my son and I sometimes make our own sausage by grinding the pork in my real old kitchen aid grinder attachment. its takes a long time and is messy and a pain, but when it works the results are great. so I got asked the simple question, why dont you just buy a real stand alone grinder? it costs less than some of the bottles of wine you buy and lasts longer than a night! well, I can;t argue with that logic.
If I got one, then my first project would be to grind up some burgers. for those of you who do it or have done it, what cuts of beef do you use? do you use more than one, which would be real easy and most likely have better taste (like the Flannery burger blends, love those!). I could and most likely will experiment with it, cause eating the mistakes would not really be an issue. Thoughts?
I only have limited experience with this, but most recently I was given a nice, sizeable rib roast. Since Iām the only person in my household who really likes prime rib but everyone loves burgers, I cut it down and used that to make burgers. I took out some of the fat vein that separates the eye from the lip, but they were great. If I was to purposefully go source meat for grinding my own burgers, Iād probably go for cheaper cuts and do the classic chuck and sirloin route, but buy better quality beef albeit cheaper cuts.
Just saw this show last night that featured a food truck doing short rib smashburgers. That would be my first task! Iām actually thinking about getting a grinder myself now just for thatā¦
First off, do you have a KitchenAid? If yes, buy the grinder attachment. Thatās what I use to grind meat for chili, burgers, sausage, etcā¦ Piece of cake and itāll rip through it in a hurry.
I primarily use Chuck Roast for making burgers. Typically the one with the most fat in it. I only do this though when it is on sale. On sale itāll come out way cheaper and way better than store or manufacturer ground.
Iāve done it many times with my KitchenAid grinder attachment. I always mix up the cuts.
Short Ribs
Skirt Steak
Hanger
Ribeye
and a good fat blend as a binder. Did you know Brisket Fat is unsaturated? Make sure you have a minimum of 25% fat or it will not hold together in patties uncooked or cooked.
Filet is a waste as it has little to no flavor. āOutsideā Skirt steak OTOH (I salt the skirt steak and let it sit before adding to the grind) is an umami bomb.
Iāve tried bacon but it works better cooked and used as a topping rather than part of the meat.
Thats their way to get rid of meat that is going off. Same as the ground beef on the meat counter at your local market, that beef is the steak they didnt sell a week ago. Filet mignon burgers wt actual f?
My local Costco had 75/25 Wagyu for $5/lbs prepackaged (which is better for ground beef). That was heck of a deal. Bought a bunch for the freezer. Only freshly ground beats that. Ask your butcher for tallow to adjust your fat content. I like 75/25. Short ribs are amazing for burgers.
Ha. You are probably right, but I think that I am going for it. Maybe Iāll start a thread featuring āOmaha Steaks Perfection Burger of the Weekā . . .
Cheers.
thanks for all the info, its much appreciated. im still on the fence about the grinder, but hoping some 4th sales could push me over the top.
my first thoughts were to use a mix of brisket, chuck and short ribs. play with that and see how things turn out. I have a friend who swears by his 50/50 burgers, 50% beef and 50% pork. I have had them and they are great. thinking about this, it makes me think about when I started making pizza and home. all the toppings you can add and using various types of flour can be fun, but gotta be careful as the weight goes on quick!
this weekend im gonna head over to my local high end grocery butcher counter as well as the local butcher store to ask them their thoughts, as well as what they have on sale.
That too. Maint point being, there is no way to tell what you are getting when you buy that stuff. Also ground beef oxidizes so quickly that most of the time the prepackaged meat is of better quality than the counter stuff, unless you happen to know when it was ground.
Best to buy meat where they grind it to order, or grind it yourself. Third is the prepackaged meat, and counter meat is a distant fourth.
besides making way too much sausage, which are awesome and super easy, I have been making many burger blends. its so easy to have a real dedicated grinder vs the kitchen aid. for the little amount of grinding I do, the grinder itself is overkill, but hey, why not? life is short and im on a 4 month wine buying freeze, so a little extra $ to spare. funny thing is, the blend I like the best is the simplest, just straight brisket, with second a 25/25/50 blend of brisket, chuck and pork. a whole packer can be bought small. local costco had a whole bunch of 10-14 pounders, so grabbed a 12 pounder that had a nice amount of white fat. cubed it up, placed in freezer along with the grinder parts for about 30 min. takes longer to clean the grinder than it does to grind! 12 pounds took 45 seconds on first grind. mix in a little salt and pepper (or for the first batch some montreal seasoning), refreeze for another 30 min, the grind on a 4mm plate, which took 2 min.
I figured 100% brisket would have less flavor, but it had a great beefy taste and surprisingly was the cheapest blend. vacuum seal the ground beef in 2 patty bags and I have a quick awesome lunch or dinner for the BBQ. the nice thing with grinding your own ground beef is the ability to cook to a med rare or med cook point and have no worries. this really give the ability to cook real steak burgers.
really awesome and I have been wondering why I didnāt do this sooner. if you are on the fence about grinding your own, donāt wait, just do it!
had the best burger to date tonight. my son named it the bolognese burger. 40% pork shoulder, 30% short rib and 30% leg of lamb. wow what a burger. with being able to grind it myself and know whats in it, I find I much prefer a simpler salt and pepper spicing with just good quality cheese. gogonzola topped mine tonight. my son cheated and put some fresh ground parm cheese mixed into his and he liked it that way. no wine today, cheated. but I always pick up some of the 5 liter octoberfest mini kegs this time of year. gotta love Gulden Draak in the John Holmes size!
like a lot of things in life, I wish I had bought a real grinder years ago, but its never to late.
