80/20 or 70/30 Ground Beef How To?

[adamcoe]

Hey gang...tried a quick search with varied success but wanted to poll the peanut gallery...first, what blend of ground beef do you find works best, and those of you that make your own, what's the process and what cuts of beef do you use for the lean portion? I just got a meat grinder for my KitchenAid and would love to make some of my own ground beef.

Thanks all!

EDIT: oh and by 80/20 or 70/30 I assume that's by weight?

[MBMorgan]

I don't bother blending my own. A local butcher keeps chuck-eye steaks in stock and they are the perfect (roughly 80/20) blend for grinding and making burgers or whatever. They taste like rib eye but are priced like chuck.

EDIT: "oh and by 80/20 or 70/30 I assume that's by weight?" yep

[Donw]

When I do grind my own I try for 80/20 using chuck steak. Not doing it as much as before because we found Bubba Burgers 100% Angus Beef Chuck burgers to be very good, and a lot quicker. Still, there is something satisfying about grinding your own, and you have the opportunity to add in various other fats for flavor variations.

[treesmacker]

Surprise - the Bubba Burgers are available at my local Safeways - I'll have to try them.

[texastweeter]

Depends on the application. Higher fat for burgers, meatballs, meatloaf; leaner for chili, sauces soups casseroles.

[Oak Smoke]

I agree.

[BRic]

We get a 80/20 Angus chuck from our butcher and we are very happy with it , we use it for everything .

[Sweaty Paul]

I usually buy a chuck roast and cut it into cubes then grind.

[RichieB]

I use chuck, but like to add slab bacon occasionally. I use 80/20 ratio. So 32 oz chuck about 6 oz bacon. Maybe that makes it 60/40? Don't know but I like the texture and how moist the burgers are as well as the hint of bacon without slices of bacon.

[PaulstheRibList]

That sounds fun!

[adamcoe]

Thanks for the input everyone, maybe I'll start with just grinding up some chuck roast and see how that goes, then maybe next time I do something bigger where I'm trimming a lot of fat I'll keep it around and then blend it with something lean like round or whatever. Cheers!

[Troutman]

Brisket....once you go flat you’ll never look back

[adamcoe]

That's actually not a terrible idea...often I'm not cooking for a huge amount of people so I can always do brisket but then keep the extras for burgers and whatnot. Good call.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I get beef ribs really cheap so I blend that meat with a nice chuck roast and it turns out some really tasty burger. I save some brisket trimmings so if I need more fat I’ll throw a little of that in.

[jharner]

Burgers I go with 80/20 every thing else I go with 93/7.

[Bighorn Dave]

We usually will try to get close to 75/25 for burgers and use choice grade chuck steak or roast and add bacon or what ever we have available to up the fat content. On a side note, I'm not sure how well the Kitchen Aide grinder works (probably very nicely) but I suggest you get the grinder mechanism as cold as possible prior to grinding and make sure the meat is cold also. It will help prevent any binding that may occur. There is heat generated from the friction during the grinding process and thats not your friend.

[JeffJ]

For burgers I go with chuck roast. I cut it into cubes and pop them in the freezer until they are partially frozen. Then grind them and I like to form loose patties - barely formed. I think it cooks better and makes for a texturally superior burger than a densely packed and tightly formed patty.

[EasyMoney]

I vote 80/20 chuck. If you really want to show off, grind boneless short ribs.

[MichaelF]

I use chuck steak and grind it with the Kitchen Aid grinder. Works perfectly.