How do I do this?

[Chefzhat]

I'm browning sausage for lasagna and every time I do this I get just huge clumps of sausage. There must be some way to get it to crumble, but I don't know it.

Any suggestions?

Debie

[RivCook]

one way to do it, after cooking the sausauge and draining it I'd transfer it to a bowl -- pyrex or metal. Then I used my pastry "harp" -- to break it up. I've two pastry cutters: 1 wire and one that's sharper edged. Another would be to transfer the drained sausage to a cutting board and chop it with a chef's knife. Maybe one of those will work for you.

paT

[swquilts]

I kinda of break it up with a spatula while its cooking. It is a messy gloop in the beginning with bigger chunks, but they get smaller the longer it cooks and the more I chop it up.

[sneezles]

I do the same as Susan. I have a wooden spatula (actually I thinks it's for separating rice for fried rice) and if it still isn't crumbled enough then after it has drained on the papaer towels and cooled off, I use my hands! ;)

[Terrytx]

I usually use the back of a spoon and sort of squash the clumps and smear them around on the bottom of the pan. Just keep on squashing and smearing and stirring. Gee-that sounds really weird, if I say so myself:o

[Searcher]

When I want crumbles of sausage or any ground meat, I use a potato masher. One of the ones with the zig-zaggy top, not the one with holes. It breaks the meat up into the teeniest little pieces, especially nice for my hot dog chili. The one I have is pretty strong but covered with teflon so it won't damage non-stick dishes. The meat can be crumbled into almost any size, from chunks to a fine crumble.

[jphilg]

I like huge clumps of sausage. :D I just chop around the pan as I brown the meat, being sure that there are still some roughly-acorn-sized chunks left behind.

I like the texture of chunks.

[Paula H]

To keep the clumps at bay you need to stir the meat really really frequently while it's browning, and smash down any clumps you see not behaving.

I find frozen (even when thawed) meat tends to clump more than fresh, but that could just be me!

[wallycat]

what jphilg said :D :D

I try to separate with a fork as best I can, but I like surprise chunks of the sausage :) :)

[Chefzhat]

You know, I DO have more problems when my sausage has been frozen! I never thought of that!

I used my pastry blender to crumble it up. Next time I'll fry it up from fresh rather than frozen and see if that helps.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!

Gracias!

Debie