Penne with Caramelized Meat Sauce

I thought browning beef was a pretty simple process. All you had to do was heat up a skillet to medium or a little higher and throw the beef in there, moving it around some until there wasn't any pink left. Honestly though this really shouldn't be called browning, because the beef ends up grey. But I was reading today how beef for a meat sauce should actually be brown, that is to say, caramelized. I had never even really heard of that before, and it intrigued me enough to try it.

Caramelization is the culinary term for the oxidation of sugar. It generally occurs around 320 F and releases a whole new set of chemcials, resulting in its distinct flavor. For the meat in this dish I used a cast iron skillet with the stove turned almost all the way to high to provide the necessary temperature. The bottom of the skillet was littered with salt and small chunks of ground beef were dropped in it, and not moved. I fought the impluse to lower the temperature as a generous amount of smoke started to swirl up from the pan. After a few minutes, I flipped the chunks and found that the bottoms were indeed well caramelized, with the distinctive dark brown patches. The meat was let brown on the other side and then mixed with some onions and garlic that had been sautéing simultaneously. A good amount of fire-roasted, though admittedly canned, tomatoes were added, along with the spices that might be expected, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and thyme, along with some red pepper flakes and sugar. The sauce was let simmer for a while then mixed with penne pasta.

The caramelized beef was definitely noticeable, and I thought very enjoyable. It seemed to add an entire new dimension to the typical meat sauce I had previously made with only "grey beef." I wonder how it would spice up hamburger helper?