When my husband said he was going to grind his own hamburger meat, I thought it sounded like a lot of work for a burger. Why mess with a good thing? But when he told me about the three different cuts of meat he would use it started to sound more interesting. And like even more work. Would it be worth it?
He used a meat grinder attachment for our KitchenAide Mixer, but you could also use a food processor. With boneless rib eye, boneless short-rib meat and Hanger steak, this would be unlike any other hamburger we tasted.
How to grind your meat: Cut the fat off your meat (but don’t throw it away!) and then cut the meat into cubes. Put your cubes of meat and pieces of fat into the refrigerator or freezer until firm but not frozen. When meat and fat are cool, take them out of the refrigerator and grind with a medium sized grinding plate in small batches. You will have to rinse the grinding plate at least once because it will get plugged with meat. Grind the meat twice or until it’s fully ground. The fat will only need to be ground once and then mix it in with the meat. Season the meat after you grind it to keep the beef from getting too sticky. Don’t mix in any fillers like bread crumbs or eggs because it will get in the way of the pure flavor.
When he presented his creation, I was very excited. The burger was very rare (since he ground the meat himself, it was safe to eat rare), and really juicy and flavorful. But the flavor was also intense because of the different types of meat. It was an unbelievable burger. When I was finished, I ate another burger. It tasted lighter than the usual burger even though it wasn’t.
Was it worth the work? It depends on how much you love your burgers! It was the ultimate burger.
The recipe was found in the Modernist Cuisine at Home, a new cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. My husband got this book for Christmas and he has been very inspired. For anyone who loves cooking, it is definitely worth exploring.
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So worth it! And it sounds delicious. I use sirloin, short rib and brisket and my friends know how much I care for them by whether or not I grind the meat for them. The food safety aspect was important as well. When you know everything going into your ground beef you have no worries about how rare.