Home Ground

[jlhilden]

After buying a crappy crappy pack of 80% lean from the store, I went online and bought a grinder attachment for my mixer. When it arrived, I had 2 lbs of chuck waiting in the fridge.

I kept it very simple; cut the chuck and put it though the grinder; not even salt and pepper. I made five patties and grilled them on the gasser until the IT was 160. No reverse sear, just a simple browning with one flip.

I ate the first burger with nothing; no bun or condiments. I have to say, I am actually upset that I never did this before as it was the best burger I ever had. It was great to enjoy the simple robust taste of beef.

I’ve read much on infusing the meat with other ingredients like adding bacon to the mix, but for now, I’ll keep it simple with the only change in the future being I will use the reverse sear method with a little salt sprinkled on during the cook.

I can’t see myself ever buying ground meat again. I can’t wait to pick up some more beef and add in some pork and veal for my signature world famous meatballs.

Lastly, I developed a bad habit of not taking pictures of my cooking progress and results. I will do my best to break the habit in the future.

[kmhfive]

I think this will be one of my next priorities.

[HouseHomey]

You gotta grind!

[RonB]

It's hard to beat homemade ground beef. Getting the beef chunks close to frozen will make it easier to grind the meat.

If you dunk the whole chuck in boiling water for a few seconds before cutting into chunks, that will kill any surface bacteria and allow you to cook less than well done safely. That's when they become absolutely super.

[Gooner-que]

I ground up some beef rib fingers for burgers on the 4th. Meathead's pepper/garlic powder/onion powder mix is perfect for burgers.

[Spinaker]

I love home ground beef. My mom used to make us burgers infused with Fresh Minnesota Wild Rice. Ohhhhhh man were those killer burgers! She used an attachment on her Kitchen Aid mixer we got her one year for Mother's Day. After she passed, I am not sure what happened to that grinder, or the Kitchen Aid, come to think of it!

[Spinaker]

Pittsburgh Blue up by you guys has an incredible bowl. JCGrill

[JCGrill]

Spinaker ha. Just ate there this past Wednesday, but didn't get soup. Don't get there often, a little too spendy.

[Spinaker]

Agreed. But their lunch specials for soup are pretty reasonable. JCGrill

[Jerod Broussard]

The best ground meat I get is from Elliott's Slaughterhouse in Morse, Louisiana.

[HouseHomey]

Nice work jlhilden There is so much that can go on when you grind. Meatballs, meatloafs, burgers, tacos etc... no reason for expensive stuf to add flavor either. Pictures.... ha.

[EdF]

And wait until you make your own fresh sausages!

[jlhilden]

When buying the grinder, the sausage maker attachment did catch my eye and I foresee one in my kitchen soon.

[LangInGibsonia]

I wouldn't recommend the Kitchen Aid sausage stuffer attachment. It's difficult and frustrating to work with. You'll get much better results and have fewer gray hairs if you get a dedicated stuffer like a LEM. Just my 2 cents.

[Oakgrovebacon]

A pork butt makes wonderful sausage

[Jmccloskey659]

Thanks Jihilden - Did you have an opportunity to try the reverse sear method? Additionally, I've heard 70% chuck and 30% brisket or short rib makes an even juicer burger. Any comments? Thanks!

[jlhilden]

Yes, I've done the reverse sear method. What I've found so far in my limited self-grinding experience is that there are two main factors in play that boost home-grinding above store bought. Obviously buying better meat and controlling what gets ground is one, but little less obvious is that to make great burgers, the less you handle the meat the better. Keeping the ground coarse creates voids and voids hold juice. Buying ground from the store already puts you behind in controlling this. The issue with less handling of the ground is that you are limited in adding ingredients and that the patties can be fragile and more prone to break up on the grill. The reverse sear, at least the way it has worked for me, seems to help keep the burger bound and better prepared for direct heat cooking. So in my opinion, fresh ground light handled patties are a perfect match for the reverse sear method.

I've been happy with using plain chuck that I've not branched into the other beef meat blends yet, but I've thought about it and will try some out. With the Fall weather soon approaching, I'm heading back into tomato gravy season so I foresee my first blend to be a beef-veal-pork grind for meatballs.

[Brewmaster]

I just made some burger last friday
8 lbs brisket
2 lbs pork rib flap meat
1 lb filet trimmings
1 lb peppered bacon
2 lbs brisket fat
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Best stuff I have made so far

[Ddecker]

If you save some fat from a brisket to add to chuck or sirloin when grinding, do you save the fat from the fat cap or that hard fat from between the point and flat? Thanks

[JCGrill]

Save it all and render it. Then use it in your grind.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I saved some of the fat I trimmed from my last pork belly and added it in. It was maybe 75% frozen when I added it. I don't have a grinder so I just used a food processed. Awesome flavor but I need to measure it all out next time....my old eyes aren't as calibrated as they used to be.

[Jmccloskey659]

Hello Ji....just wondering what a grinder attachment for a mixer is?

[EdF]

KitchenAid and some other brands have these. Plugs into a drive motor on the main unit to drive the grinder. Then you just put your semi-freezing meat and fat cubes in, run it through the plate at the end, and you've got it. They work well in my experience. And most will do double-duty to help stuff sausages. Not as good as a dedicated device for the latter.