What's in Your Beef?

Ever wonder what is in that ground beef?  Me too!  Let me enlighten you.

Ground Chuck, Sirloin or Round = Real cuts of beef and beef trimmings
Ground Beef, 100% Ground Beef = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat and cheek meat
Hamburger = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat and additional beef fat
100% Pure Beef Patties = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat and partially defatted chopped beef
Beef Patties = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat, beef fat, partially defatted chopped beef, organ meat, water, binders and fillers

Never mind that all processed products are allowed to have a small % of "X Product" which could be absolutely ANYTHING! Including rodent hair and insects.  Bottom line, buy "whole" products as much as possible!

Then there is that delish "Pink Slim".  Just google it and you will never order a burger again!

Oh, by the way they bleach the meat before they grind it to kill any harmful bacteria that may have been transferred to the beef when it was butchered. 

Now that I have you super excited to go get a McDonald's Hamburger... Let me teach you how to make delicious ground beef at home.  Where you know exactly what you are getting.

Start by buying a nicely marbled piece of beef.  I prefer chuck because it tends to be a reasonably price and it is very flavorful.

If you have a local butcher shop or really great grocery store you can probably find Pork Fat Back.  If you cannot find this try and find a very well marbled piece of beef.

For every 1lb of beef add 3oz of diced pork fat (that is about the size of a ping pong ball).  Keep everything as cold as possible

Set up your grinder.  I have a Kitchen Aid attachment that works great.  Note how I placed a long piece of plastic wrap from the end of the grinder down to the bowl.  This is prevent meat from shooting out at me and onto the floor.  It is like a meat shield.

Grind all the meat on a medium speed to prevent it from getting warm from friction.  Once all meat has passed through grinder, remove plastic wrap shield and feed it down the grinder tub.  This sounds like a bad idea but trust me it will not grind the plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap will simply push any remaining meat through. 

Now using the paddle attachment mix meat for >1min.  Just to emulsify the meat and fat.  If you do not do this you will have a crumbly burger.

That it!  You have fresh Ground Beef, not Beef Bi Product that you buy at the grocery store.

Notes:
I make ground beef in big 5+ lb batches.  Then I turn  it all into burger patties (being sure to put a piece of parchment paper on each side of each burger to prevent patties from sticking together when frozen.  If you do not have 2 pieces of parchment between each patty, you will never get them apart when frozen).  The reason I turn it all into burger patties is because if I want to make one quick burger I only have to thaw 1 burger versus thawing a whole pound.  The pattied beef thaws much quicker than a big block so even if I am not making burgers it still cuts the thawing time down.

It is important to work with the beef as cold as possible to insure that the fat grinds properly.

Be sure to work very clean when making ground beef so you have no risk of imparting bacteria.  Remember you most likely will not be cooking your burgers well done.

Make ground pork and chicken the same way.  I do add pork fat to my ground chicken also.

The reason I use pork fat is because it is the most delicious animal fat available.  So if you are going to consume animal fat, make it good!

If you want a leaner ground beef simply cut back on the fat.

Use fresh ground beef within 3 days or freeze it.