How I ended up maikng the best burger ever

[San Juan Sun]

Well, at least the best burger I've ever eaten, anyways.

So the missus watched a documentary called Food, Inc. and now refuses to eat ground beef. Life has been a little harder around the SJS compound the last few weeks.

We recently stumbled upon the idea of grinding our own beef, and since I bought her a nice food processor over the weekend (yes, I'm the king of giving gifts that benefit myself), we decided to give it a chance.

We bought 1.75 lbs of chuck roast from Costco, chopped into cubes, and pulsed it to the consistency of ground beef. But it looked sooooooooo much better than regular ground beef. Deeper red, more fresh, the difference was amazing.

Then we added:

chopped onion
salt
pepper
splash of Worchestershire sauce

And then we threw it on the grill, 5 minutes per side.

They were honestly the best burgers I've ever made. They were so good that the Costco bun and condiments aren't worthy to accompany the beef. I've got to find a better bun.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Well, at least the best burger I've ever eaten, anyways.

So the missus watched a documentary called Food, Inc. and now refuses to eat ground beef. Life has been a little harder around the SJS compound the last few weeks.

We recently stumbled upon the idea of grinding our own beef, and since I bought her a nice food processor over the weekend (yes, I'm the king of giving gifts that benefit myself), we decided to give it a chance.

We bought 1.75 lbs of chuck roast from Costco, chopped into cubes, and pulsed it to the consistency of ground beef. But it looked sooooooooo much better than regular ground beef. Deeper red, more fresh, the difference was amazing.

Then we added:

chopped onion
salt
pepper
splash of Worchestershire sauce

And then we threw it on the grill, 5 minutes per side.

They were honestly the best burgers I've ever made. They were so good that the Costco bun and condiments aren't worthy to accompany the beef. I've got to find a better bun.

The thing that is great about homemade burger is that you can cook to any temperature. Also, you can vary the cuts to get a leaner meat as well.

[Joe Public]

I tried some smokehouse burgers on the kamado over the weekend. I picked up a couple of pounds of ground sirloin from the butcher, added a few tablespoons of barbeque sauce (Weber's original) along with a dash of salt and pepper, formed the patties, and added some Spade L beef seasoning to both sides of the patties.

I put the burgers on the cooker with quite a bit of hickory chips:



They smoked for about 40 minutes at 275F degrees or so.



After that, I removed the heat shield and gave them a couple of minutes on each side at 500F degrees or so. The final product looked like this:



There are some fault lines from the initial flip, but the burgers held together very well after the final sear. I grabbed fresh Kaiser rolls from the bakery to use as a bun. They were a hit. The smoke flavor was outstanding. I'm like SJS when it comes to enjoying a leaner, less-juicy burger, but one could use 80% lean ground beef and have a very juicy burger.

I'm hoping to experiment with some other burgers (New Mexico green chile cheeseburgers, for example). I'd love to hear any good recipes or, even better, see some results!

[wuapinmon]

Grinding meat at home always makes for a good time. Ground chuck is my favorite, but I've read in Cook's Illustrated that adding a little ground pork to the mix makes them even better.

[DU Ute]

Grinding meat at home always makes for a good time.

[Donuthole]

And then we threw it on the grill, 5 minutes per side.

They were honestly the best burgers I've ever made. They were so good that the Costco bun and condiments aren't worthy to accompany the beef. I've got to find a better bun.

I don't think I saw this post originally, but allow me to state, 2+ years ex post facto, that I think you significantly overcooked your burgers. 5 minutes is ok for the first side--if not still a little long--but that second side should have been 2-3 minutes, max.

[falafel]

I don't think I saw this post originally, but allow me to state, 2+ years ex post facto, that I think you significantly overcooked your burgers. 5 minutes is ok for the first side--if not still a little long--but that second side should have been 2-3 minutes, max.

Hard to argue with the results, though, i.e. THE BEST BURGER EVER MADE.

[San Juan Sun]

I don't think I saw this post originally, but allow me to state, 2+ years ex post facto, that I think you significantly overcooked your burgers. 5 minutes is ok for the first side--if not still a little long--but that second side should have been 2-3 minutes, max.

With all due respect, I don't think they were overcooked. First, the patties were fairly thick, and second, burgers are supposed to be cooked until the entire thickness of the burger is no longer pink. They were real, and they were magnificent.

[Commando]

With all due respect, I don't think they were overcooked. First, the patties were fairly thick, and second, burgers are supposed to be cooked until the entire thickness of the burger is no longer pink. They were real, and they were magnificent.

No reason for that now that you're grinding your own beef.

[creekster]

Somebody help me here. Ground beef must be fully cooked because bacteria from the exterior surface of the cut can end up on the inside of the patty This is not an issue with non-Ground meat because the exterior bacteria is killed when the surface is seared or cooked. But his self grinding of fully uncooked meat, while perhaps less risky, still carries some risk doesn't it? I don't see how it is eliminated.

[Commando]

Somebody help me here. Ground beef must be fully cooked because bacteria from the exterior surface of the cut can end up on the inside of the patty This is not an issue with non-Ground meat because the exterior bacteria is killed when the surface is seared or cooked. But his self grinding of fully uncooked meat, while perhaps less risky, still carries some risk doesn't it? I don't see how it is eliminated.

The risk there is that in these massive meat grinding plants that provide the ground beef to high volume grocers or fast food places, the consumer has no control over what is on those blades or how often they are sanitized, kept bacteria-free, etc. Doing it at home, he could be like "meat grinder bacteria-free? check!" and be on his merry way. Having said that, I've eaten at plenty of burger joints that offer the pink option. It's not inherently dangerous.

[MarkGrace]

The risk there is that in these massive meat grinding plants that provide the ground beef to high volume grocers or fast food places, the consumer has no control over what is on those blades or how often they are sanitized, kept bacteria-free, etc. Doing it at home, he could be like "meat grinder bacteria-free? check!" and be on his merry way. Having said that, I've eaten at plenty of burger joints that offer the pink option. It's not inherently dangerous.

If there is a pink or pink option, I go pink. If there is a doneness option, I go medium.

[San Juan Sun]

If there is a pink or pink option, I go pink.

Bold choice.

[Donuthole]

With all due respect, I don't think they were overcooked. First, the patties were fairly thick, and second, burgers are supposed to be cooked until the entire thickness of the burger is no longer pink. They were real, and they were magnificent.

With all due respect, burgers are not supposed to be cooked until they are no longer pink. That's nonsense. With no due respect, stop botching Seinfeld quotes.

[San Juan Sun]

With all due respect, burgers are not supposed to be cooked until they are no longer pink. That's nonsense. With no due respect, stop botching Seinfeld quotes.

Of course they are. Aside from the obvious bacterial issues, eating uncooked ground beef is gross. Of course, maybe you just have difficulty balancing a well cooked burger with acceptable juicy goodness. Not that there's anything wrong with that.