The food thread

Have you made your own hamburgers from Choice grade rib eye?
No, I would never do that. Wrong meat altogether and a waste if I might say.
IMHO, adding anything but good meat into a burger turns it into a sausage.
As you wish. You still have much to learn Grasshopper. Hamburger has a distinctive flavour for a reason.
 
Going for a walk at Crescent Beach here in Surrey, made us hungry today.
 

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No, I would never do that. Wrong meat altogether and a waste if I might say.

As you wish. You still have much to learn Grasshopper. Hamburger has a distinctive flavour for a reason.

You haven't tried it.... don't knock it. All it takes is eight ounces per person and you will be thunderstruck that you never tried it before. It most definitely not a waste. Being freshly ground, as I noted, you can cook it and eat rare. It has not been contaminated with bacteria as ground beef will be after just a few hours oof being exposed to air. Indeed, the flavor is better than in a rib eye steak form as the fat is homogenized through the mixture... it is actually delicious. Try it... but remember, YOU must grind it and cook it fresh.

We have the meat grinder attachment for our Kitchenaid.

BTW, I've even ground home aged prime rib eye steak. You can not believe the flavor: half pound burgers, rear, with Lowrey's throughout the meat. On top of potatoes. But again, you must grind it yourself and cook it within an hour of grinding it...

Also, are you telling the great great grandson of the original rancher, butcher about meats? Don't forget that as I kid I spent a big chunk of the day behind the butcher counter in the shops and in summers I went with my grandmother/mother to the stockyards. The plan, you see, was for me to take over that part of the business while my other cousins took over the restaurant, the bars and the other wholesale businesses. When it comes to beef, I KNOW beef.

I know what high quality ground meat is all about. In the US, I only buy Costco 100% sirloin. ONLY. Otherwise, I make our own.

Wow... snow at sea level.... the only sea level snow in SoCal is that kind that people put up their nose. 😉
 
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You haven't tried it.... don't knock it.
I have. It's the wrong muscle group. It does not have the right texture nor sufficient flavour for making patties. You end up having to add more fat than desireable for a full flavoured burger.
And yes Tony, I think you know I don't buy premade hamburger.
as I noted, you can cook it and eat rare.
Wrong Tony. The bugs you are worried about are on the outside of a steak. They die when they reach a certain temperature. As soon as you grind a cut of beef, you have introduced them to the inside. That's the reason you must (should) cook hamburger through. If I want a really rare hamburger, I maride the cut in a brine containing Prague Powder.
When it comes to beef, I KNOW beef.
Hmmm he says, scratching his chin.
 
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We generally by a 1/4 to a 1/2 beef periodically, so have plenty of ground beef around. When we do make our own, it's 50/50 chuck/sirloin. I don't remember where that suggestion came from but possibly, Alton Brown. Anyway, we dig it.
Chuck makes for a good burger, it has nice fat and grinding it does a good tenderizing job. I grind it twice.

It should be cooked medium at least, IMHO for the best taste -so much fat. Whereas ground steaks, when freshly ground, can be cooked rear with no health concerns.

On the occasions I've ground chuck for burgers, I always add a raw egg, a little bit of panko, Worcestershire sauce (or yakisoba noodle sauce), a touch of sriracha, salt and pepper, then I let it sit in the fridge for a while, even for a couple of days.

When I grind sirloin for burgers I only add a touch of Lowrey's. Nothing else. They do tend to be fragile ( you know... "Frahgeelay" as in made in Italy ), so I prefer them on a heavy cast iron skillet, not the BBQ grill.

But... chuck wise... I prefer it braised... here's an example of what I made two sundays ago. You make a big batch and it serves for three meals over the next two weeks ( on rice, noodles and potatoes...).

https://spanishsabores.com/fricando-recipe-slow-cooked-beef-stew-with-mushrooms/

BTW, try mixing some chopped uncooked bacon into the meat as it gets ground. Just a little goes a long way. It's my way of introducing fat into the normally leaner steaks when I grind them.
 
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I have. It's the wrong muscle group. It does not have the right texture nor sufficient flavour for making patties. You end up having to add more fat than desireable for a full flavoured burger.
And yes Tony, I think you know I don't buy premade hamburger.

Wrong Tony. The bugs you are worried about are on the outside of a steak. They die when they reach a certain temperature. As soon as you grind a cut of beef, you have introduced them to the inside. That's the reason you must (should) cook hamburger through. If I want a really rare hamburger, I maride the cut in a brine containing Prague Powder.

Hmmm he says, scratching his chin.

We're in the same boat... and yes, I know beef. That's why I wrote that I only eat rare hamburger when I grind it myself and eat it fresh, within two hours of grinding.

I do buy premade ground beef and hamburgers but only 100% sirloin but I cook them through. I thing of it as eating sausage. Don't ask, Don't tell.

I used to watch the carcasses, beautiful carcasses of beef, mostly yearling veal ( ternera ), hanging from the hooks that ran on overhead rails. They have a certain smell and color that I grew up with and I find it appealing in a butcher sort of way (*). The stockyards were intoxicating... 100 year old BIG stone buildings with stone paver floors. All nice and hosed down clean.

Note: they also had young sheep ( cordero ). The meat has a slightly different color and the taste is gamier.

(Note: the beef and sheep were all grass fed up towards the Pyrenees, no corn, no fake stuff. So the taste was different depending on where they grew up...).

You want beef? That was enough beef to last a person several cultural epochs, a few empires, never mind generations...

Stuff like the liver, kidney and so on came in trays. They are red, but the texture just treats me wrong.

We never had anything else, we never bought those things... except sometimes we'd get some buckets of tripe.

Yuck.

Big buckets with something white and spongy in the bottom. Water got changed twice daily at our shops. Some people like it, se we sold it. My grandmother made it once... yikes.

Oh, then you got criadillas, baby veal criadillas, mind you. A rather expensive delicacy. My grandmother would get them specially for me. I loved them until I turned eight years old and she told me what they were. Ay Caramba... Yaya!!! Ay Dios Mio.... nunca mas...

Yuck... gimme a a nice piece of good rare meat, maybe a little bit of liver with garlic, keep everything else.... that's why God invented sausages.

(*) I'm reasonably good at butchering smaller pieces. Over the years I've had two women who observed me preparing meats tell me that I have "the hands of a butcher".. Hmmm.... Beware of Tony... 😡🤐😱😳🔪🔪 The MAD scientist with a butcher knife....
 
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I always add a raw egg, a little bit of panko,
Oh my.
No wonder you don't agree on our thoughts. I thought we were talking todays cooking, not what your great Grandma did. You added egg for stability and panko or any thickeners to make sure the fat didn't run off when fat was a commodity.
Seriously? You are just yanking our chains here, and it's not right Tony.
Don't be so mean yes girl when you hide behind a Master Chef Daughter and the fact your family raised cattle.
You know cattle, you don't seem to know the history of beef.
If you are just fooling, send me a PM, otherwise, don't do this to the members who want to learn about food preparation.
As always, I appreciate you understanding of my passion and why I bring this to the public eye.
 
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Oh my.
No wonder you don't agree on our thoughts. I thought we were talking todays cooking, not what your great Grandma did. You added egg for stability and panko or any thickeners to make sure the fat didn't run off when fat was a commodity. Serious
....

Hmm... I like it that way.

I suppose I should not post pictures of Tuna Helper?

😳 😳

Besides, my wife retired last year and she's been doing most of the cooking... I just mix drinks, open the bottle of wine, provide the after dinner chocolates and make some Sunday dinners.