I tried the baking soda trick of mixing it into ground beef, letting it sit for 15-20 minutes, then browning. Yep, it works, browned up nicely and didn't exude any liquid at all. I was using home ground chuck so it was fairly lean to begin with, but still not to have any excess liquid or grease was wow.
1-1/2 tsp salt plus 3/4 tsp baking SODA mixed with 1 pound ground beef, sat for almost 20 minutes. Just make sure to remember that you've already added some salt when cooking your dish.
I'm not going to add the baking soda next time and see what happens.