My Best Burger Recipe

[erehweslefox]

Does anyone else besides me have to put up with poor arse ingredients? I would love your 70/30 fine ground beef Chief, but most of the time to stretch the food budget I get the ground beef that comes five pounds to a tube for $10.99.

With that I generally take a pound of what might have some nominal beef content, and mainly is sawdust and recycled Chinese newspapers, add two eggs, two tbsp of bread crumbs, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire some salt, pepper, a bit of sirraciha and fish sauce, and maybe get something edible.

Yeah, mine needs a bun, a fresh slice of tomato, a little pepper jack cheese, and catsup and mayonnaise.

Cheers!
TBS

 

[medtran49]

I like to add a small amount of milk to my ground meat. Let the ground meat sit in order for the milk to do its magic. The enzymes in the milk help to tenderize the beef. A side benefit is that the meat is juicier than it would normally be.

And to me, that makes it on the meatloaf side of things. IMO, burgers should be nothing but g. meat, S and P, PERIOD!

 

[taxlady]

And to me, that makes it on the meatloaf side of things. IMO, burgers should be nothing but g. meat, S and P, PERIOD!

I agree, even though meatloaf patties can be good too.

 

[rodentraiser]

Does anyone else besides me have to put up with poor arse ingredients? I would love your 70/30 fine ground beef Chief, but most of the time to stretch the food budget I get the ground beef that comes five pounds to a tube for $10.99.

With that I generally take a pound of what might have some nominal beef content, and mainly is sawdust and recycled Chinese newspapers, add two eggs, two tbsp of bread crumbs, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire some salt, pepper, a bit of sirraciha and fish sauce, and maybe get something edible.

Yeah, mine needs a bun, a fresh slice of tomato, a little pepper jack cheese, and catsup and mayonnaise.

Cheers!
TBS

No, I have to put up with poor ingredients, too. Although I usually buy 85/15 and I think I get a lot of fat off that. I don't buy anything under that simply because what I spend for the meat and what I get from the final product makes it so much more expensive.

I just bought a 10lb tube at 40¢ off the posted price. But it's the regular hamburger they grind at the store.

I would love to try grass fed beef once and see if I could taste the difference. I tried a sirloin burger once from Jack in the Box, and didn't like it at all. So I'm a little leery of laying down money on ground sirloin as opposed to just buying plain ground beef.

 

[Addie]

Does anyone else besides me have to put up with poor arse ingredients? I would love your 70/30 fine ground beef Chief, but most of the time to stretch the food budget I get the ground beef that comes five pounds to a tube for $10.99.

With that I generally take a pound of what might have some nominal beef content, and mainly is sawdust and recycled Chinese newspapers, add two eggs, two tbsp of bread crumbs, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire some salt, pepper, a bit of sirraciha and fish sauce, and maybe get something edible.

Yeah, mine needs a bun, a fresh slice of tomato, a little pepper jack cheese, and catsup and mayonnaise.

Cheers!
TBS

I can understand the need to feed a family with the tube of ground meat when on a tight food budget. But what scares me about those tubes is that there have been over the years, several recalls on them due to contamination. Also one has no way of knowing what part of the animal is in that tube.

I have often wished we had some members in this forum who work in those food industries. I am sure they could tell us of many stories of exactly what goes on there.

 

[erehweslefox]

I have often wished we had some members in this forum who work in those food industries. I am sure they could tell us of many stories of exactly what goes on there.

I worked in a meat packing plant in Ohio for a summer, long story, but it is about what one would expect. It is pretty horrific. Not Upton Sinclair level horrific, but about what you would expect.

That being said, we have good controls over foodstuffs in this country (US), I saw some horrible things, and we don't really want to know what goes into cheaper ground beef (hint, involves a screen rotating at 9000 rpm and a lot of animal products thrown at it.) but I have never been nervous about contamination.

Food is a messy process, even if you are a complete purist and butcher your own. As soon as you start to hand that off to others, you make compromises. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be standards, but it is unreasonable to think our ground beef is carefully harvested in operating room conditions.

I also think it is just as likely to get contamination, from what I have seen, from the expensive 90% lean organic grass fed beef as it is from the tube o' beeflike stuff I get at BJ's wholesale.

Now with the tube? Yeah there is probably eyeball meat in there somewhere, I just try not to lose sleep over it. Your Mileage May Vary

TBS

 

[outRIAAge]

Ever try cutting burgers across the grain?

(I have two words for anyone who buys pre-ground meat: e coli...)

I dutifully stuck with my hand grinder for years, but it kept binding with gristle, so when I found an all-metal Waring Pro on special at Costco for $70, I grabbed it. Night and day! I can grind an entire brisket in five minutes. I like to mix in chuck, brisket, flank, and a little bit of liver or heart. To guarantee retained juiciness, I add 1/2 tsp/lb of gelatin.

I recently watched an eye-opening Heston Blumenthal bit on burgers. His genius idea is to lay out the ground meat "noodles" coming out of the grinder so that they are all parallel, form them into a fat log, and then cut burgers out if it "across the grain." It transforms the texture of the burger.

Like Addie, I add milk, but in the form of soaked panko. I haven't yet figured out how to mix that into the parallel logs.

 

[GotGarlic]

Hm. I've been buying pre-ground hamburger meat all my adult life and have never been affected by E. coli. Don't be such a fear-monger.

 

[RPCookin]

Hm. I've been buying pre-ground hamburger meat all my adult life and have never been affected by E. coli. Don't be such a fear-monger.

I applaud your good sense, GG.

 

[Cheryl J]

Hm. I've been buying pre-ground hamburger meat all my adult life and have never been affected by E. coli. Don't be such a fear-monger.

Same here. I just took a pound and a half of 80/20 from the freezer to make meatloaf tomorrow for the thousandth time. I'll be sure to let everyone know if I die from E. coli.

 

[RPCookin]

E coli isn't restricted to tubes of ground beef either. It is just as likely to be present in produce, even in the more costly organic produce. There was a recall in the last couple of years for bagged salads, and it has been found on other products too. If we stop using anything ever associated with such contamination, our options are going to be rather limited.

 

[Dawgluver]

Never gotten e. coli from preground meat. We are lucky that our little grocery store that's closest to us grinds their own burger, and until recently, their own Italian sausage, which was great. Sadly, they replaced it with Jimmy Dean. Their home-ground was wonderful.

 

[Andy M.]

Hm. I've been buying pre-ground hamburger meat all my adult life and have never been affected by E. coli. Don't be such a fear-monger.

Me too.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

With ground meat products, the two most prevalent little nasties were listeria, and botulism. Listeria bacteria thrived in the nooks and crannies of the big, circular wheel slicers, band saws, and that type of equipment. Botulism poisoning came from critters placed into containers that sealed the meat from air and oxygen, as the critters are anerobic. It would suprise most people to find that ordinary soil, whether it be in the forest, your backyard, or on the farm, contain things like anthrax, listeria, and botulizm making organisms. Talk to someone who studies teh microbes in dirt and you would probably be frightened by what they say is in there, and not just in specific areas, but virtually everywhere. E-Coli, on the other hand, lives in everybody's gut. The issue is that your body is used to one specific strain. When you travel, or purchase food from other areas, and the food has been contaminated by fecal matter, be it from the guts of animals, or humans, you end up with e-coli problems that cause Montezuma's revenge, until your body adapts to the new strain of critter.

I guess that means that when Bill Cosby was eating dirt, and glad to get it, he wasn't probably too fond of the after effects.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwidn of the North

 

[tenspeed]

(I have two words for anyone who buys pre-ground meat: e coli...)

Per the USDA:

Why is ground beef produced in a USDA-inspected plant safer than beef ground in a store or at home?
Hearing about recalls of ground beef products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella might cause some consumers to consider grinding beef at home; however, this is not a safer alternative to purchasing ground beef at a retail store. In fact, USDA cautions against grinding beef at home.
In a USDA-inspected plant, trimmed beef destined for grinding is tested for the presence of E. coli. However, primal cuts, such as steaks and roasts, are usually not tested. When stores or consumers grind these primal cuts, it's possible that pathogens may be present on the raw beef, and neither you nor meat market employees can see, smell, or taste dangerous bacteria.
In addition, USDA-inspected plants have Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures that cover policies such as the cleaning of grinding machines and the handling and chilling of ground beef. Consumers and stores might not follow such stringent sanitary procedures.

Ground Beef and Food Safety

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Per the USDA:

Why is ground beef produced in a USDA-inspected plant safer than beef ground in a store or at home?
Hearing about recalls of ground beef products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella might cause some consumers to consider grinding beef at home; however, this is not a safer alternative to purchasing ground beef at a retail store. In fact, USDA cautions against grinding beef at home.
In a USDA-inspected plant, trimmed beef destined for grinding is tested for the presence of E. coli. However, primal cuts, such as steaks and roasts, are usually not tested. When stores or consumers grind these primal cuts, it's possible that pathogens may be present on the raw beef, and neither you nor meat market employees can see, smell, or taste dangerous bacteria.
In addition, USDA-inspected plants have Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures that cover policies such as the cleaning of grinding machines and the handling and chilling of ground beef. Consumers and stores might not follow such stringent sanitary procedures.

Ground Beef and Food Safety

I would tend to agree. It's just that I can get a better taste and texture if I grind my own, and use it immediately, before the pathogen can multiply.

The other problem is that I grind in small batches and clean everything thoroughly. If a large amount of ground meat is contaminated in a commercial plant, it affects far more people, and so is a greater health risk to the overall society. If I eat contaminated meat that I ground, it only affects me.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Addie]

I worked in a meat packing plant in Ohio for a summer, long story, but it is about what one would expect. It is pretty horrific. Not Upton Sinclair level horrific, but about what you would expect.

That being said, we have good controls over foodstuffs in this country (US), I saw some horrible things, and we don't really want to know what goes into cheaper ground beef (hint, involves a screen rotating at 9000 rpm and a lot of animal products thrown at it.) but I have never been nervous about contamination.

Food is a messy process, even if you are a complete purist and butcher your own. As soon as you start to hand that off to others, you make compromises. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be standards, but it is unreasonable to think our ground beef is carefully harvested in operating room conditions.

I also think it is just as likely to get contamination, from what I have seen, from the expensive 90% lean organic grass fed beef as it is from the tube o' beeflike stuff I get at BJ's wholesale.

Now with the tube? Yeah there is probably eyeball meat in there somewhere, I just try not to lose sleep over it. Your Mileage May Vary

TBS

Thank you. My wish has been granted. Next time I will be careful what I wish for.

Pirate's FIL and his wife told a group of us one night stories of how they survived during WWII. Including eating cows eyeballs. They found the thinnest sickest looking cow wandering while in hiding. His father slaughtered it and hid it until every last bone had been cooked and gnawed on. You do the things and eat what you have to do in order to survive.

 

[erehweslefox]

Yeah, Chief, grinding your own always tastes better. The fresher and higher quality ingredients you can get, the better your product.

I do think we can work around inferior ingredients with vim, vigor, pluck, good technique, and a little imagination. Hence the breadcrumbs, sauces, and spices.

And I don't think we should be that afraid of the ground beef that comes in a tube, after all, I think most ground beef that you don't grind yourself is co-equally sketchy as far as bacterial content.

We kind of roll the dice every time we eat food we don't source and prep altogether ourselves, and even when we do. I adore good quality ingredients, but they are dear, and I never let cost keep me from a good recipe, even if it involves driving down to Chinatown and buying the famous Fish of Questionable Origin, or its beef equivalent for cheapburgers.

Cheers!

TBS

 

[Addie]

My butcher has an open store. That means I can see through the big window, the men working in the back, cutting up the halves of animals that will eventually be coming out to the front all packaged and labeled. That includes preformed burgers, seasoned meats, etc. When I lived only two doors away from the shop, every day at 10 a.m. I would see the 18 wheeler pull up and just slide the animals right into the store. Each day was a different delivery. Pork one day, beef the next, etc.

That store is so busy, that I doubt very much if they have the time to decide to mess with what they were putting out front. And every morning at six a.m., the butchers report to set up for work. Yet if you asked for a special cut, they are never to busy to stop and cut it for you. In fact I am going there later today to purchase a 4 bone loin pork roast with the chine bone and the fat cap. I know I will get exactly what I want. At my supermarket, that loin roast would be cut up into individual pork chops. Bigger profit.

Unfortunately my supermarket's backroom is just too big to fill any special requests. And they are not available for any special requests on a Sunday. By the end of the day, the meat counters are almost empty.

You have to know where your food is coming from. And there has to be some sort of trust between you and your food supplier. Otherwise you will find yourself right back to the days of the caveman and gathering your own food.

 

[Elizabeth245]

Wow! Really good one. I am so tempted.