Ground meats like beef and lamb are the stars of many culinary delights like tacos, meat sauces, and larb, but there’s nothing worse than gray, steamed pieces of sadness that never had a chance to brown. Luckily, there’s an easy way to prevent this: leave the meat alone.

Getting perfectly browned and crispy ground beef is easy, it just takes a little patience. Click the link below to read all of Bon Appetit’s delicious tips (and related recipes), but what you’ll want to do is place your ground beef in a hot, lightly oiled cast iron skillet and use a spatula to flatten it into a big ol’ meat pancake. Then, leave it alone. Pour yourself a glass of wine, or maybe take a bong hit; just do something to keep yourself occupied so the meat has time to cook.

Once you see the patty starting to crisp up around the edges, break it up, flip it over, and let the other side get some color. Now you can break it up into little pieces and add it to tacos and spaghetti sauce and lettuce wraps. (Or maybe Taco Pie? I love taco pie.)

Perfection Does Exist: 3 Steps to Crispy Brown Meat | Bon Appetit