Grinding your own burger meat..

SmokyBear · March 2015

Hey, gang.

Just bought a new meat grinder for my KitchenAid mixer and am trying to grind my own burger meat.

What meat do you guys start with? I tried chuck roast (following the advice on AmazingRibs) and was amazed at the huge amount of fat that wound up in the ground meat..

I know ground chuck is supposed to be 20% fat (IIRC), but this easily looked to be WAY beyond 20%..maybe as much as 50/50 fat to meat ratio.

Wife had a major and near fatal heart attack last Feb, so feeding her super fatty goodies off the Mini is probably not a great idea.

Since you can buy ground sirloin that's 10% fat, ground round that's 15%, etc, I wonder if there's any way to know how much fat you're "really" getting when you DIY.

I'm also wondering if grinding myself is worth the hassle..can you really taste a difference grinding your own vs. buying something with a higher fat content, like ground round (vs sirloin)?

I've been using ground sirloin for a while on my burgers, and they're never "OMG fabulous" although I do get close from time to time (randomly, when the burger gods smile on me)..so, I'm wondering if using just ground round from the butcher would be the trick since it has 5% more fat than ground sirloin does.

I cooked some burgers on the Mini on vacation last year..we were in a tiny little town and the market probably didn't have sirloin..I don't remember what we bought, but it was probably normal ground round..cooked super high temp (550/600?) on the Mini for a couple of min per side, and they were the best burgers I ever made..

So, to those of you who grind your own burger meat..what meat do you start with, how do you control / know the fat content, and is it worth all the extra work over just buying ground round or even ground chuck?

Thanks for any/all help!

RRP · March 2015

I have the same attachment and I prefer to use chuck roasts. Trick I learned here probably is to put the meat in the freezer for at least an hour. Then it will be easier to cut into smaller pieces which won't choke your grinder. Also I cut out as much sinew as I prossibly can as that clogs the grinder pretty bad. I also separate the fat chunks which I just add back to the meat while grinding. BTW I used to grind my own burgers but now I just grind my chuck for chili. Then I package it in 2# sizes in a FS bag and freeze it. Typically I grind 7 to 8 pounds at a time. Again removing the sinew makes it easier!

Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Ronald44/2009%20Remodeling/IMG_2509.jpg

SmokyBear · March 2015

Thanks, RRP..I read about the freezer trick so did do the cold meat and that seemed to help with the grinding..

I have the Chef's Choice attachment. Bought that over the KitchenAid brand one since it was all metal. 3X the cost but seems very well made..

Image: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419ZJghFHIL.jpg

When you mention cutting out the sinew - are you going through the chuck roast and just cutting out as much of the fat as you can? Seems like it'd be hard to gauge what percentage of fat you're winding up with, which is my main concern given wife's health..

Also - when you still did this for burgers, were they that much better than just using ordinary ground round? There's a lot of things that you can tweak with this hobby of ours but I'm wondering if I'm getting TOO carried away grinding my own hamburger meat..but the AmazingRibs guys swear by it, soooo...

RRP · March 2015

WOW - That is a nice grinder! I got my KA free as a special promo at the time of purchase.

I agree it is difficult to gauge the amount of fat, but like I said I just grind for chili now.

I never convinced myself my home ground burgers were any better than the big tubes of 80/20 I buy at SAMS and then cut into burgers myself. BTW they also sell 90/10 which may be more to your liking.

Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Ronald44/IMG_2692.jpg

EGGjlmh · March 2015

@RRP that is a great idea. How do you freeze them? Just ziplock bag?

Canugghead · March 2015

If you want lean, go with eye of round. Agree with Ron on sinew removal, however we cut into ready-to-grind cubes before semi-freezing, figure that'll freeze quicker and more evenly.

Two advantages of grinding your own comes to mind:
1) you control/know what goes in.
2) unlike pre-ground, you are safe to cook your burger medium rare vs. well done cardboard.

RRP · March 2015

EGGjlmh said:

@RRP that is a great idea. How do you freeze them? Just ziplock bag?

I typically get 24 burgers out of a tube. I then place them on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight. That way when I package them using Food Saver bags the vacuuming won't smash them like it would if raw.

Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Ronald44/IMG_2693-1.jpg

lwrehm · March 2015

Around these parts if you are buying FRESH ground round, it will never see any heat before it hits the rye bread, onions, and pepper.

As far as grinding fresh for burgers, I usually use a mix of leaner cuts and chuck. Some of the best burgers we have made was a mix of venison, some beef trimmings and some ends/pieces we had laying around. Straight ground round is way too lean for burgers IMO.

Grinding your own burger meat..

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