I just received an email from Stew Leonard’s about gourmet burgers that they are offering. Ignoring for the moment the add ins and flavor enhancers, I have always wondered about the issue of using prime beef v. choice beef v. economy beef in making a burger so long as you grind in enough fact. Does it really matter that the beef was graded prime? All prime refers to is the marbling and by the time it gets ground, does marbling really matter?
About 10 years ago, I was at the Hamilton Princess in Bermuda and they had a burger Sunday brunch. The lamb burgers were so good that we insisted to our waiter that the chef come out and talk to us about how he made them. He was rather pleased that someone cared enough to talk about it, and sat down with us for 15 minutes. He said that his secret was grinding in enough additional beef fact to make the lamb burger moist. He said that although Lamb was, by reputation, rather fatty, the truth was that the fat was mostly located in sheets on the outside and that on average, a leg of Lamb had less fat than comparable beef.
He suggested that a 10% to a 15% addition of beef fat to the grind was his secret, and that it would generate much better lamb burgers. Since then, I have followed that strategy to great success, including the Lamb sliders we served at the last Berserkerfest at my house. I can do all sorts of variations, like grinding in Lamb fat that I trimmed off Lamb that I was using for rogan josh or grinding in beef fat from whole strip loins or brisket that I butcher myself.
I am curious as to other people’s thoughts on this issue. Is it really worthwhile to pay up for ground prime beef? How about filet mignon burgers, which seem to be made to be an abomination for lack of fat? Wagyu burgers? Are they really better or is it just a waste of good steak with no marginal benefit over ground chuck, assuming that you trim off all the gristle.
This is not to say that the Flannery custom blends are not special. I can blend in dry aged beef ends, and get tremendous flavor, but that is a different issue. If I do that, I have to make sure that I blending some real fatty stuff to make up for the dry nature of the dry aged beef addition.
My only comment re the Flannery blends is the density. I prefer a fresh grind of inferior product to the compression I get from Bryan. Not his fault of course. The meat must be sealed and shipped. But a fresh grind of a B product seems to outshine the lovely A grind from Bryan.
If there is a technique for Flannery I should be using. Speak up please.
Chris,
I think the density issue is actually as important as the fat content.
Sams has a prime rib burger product. Fresh tray pack.
First batch I did straight from the packaging and they were superior.
Second batch i vacuum bagged in the tray pack. Cooked them up a bit later. The compression from the vacuum made the burgers denser. Temp was the same on both batches, but the second batch cooked up drier and generally not as good.
I would opine that your b vs a comment is spot on.
I think you are correct when it comes to using prime beef (and Wagyu) in ground beef.
It seems weird to blend beef fat into ground lamb when you could use lamb fat from the sheets of fat or other lamb trimmings if you need to supplement. But if you were going to blend in some ‘foreign’ fat into lamb, I would be intrigued to get some fat from Mangalitsa pork, which has always seemed to me to be pure and clean compared other fats. That might be really tasty. Maybe some lardo or speck from Mangalitsa.
I noticed this problem the first time I got burgers from them. Now when I open one of their packages, I put it in a bowl, take two large turkey lifter forks, and toss the meat with the forks and separate it like pulling pork until it takes on air.
I still prefer the higher quality meat , mainly because i think the cook is so important. I think anything Medium or over is tasteless unless you over season the heck out of it or cover it in toppings. Maybe it is in my head, but to me a medium rare Waygu or Prime with just some cheddar or other cheese tastes better then medium rare ground chuck or B grade due to the juices, blood and red center. So i tend to buy the higher quality - as the difference is what… 1-2 bucks a pound (pre inflation).
At some point, if you are the type that adds ketchup, pickles, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, special sauce, etc., to a burger, the taste of the meat is but one of many voices singing on your plate. Probably not worth the extra expense for prime cut beef.
Tenderness of the meat is not going to be particularly noticed (unless your grind is high in gristle) in a completed burger with its condiments.
I do enjoy a burger with lots of stuff in and on it (except raw onions) so I use any good flavored meat, and avoid the extra expense of using a primal cut or using prime grade.
I think this is a good place for grass fed beef. I tend to prefer my steaks grain fed, but with burgers you get the extra flavor of grass fed without the texture penalty it has as steak.
In my limited experience, the sooner the grind the meat sees the pan is important. Packaged, stacked and handling builds up myosin and makes the grind sticky and dense. Best med rare steakhouse style burgers I’ve ever had were ground in house the day of (of course with proper fat ratio, and dry age ups it a few levels). My takeaway is to grind your own blend at home, even if you don’t have a grinder and use a food processor which works great.
Of the 3 main smashburger places in town, one of them uses Parker Ranch wagyu, another Morgan Ranch, and the other some kind of brisket blend and they cook them all the way through. The Parker Ranch (local) cooked patty blows them all away. Like, not even close. But that might be the fat content and more extreme maillard reaction with the amount of fat, creating a perfect end to end crust.
When I’m making beef burgers, I’ll just buy what’s ground up already, favoring 80/20. We’re the kinds of people who so heavily season the meat as patties are being formed (panko, Worcestershire, eggs, Penzey’s Beef Roast, etc.) that I’m not sure hand grinding with higher grade cuts make any sense. And then, everyone in the family except me, drowns their burger under cheddar. I don’t actually like cheeseburgers, just mayo/pickles/mustard and a tomato if possible.
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For other kinds of burgers, it’s going to depend. I made venison burgers a week or so ago, and for that I added a tablespoon of bacon fat for each pound, plus a little extra Worcestershire and Maggi sauces to temper the metallic/liveriness game can sometimes have. And then I freeze them for 30 min before grilling to help them form well, dry out the surface, and avoid crumbliness. The kids won’t eat those, but the leftovers microwaved well enough over a few days.
I spend more time actually on making home baked steak fries to go with the burgers. I find chopping them up with an apple coring press is the easiest way to make a bunch.
