Help with lean hamburger


 
Grant Cunningham

Grant Cunningham

TVWBB Pro
In the past I’ve made hamburgers using 80/20 beef (and, when I could get it, 75/25). I’ve had great success with my recipe and technique. My usual procedure is right out of the “great hamburger textbook”: handle the meat as little as possible, form relatively loose patties about 3/4" thick, don’t add any salt to the meat until just before cooking, season sensibly. And, as I said, I get great results — until now!

Recently my wife and I bought a side of beef. This cow was 100% grass fed (I personally do not like grain-finished beef), which makes the meat leaner than usual. Naturally, we got quite a bit of hamburger, and it too is very lean — easily in the 90+% range.

The meat is delicious, but the hamburger is giving me problems; I’m having trouble making tasty, juicy burgers out of it. They’re holding together on the grill, but getting them both juicy and properly cooked is proving to be a challenge. It seems that there is a very fine line between “just done” and “overcooked and dry” with this meat, and the burgers cross that line in a matter of seconds.

Any suggestions on techniques or recipes to make good burgers out of very lean meat? (I’m not one of those purists who disdains adding anything to hamburger, it’s just that until now I haven’t needed to!)
 
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I never tried grass fed beef but had a hog once that the ground was very lean.
Maybe a panade might help?
www.culinaryhill.com

How to Make a Panade

Learn how to make a panade, a simple paste of milk and bread, which keeps all your ground meat recipes supple and delicious, just the way you want them.
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maybe beer can burgers? I've seen these, but not yet tried them. There a lots of recipes, but I watched this and it looked tasty.

www.foodnetwork.com

BBQ Western Bacon Beer Can Burger

Get BBQ Western Bacon Beer Can Burger Recipe from Food Network
www.foodnetwork.com www.foodnetwork.com

Another thought is to put a slice of butter, garlic butter or even compound butter on the top after a flip and let it melt into the burger.

This might take a little experimenting. to get the timing right.
 
DanHoo said:
maybe beer can burgers? I've seen these, but not yet tried them. There a lots of recipes, but I watched this and it looked tasty.

www.foodnetwork.com

BBQ Western Bacon Beer Can Burger

Get BBQ Western Bacon Beer Can Burger Recipe from Food Network
www.foodnetwork.com www.foodnetwork.com
Click to expand...
Thanks, that looks interesting.

DanHoo said:
Another thought is to put a slice of butter, garlic butter or even compound butter on the top after a flip and let it melt into the burger.

This might take a little experimenting. to get the timing right.
Click to expand...
Actually, I normally do this for my burgers. Isn't helping with this meat.
 
Grant Cunningham said:
In the past I’ve made hamburgers using 80/20 beef (and, when I could get it, 75/25). I’ve had great success with my recipe and technique. My usual procedure is right out of the “great hamburger textbook”: handle the meat as little as possible, form relatively loose patties about 3/4" thick, don’t add any salt to the meat until just before cooking, season sensibly. And, as I said, I get great results — until now!

Recently my wife and I bought a side of beef. This cow was 100% grass fed (I personally do not like grain-finished beef), which makes the meat leaner than usual. Naturally, we got quite a bit of hamburger, and it too is very lean — easily in the 90+% range.

The meat is delicious, but the hamburger is giving me problems; I’m having trouble making tasty, juicy burgers out of it. They’re holding together on the grill, but getting them both juicy and properly cooked is proving to be a challenge. It seems that there is a very fine line between “just done” and “overcooked and dry” with this meat, and the burgers cross that line in a matter of seconds.

Any suggestions on techniques or recipes to make good burgers out of very lean meat? (I’m not one of those purists who disdains adding anything to hamburger, it’s just that until now I haven’t needed to!)
Click to expand...
Use it for chili spaghetti and those type of meals that you blend. Lean burgers I don't think you will be happy. That or get some fat and mix in? Beef back fat (tallow).
 
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Grant Cunningham said:
In the past I’ve made hamburgers using 80/20 beef (and, when I could get it, 75/25). I’ve had great success with my recipe and technique. My usual procedure is right out of the “great hamburger textbook”: handle the meat as little as possible, form relatively loose patties about 3/4" thick, don’t add any salt to the meat until just before cooking, season sensibly. And, as I said, I get great results — until now!

Recently my wife and I bought a side of beef. This cow was 100% grass fed (I personally do not like grain-finished beef), which makes the meat leaner than usual. Naturally, we got quite a bit of hamburger, and it too is very lean — easily in the 90+% range.

The meat is delicious, but the hamburger is giving me problems; I’m having trouble making tasty, juicy burgers out of it. They’re holding together on the grill, but getting them both juicy and properly cooked is proving to be a challenge. It seems that there is a very fine line between “just done” and “overcooked and dry” with this meat, and the burgers cross that line in a matter of seconds.

Any suggestions on techniques or recipes to make good burgers out of very lean meat? (I’m not one of those purists who disdains adding anything to hamburger, it’s just that until now I haven’t needed to!)
Click to expand...
We spent 2 1/2 weeks touring Ireland a couple of years ago. (wife born & raised in Blackrock, c/o Dublin) Most all of their beef is grass fed. The pastures are so lush that the cattle usually lay down as they graze. A strange sight, to be sure. While the beef was good, it was definitely missing the flavor and juiciness that comes from a good amount of marbling. After a couple of steaks early on, I lived on seafood for the most part. I must say that their seafood is the best I've ever had, and I was raised on the coast.
 
I have had the same issue as we also only buy grass fed and the ground beef is usually 85 /15. If you have some briskets or other cuts with lots of fat, trim it and add it to the chopped meat or make tallow and mix it in. I recently found some 80 /20 GF ground beef at Walmart of all places and look forward to trying it.
 
Lots of ways to do this.

Just mix some other stuff in with the lean beef to add fat/moisture -- milk, egg, bread crumbs, beer, olive oil, w-shire, soy sauce, red wine, cheese, etc.

My power move to add some Mexican cheese to the mix. Or turn the cheese up to 11 and do a Jucy Lucy. Or double double smashburgers.


en.wikipedia.org

Jucy Lucy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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Joe Anshien said:
I have had the same issue as we also only buy grass fed and the ground beef is usually 85 /15. If you have some briskets or other cuts with lots of fat, trim it and add it to the chopped meat or make tallow and mix it in. I recently found some 80 /20 GF ground beef at Walmart of all places and look forward to trying it.
Click to expand...
Hmm...we have a lot of rendered lard from our last pig. I could melt some of that and add it to the mix.
 
Grant Cunningham said:
Hmm...we have a lot of rendered lard from our last pig. I could melt some of that and add it to the mix.
Click to expand...
I don’t think I’d melt it, I think I’d be more likely to actually freeze some and grate it over a thin layer of the ground beef and layer another on top. Press to let it stick together then cut into patty size pieces and gently shape to desired roundness. Less texture “distortion” for lack of a better term.
Or make square burgers of course.
 
This is a similar situation that one can encounter when making sausage. Sometimes the pork butt doesn't have enough fat in it. If your butcher will sell or give you some fat, you could grind it & add it to the beef. You can also add salt pork which is similar to bacon.
 
We freeze and keep our brisket fat trimmings for this exact reason. When we have lean beef, we’ll add brisket fat to our grind and make our own 70/30.

Another choice is to blend your burger meat with ground lamb. Personally, these are some of the best burgers we make. Lamb is very rich and flavorful and has a nice meat to fat ratio.

And another option would be to try cast iron burgers. These are just as good, if not better, than grilled burgers. And you can pack your cast iron ground beef a little tighter than your current method and still serve up an amazing burger with a nice crust on the outside and medium rare on the inside, without the fear of losing it through the grill grates.

The pic below is chuck we ground ourselves which was on the leaner side. I’m estimating this was a 70/30 mix with brisket fat when we were done grinding, which I cooked them very hot and fast. The burgers came out incredibly juicy and flavorful. Just work quickly so you don’t make hockey pucks.
 

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I am in a similar situation, as I process my own deer and add no fat to the ground. Venison, being extra lean anyway, requires a few steps when using as burger. Mostly, I use it in "wet" dishes, such as chili, soup, etc., but when I make something like a meatloaf, it has a small amount of egg, crackers, and milk added. I have added bacon in the past, which of course is good too. When I was much younger and we still thought that fat was bad, we bought extra lean ground beef and for burgers the same was done, egg, breadcrumbs, etc., was added. When overcooked they were still dry, but when done right they were fairly moist, though not nearly as good as 80/20.

We also have an awesome turkey burger recipe, where shredded zucchini is added to the ground turkey, and it makes some great juicy burgers, believe it or not. Hope this helps.

Charlie
 
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