Do You Keep Your Fat Trimming For Your Ground Burger Meat?


 

Howard V

TVWBB Member
I want to try to ground my own burger meat from beef chuck slab. I read that you can incorporate fat trimmings into your ground beef for more flavor and juiciness. I usually toss out the fat trimming when I prepare my pork ribs, beef ribs or fatty steak cut. I will start saving these trimmings. Have anyone tried this?

I make sure to toss out the silver skin stuff. Do you guys also cut meat along with the fat trimming to add to ground meat or only the fat trimmings for the ground meat. I heard some folks do a mixture of chuck, beef short ribs and brisket for their burger meat. I am not sure I want to cut meat out of a more expensive cut just to make a burger.

Thoughts/advice?
 
Howard, we don't, as of now, but, something has to be done. I have not enjoyed a burger for quite a while. Is it me or does the beef taste off to anyone else?
 
Howard, we don't, as of now, but, something has to be done. I have not enjoyed a burger for quite a while. Is it me or does the beef taste off to anyone else?


I have been using frozen patties from Costco......it has been very convenient but nothing special to rave about

I am looking to improve the burger taste/juiciness by grounding my own meat
 
You are very smart to want to grind your own, but as you said, it will need something else. That is the problem here. DH ground about 3 lbs. of beef and that is what I think our beef needs.
 
In beef....no.
When the fat melts out the beef patties will shrink...a lot if you add extra. 80% ends up the size of a meatball as is already.
If i was grinding deer.....heck yes
I always cut deer with about 30% beef.
 
Joan, try grinding in some pork belly. I tried grinding in bacon, but the bacon taste overpowered the beef. Pork belly adds juiciness and flavor that seems to enhance the beef. My current formula is 5 parts chuck roast to 1 part pork belly. I make 5.5oz (~1/3lb) patties. I've thought about trying some other beefier-flavored cuts, like tri-tip or top sirloin, but I can't bring myself to grind those up.
 
Hi J., what a great idea. I love pork belly fried. Can I do 1 part beef and 5 parts pork belly? lol

Strange, when we used bacon, I had a hard time tasting the bacon. Maybe we didn't use enough.

DH is out and about, I am having a hard time holding off calling him about the pork belly. lol See what you started. lol
 
I save my fat for sausage. I think you could use it in burgers but I wouldn't put too much. In burgers I wouldn't go over 20% fat.
 
It should be pretty close to 20% from what I understand. Some are fattier than others. You kind of have to eyeball it and to be honest I'm probably not that great at that. I'm sure there are some pics on the internet that can give a good idea. I'd lean towards leaner if you are grilling it. If using a griddle I wouldn't worry as much. You could go as high as 25 percent easily.
 
I save almost all of my brisket and rib trimmings for burgers. I cube them (about 1") and then freeze them. When I have a few pounds, I get a chuck roast and cube that up and grind it with the brisket and rib meat. In the case of brisket, I will typically cut off the thin end of the flat, since that gets overdone and makes it more difficult to fit the brisket into an 18.5 WSM. On a rack of spares, the flap meat, tip and some of the sternum area meat and fat get saved.

The 80/20 ratio is typical for burgers and 70/30 seems to be preferred for sausage links.

Jeff
 
Hi J., what a great idea. I love pork belly fried. Can I do 1 part beef and 5 parts pork belly? lol

Strange, when we used bacon, I had a hard time tasting the bacon. Maybe we didn't use enough.

DH is out and about, I am having a hard time holding off calling him about the pork belly. lol See what you started. lol

I'm with Joan - I've ground bacon in with Chuck & couldn't taste the bacon either.
There's a local restaurant called Slater 50/50 that makes burgers with %50 bacon & I couldn't taste it there either. Maybe I'm immune to bacon...
 
Hey guys, if you are going to grind your own burgers I would go with the shake shack formula. 50:25:25 Sirloin/Chuck/Brisket. Gives a great beef flavor. I think the key is to grind on the most corse setting your grinder goes on. Makes for juicier burgers and better texture. I keep my trimmings frozen anyways which makes it easier to grind when I have it all done. I love sirloin steaks and usually will buy in bulk at Costco and vacuum seal them, so I usually have them on hand.

P.S. if you’re looking for good frozen burgers, try the meat district american waygu burgers! I’ve bought them a few times and everyone who ate them agreed they were amazing.
 
I prefer ground chuck. I like the meat to fat ratio to be 75/25. I cut the fat (as much as I can) and then weigh it. I add saved fat from other beef cuts or add hard fat that I get from the meat department at the grocery store. As Serod points out, I too make a coarser grind (1/4 inch plate) for his reasons of texture and moisture.
With a coarser grind, too little fat leaves the burgers dry and crumbly.
My family knows immediately when I give them store bout hamburger, most likely due to the texture.
One other thing I like to do is grind brisket with a 1/2 inch plate .. make darn good chili!!
 
I prefer ground chuck. I like the meat to fat ratio to be 75/25. I cut the fat (as much as I can) and then weigh it. I add saved fat from other beef cuts or add hard fat that I get from the meat department at the grocery store. As Serod points out, I too make a coarser grind (1/4 inch plate) for his reasons of texture and moisture.
With a coarser grind, too little fat leaves the burgers dry and crumbly.
My family knows immediately when I give them store bout hamburger, most likely due to the texture.
One other thing I like to do is grind brisket with a 1/2 inch plate .. make darn good chili!!
Ive been making a ton of short rib chili but haven't tried it with brisket yet! Thats something I'm going to have to do once i save up some more trimmings!
 
When you buy meat make sure it is not been tumbled. I talking about roasts and such which you want to grind. Also watch out for enhanced meat. If you buy ground beef, make sure it is 90 % lean or you are getting the same as above. And don't overcook the burger.
 
As I like ground chuck, I wait for it to go on sale. The local Raley’s last week had chuck roast on sale for 2.50 a pound less than ground chuck. Bought 5 lbs and ground it using my LEM grinder. The other advantage is I handle the grinding and know whats in it.
 

 

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