolu / Getty Modou Fall, a Senegalese environmental activist also known as 'Plastic Man,' is raising awareness about environmental pollution with his costume made of hundreds of plastic bags. He's shown here in Dakar, Senegal, on March 27, 2025. The 55-year-old Plastic Man organizes discussions and various events to educate the public about environmental pollution and climate change. Wearing his plastic outfit and carrying a note on his chest reading Africa is not a trash can , he walks the streets and beaches of Dakar to highlight the impact of plastic use on the environment. Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty This photo shows several dead herring trapped in a plastic packaging net on May 3, 2023, near Pietarsaari, Finland, as the late spring's sea ice was melting slowly. Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP / Getty A view of a canal that empties into Lagos Lagoon, clogged with rigid foam and single-use plastic, at Obalende in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 23, 2024. Agung Parameswara / Getty Small pieces of plastic that washed ashore on Kedonganan Beach and were collected in Kedonganan, Bali, Indonesia, shown on February 2, 2021. In Bali, known for its beaches and sunsets, the northwest monsoon brings vast amounts of plastic waste to its world-famous shores. Volunteers from a nongovernmental organization hold hands after cleaning the São Conrado beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 8, 2023, as part of World Oceans Day. Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty Divers from the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation and Kas Underwater Association team carry out underwater cleaning operations off the coast of Antalya's Kas district on May 4, 2025. During the sea-cleaning operation, a large variety of items such as cellphones, plastic chairs, plates, forks, hats, glass, and plastic bottles were removed. Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty A wave carrying plastic waste and other rubbish washes up on a beach in Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand on January 19, 2021. Li Xinjun / Xinhua / Getty Primary-school students clean up garbage at Binhai Park in Rongcheng City, in east China's Shandong Province, on June 4, 2025.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
She became a ‘hotshot' wilderness firefighter to write about being on the front lines
This week, we are jumping into the fire with Kelly Ramsey. Her new book, 'Wildfire Days: A Woman, A Hotshot Crew, and The Burning American West,' chronicles her time fighting some of the state's most dangerous conflagrations alongside an all-male crew of Hotshots. The elite wildland firefighters are tasked with applying their tactical knowledge to tamp down the biggest fires in the state. We also look at recent releases reviewed by Times critics. And a local bookseller tells us what our next great read should be. In 2017, Ramsey found herself in a holding pattern. Living in Austin, with an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh under her belt, she didn't know what or where she wanted to be. So she took a nanny job. 'I was spending all my time outdoors with these kids,' she told me. 'I thought, is there a job that would allow me to be outside all the time?' Ramsey landed a volunteer summer gig working on a fire trail crew in Happy Camp, Northern California, on the Klamath River. While Ramsey was learning the delicate art of building firebreaks, a large fire broke out just outside the town. 'My introduction to California that summer was filled with smoke,' says the author. 'This is when I got the bug, when I started to become interested in fighting fires.' Ramsey became a qualified firefighter in 2019, joining an entirely male crew of fellow Hotshots. Ramsey's book 'Wildfire Days' is the story of that fraught and exciting time. We talked to Ramsey about the 'bro culture' of fire crews, the adrenaline surge of danger and the economic hardships endured by these frontline heroes. Below, read our interview with Ramsey, who you can see at Vroman's on June 23. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) What was it like when you confronted a big fire for the first time? It was the Bush fire in Arizona. I was so incredulous, just marveling at what was happening. 'Look at that smoke,' and 'that helicopter is making a water drop.' It was kind of a rookie move, because all the other crew members had seen it thousands of times. To see a helicopter up close making a drop, it looks like this gorgeous waterfall. I had to get acclimated to the epic nature of fires. And that wasn't even a big fire, really. In the book, you talk about entering into a pretty macho culture. How difficult was it for you to gain acceptance into this cloistered male world of the fire crew? It was definitely shocking at first, to be in an entirely male space. The Forest Service had some sexual harassment scandals in 2017, so everyone was on their best behavior at first. It took me some time before I was accepted into the group. I had to perform over-the-top, irrefutably great, just to prove to them that I was OK. It's an unfair standard, but that's the way it was. I wanted to shift the way they saw women, or have better conversations about gender and fire. You write about the pride and stoicism of the fire crew members, the ethos of actions rather than words. No one brags or whines, you just get on with it. Why? When my editor was going through the book, he insisted that I mention the 75 pounds of gear I was always carrying on my back, and I resisted, because you don't complain about that kind of thing when you're out there. But I realized that readers would want to know these details, so I put them in. I was inclined to leave them out. You also write about the difficulties of re-entering civilian life. I don't know of any firefighters who don't struggle with the idea of living a normal, quiet life. It's just a massive letdown after the adrenaline rush of the fire season. What was shocking to me reading 'Wildfire Days' is that fire crews are essentially paid minimum wage to work one of the most dangerous jobs in the state. It was $16.33 an hour when I was in the crew. And most firefighters that I worked with didn't have other jobs. They would take unemployment until the next fire season rolled around. You would just scrape by. During the first month of the season, everyone would be flat broke, eating cans of tuna. The joke is that you get paid in sunsets. But we all love being out there. The camaraderie is so intense and so beautiful. Hamilton Cain reviews National Book Award winner Susan Choi's new novel, 'Flashlight,' a mystery wrapped inside a fraught family drama. 'With Franzen-esque fastidiousness,' Cain writes, 'Choi unpacks each character's backstory, exposing vanities and delusions in a cool, caustic voice, a 21st century Emile Zola.' Jessica Ferri chats with Melissa Febos about her new memoir, 'The Dry Season,' about the year she went celibate and discovered herself anew. Febos wonders aloud why more women aren't more upfront with their partners about opting out of sex: 'This radical honesty not only benefits you but it also benefits your partner. To me, that's love: enthusiastic consent.' Carole V. Bell reviews Maria Reva's 'startling metafictional' novel, 'Endling,' calling it 'a forceful mashup of storytelling modes that call attention to its interplay of reality and fiction — a Ukrainian tragicomedy of errors colliding with social commentary about the Russian invasion.' Nick Owchar interviews Nathan Marsak about the reissue (from local publisher Angel City Press) of 'Los Angeles Before The Freeways: Images of an Era, 1850-1950,' a book of vintage photos snapped by Swedish émigré Arnold Hylen and curated by Marsak. Owchar calls the book 'an engrossing collection of black-and-white images of a city in which old adobe structures sit between Italianate office buildings or peek out from behind old signs, elegant homes teeter on the edge of steep hillsides, and routes long used by locals would soon be demolished to make room for freeways.' And sad news for book lovers everywhere, as groundbreaking gay author Edmund White died this week at 85. This week, we paid a visit to the Westside's great indie bookstore Diesel, which has been a locus for the community in the wake of January's Palisades fire. The store's manager, Kelsey Bomba, tells us what's flying off the store's shelves. What books are popular right now: Right now, Ocean Vuong's 'The Emperor of Gladness' is selling a ton, as [well as] Miranda July's 'All Fours' and Barry Diller's memoir, 'Who Knew.' What future releases are you excited about: Because I loved V.E. Schwab's 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,' I'm excited to read her new book, 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.' 'The Great Mann,' by Kyra Davis Lurie — we are doing an event with her on June 11. What are the hardy perennials, the books that you sell almost all the time: 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel García Márquez, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and the Elena Ferrante books, especially 'My Brilliant Friend.' Diesel, A Bookstore is located at 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica CA 90402.
