Home Ground Hamburger

For my anniversary I received the Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachement. I am going to finally give it a whirl this weekend. I was going to start with some hamburger. I was thinking half chuck and maybe half sirloin, or just all chuck. I am not sure. I also thought it might be neat to throw in some bacon fat if the meat needed a little extra fat in it. Just a crazy, tasty sounding thought.
I would love to see what others have done in the past, and if you had any tips for me to get off on the right foot with my first homemade hamburger.

Thanks and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

I've ground and used the following:

1. chuck
2. tri-tip (stuffed with cheese for "jucy lucy")
3. dry aged ribeye with homemade beef bacon cut in
3. 1/2 dry aged ribeye & 1/2 dry aged NY strip
4. 1/2 dry aged chuck & 1/2 dry aged short rib, with beef bone marrow for added fat

The dry aged bugers were sublime, but I'm thinking you can't go wrong with a good chuck bacon blend.

I'll be interested to see some of the responses you get for this thread. I am actually in the same boat as you. I was given a KitchenAid stand mixer in July and I picked up the grinder attachment for it. I have yet to use it myself. I can say I've had my butcher grind up tr-tip for me and it makes for a wonderful burger. Although where you're from Pennsylvania, tri–tip might not be easiest thing to get. it is almost unheard of around here.

Good luck with your new toy! Please post some pictures and tell us about your results. I'll be extra curious to see how you make out.

Jim

Thanks Smokin'gal, I will take that all into consideration. And Jim, tri tip shoes up sometimes, I will keep an eye out for it. And I will be sure to post some Pics. Thanks!

I've tried a few blends, but am still looking for the Holy Grail of burger blends. Don't bother mixing in skirt steak. Short ribs add a nice flavor. Bacon is good for adding fat, but have never added enough to change the flavor. Most places outside of Cali take tri-tip and grind it into their burger mix....that's why its hard to find outside of that area. Oxtail really adds a nice flavor. Yet to add brisket to my burger blend....but will try it soon. I'd skip the sirloin. Lean meat and doesn't add much flavor from what I've read.

Check out this post for tons of info

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/200 ... ?ref=title

Griffin, thanks for the article. It'll come in very handy. Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Sam's Club and picking out some meat, grinding it, and cooking it up. I will be sure to post pics afterwards. Thanks

jfm0830 wrote:

I'll be interested to see some of the responses you get for this thread. I am actually in the same boat as you. I was given a KitchenAid stand mixer in July and I picked up the grinder attachment for it. I have yet to use it myself. I can say I've had my butcher grind up tr-tip for me and it makes for a wonderful burger. Although where you're from Pennsylvania, tri–tip might not be easiest thing to get. it is almost unheard of around here.

Good luck with your new toy! Please post some pictures and tell us about your results. I'll be extra curious to see how you make out.

Jim

Tri-tip is also labeled as "bottom sirloin" in some markets. That might make it easier to find, although it may be sliced up rather than whole. If it's for burgers, though, that won't matter.

I don't have a KitchenAid mixer yet, but I might try to pick one up after Christmas when all the hyped-up foodie stuff goes on clearance. Currently I use a manual sausage grinder and it works fairly well. I've also tried chuck, sirloin, and tri-tip in various proportions and they're all great. However, I've only used a couple of my rib-eye and striploin steaks for burgers. The last were good, but I'll be keeping them as steaks from now on - too precious to grind up.

Two other cuts I've tried are brisket (which dries out quick and is a bit tough) and flank steak (good in a mix if you're cooking it to medium-rare). But I've also parted with a few chuck-eye steaks (aka cross-rib steaks) and they make great burgers. Once again - too good for me to grind up, though.

One really odd ingredient I've heard mentioned from various relatives and a few chefs was trimmed beef heart. I've tried it and it really does bring out some of the flavor. I try to keep it under 25% in the mix, though, as too much of it gives the burger a sort of liver-y taste.

I've had ground beef that included heart and tongue, and it was pretty good.

Thanks for all of the replies. I think my burgers and ground beef turned out well. I used ground chuck, next time I will use a mix. I did put a little chill on the meat, but once I made it into cubes, I think it was a little too warm. The fat kind of got stuck a few times. Next time after I cube the meat, I will put it back in the freezer for a bit.