Make your own burger
Chuck roast becomes ground chuck.
Ever since reading the hamburger story in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been wondering just how hard it could be to grind my own burger at home. I mean, we don’t generally buy frozen, pre-formed hamburger patties, but we do occasionally buy packaged ground beef at the grocery store. And one theory is that when the beef scraps used to make ground beef come from all different parts of the cow (and possibly different parts of the country, or the world) there’s just a better chance of some illness-causing bacteria getting in the mix.
I am not losing sleep over this, but what could it hurt to make homemade burger? It could be a good way to control the fat content since I’m trying to diet, and perhaps it would even taste better.
First, the tools: My Kitchen Aid mixer came with a rebate offer for a free attachment, and I, thinking maybe I’d make sausage someday, chose the grinder. Which comes in quite handy now. But not everyone owns a grinder attachment, much less a Kitchen Aid mixer (mine was the result of years of whining). I did some checking, and meat grinders can be had for as little as $30 for a hand-cranked model that clamps to the edge of a counter or table. They range all the way up into the hundreds of dollars.
Chuck roast
The meat: I bought a chuck roast for $4 and some change at Kroger. I trimmed off the big chunks of fat but left the inner fat alone. I cut the meat into long strips as directed by the instruction manual that came with the grinder attachment. In the next picture you can see how the meat looked after I cut it and how much fat I trimmed away (upper right).
A blog reader had mentioned to me that the fat and sinew can get clogged up in the grinder, which I found to be true. But it wasn’t too bad – I just had to pause at the end of the first run-through, take the attachment apart, clear out some of the fatty stuff that was caught up in the blade, and put the attachment back on. I ran the meat through twice, as the instructions advised, and was left with a beautiful mound of bright red, fresh ground beef.
As I browned the meat for spaghetti, my husband and I both commented that it smelled more like a pot roast cooking than hamburger. It released a lot of juices as it cooked, but not a lot of grease. It was very tender and had a less greasy flavor than regular burger, too. Maybe some burger enthusiasts would prefer more fat in the mix for greater flavor, but I think this homemade burger could be used to make some delicious hamburger patties or meatballs.
In the long run, the worst part of the process was washing up the attachment after I was finished with it. It wasn’t any cheaper than buying pre-ground burger, but I think from now on I’ll keep an eye on the sales and buy up odd cuts of beef when I see them so that I can turn them into homemade burger. That could save us money.
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
My homemade burger
October 26, 2009 - 11:31 AM
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Lindsey, thanks for posting this. We also got the grinder attachment with our Kitchen Aid, but have yet to use it. I had a feeling that grinding my own meat would taste better. I want to make my own sausage, too, and plan on getting a pork butt the next time Kroger has them on sale.
Growing up, my mom always ground her own hamburger. She had the old Number 10 hand grinder and we kids loved to grind the meat for her. She would add stuff to it to flavor the burgers like peppers, onions and spices. They were the best. She also used it to make dishes like Shepard’s pie, goulash, meatballs…you name it. Anything that used ground beef she did it by hand. She would also grind pork and make homemade sausage.
Once you get used to doing it yourself, there is nothing like it. I hope you keep using it Lindsey…and WAIT until you make your first batch of sausage…You will never go back!
Thanks for writing about this. I will definitely add a grinder attachment to my Christmas list this year! “Mystery meat” ground beef makes me so nervous, especially with a one-year-old at home. I dread the thought of him getting sick from E. coli or Salmonella, and knowing that he got it from something we fed to him. I think grinding one’s own meat is a relatively cheap way to find peace of mind in a world full of tainted meat recalls, so I’m excited to try this!
Mmmm, I’m inspired and hungry. I have the mixer and may have to get the attachment for Christmas. Would love to hear from others how they like using it….. Thanks!
Lori, I think they have pork shoulder on sale at Kroger right now… not sure if that’s good for sausage or not.
Kroger has whole sirloin round tip on sale this week. Last time it was on sale I had them cut a roast and then grind the rest up for hamburger, beats grinding yourself when it’s on sale like this. My husband has the kitchen aid & grinder attachment, does anyone have a recipe for fresh ground sausage? That sounds really good.
After making my comment, I saw that Kroger had the pork shoulder and sirloins on sale.
Anyone have a good homemade sausage recipe?? Is pork shoulder good to use for sausage?
For those interested in making sausage, I found this great site with loads of sausage recipes. They look great. If anyone makes them and needs help sampling them, let me know! LOL
http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm
And cooks.com has a bunch also.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,homemade_sausage,FF.html
Hope this helps.
Pork shoulder is great to use in sausage by the way.
Pork butt is actually a portion of the pigs shoulder… not the butt like it sounds. I am not positive if pork shoulder is the same as pork butt cut wise but it is definitly from the same area on the pig and I would imagine it would be delicious for sausage.
I bought an 8 pound pork shoulder from Kroger and made breakfast sausage and Italian sausage with it. I used recipes from Alton Brown, though I did modify them. He added fat back to the mix and I eliminated that. We’ve only cooked up the breakfast sausage thus far and it is wonderful! It is very lean, so I do have to cook it in some oil, but the flavor is delicious. This morning I made buttermilk biscuits and we had the sausage with them. MMMMM as my baby boy says!