Grinding your own hamburger


 
S

Steven Simpkins

TVWBB Member
I am trying to make the juicest hamburger I can and was thinking about
grinding fresh hamburger out of beef chuck. Does anyone else grind fresh
beef to make hamburgers? How was the taste? I was thinking that by
grinding fresh the burger would have better taste.

Bones
 
Chuck is popular for grind your own burgers as is short rib.

Alton brown on one show liked a blend of Sirloin and Chuck.
 
Ditto what the others wrote. Personally I wouldn't go any leaner than chuck. Fat = flavor so adding a little steak (t-bone, rib eye) would be nice. The additional fat also gives the feel of increased moistness.

Paul
 
I've never ground meat myself, but I've eaten a good bit of burgers made from freshly ground beef I purchased at a legit meat market/butcher. And yes, the taste was night and day compared to the supermarket chuck burger I'm eating as we speak.

Thanks for the re-view into your brisket burger thread, J. Looks fantastic.

cheers
 
If you want super juicy burgers, you can add some bread and water/stock to the ground meat. Give the ground pork and bread a spin in a mixer, together with salt to get a good bind. If the meat is too lean, grind some pork fat as well.
It's OK to be healty, but very lean meat does not give juicy burgers. You can cheat by using bread and water instead of fat. It's very effective! For a pound of meat, a handful of shredded bread and a bit less than half a cup of liquid is a place to start. You can add just liquid, but the bread acts like a container for the liquid. The bread does not need to be fresh.
 
You can find alot of info about grinding your own at ahamburgertoday.com, which is a site hamburger lovers should visit daily. In particular, search out Food Lab and J. Kenzi Lopex-Alt. http://aht.seriouseats.com/recipes/
I grind my own frequently and it is better and safer than store bought. Consider, skirt, flank, short rib, chuck combinations.
 
Saw a great tip in this month's Food & Wine magazine that suggested to grind bacon into your hamburger blend. If you like your burger med rare then you need to make sure you use a bacon that has been "hot smoked" to at least 150 degrees (I know many people on this board make their own bacon so it shouldn't be a problem.) If you like your burgers med well then you will still be safe with regular store-bought bacon.

Haven't tried it yet but I'm planning on it

Steve
 
Now, grinding bacon into the burger is a nice idea, but if you wrap the side of the burger with a long piece of bacon, it looks great, and tastes great as well. The bacon will be quite crispy, and the presentation is very nice. Grinding bacon into the burger gives less bacon taste than what you would expect.
 
You'd probably do better pre-cooking bacon and mixing it into the blend or running the cooked bacon through the grinder. A burger is never going to get hot enough inside to render bacon fat even at well done.
 
Also, to not grind the bacon at all, but to cut it into small cubes before adding after grinding is even better! You want something to chew on, right?
 
The test kitchen mix for a self grind is 10 oz sirloin tips to 6 oz of short rib meat. Thinking I'll be trying that. Not so hot on mixing in ground bacon for mine. I do like bacon burgers, but a garnish/topping more than ground into the mix. Just my preference.
 
Afternoon gentlemen,

Question: How many times do you put the steak through the grinder? I recall butchers doing it twice. Does that make sense?

be well,

elliot
 
I love grinding a packer brisket...makes the best burgers ever...you will not go back to chuck. Comes out to be about 80/20 mixture w/ the fat cap and point. Very juicy and tender, incredible flavor.
 
Originally posted by S. Fink:
I'm a big fan of the chuck/sirloin self-grind mix. Very tasty burgers.
Click to expand...

+1. Search here or on foodnetwork.com for Alton Brown's recipe. Great instructions and you don't need a grinder.
 
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