An excellent post appeared among the blogs I follow. It’s at http://www.melskitchencafe.com. Mel offers numerous and right on the money tips for making the perfect burger.
I’m going to amplify on it with a brief discussion of making burgers starting with whole pieces of beef. Why do that? Simple. I am a bit paranoid about the idea of buying supermarket ground beef, what with all the scares over the years. You can, of course, cook your beef well done, but I like bright pink to almost red in the middle of mine.
The first picture is of a bone-in chuck steak. Bacteria on a whole piece of meat will only be on the outside. Bring a big pot of water to boil. Drop the beef in and blanch for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Remove the bones and cut the meat (including all the fat, but not any gristly sections) into strips. I then use my Mixmaster’s grinding attachment with the fine blade. The gray from the outside will disappear.
So, you don’t have a grinder with your mixer? Use your food processor. Cut the meat into 1” pieces and pulse it in the processor until you get the texture you want.
It is now safe to cook as rare as you like.
Great tips Stephen! I grind my own meat whenever possible, too. It tastes so much better in addition to be safer.
ReplyDeleteI've never even thought to grind my own beef but your simple post makes it sound very doable!
ReplyDeleteI love the tip! I have never ground my own beef...I must catch up with the rest of the world!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tip! This is something I worry about a lot with ground beef and I usually only buy chunks of beef for that reason. Thanks!
ReplyDelete