I just acquired a Chop-Rite #22 grinder and want to make some burgers tonight. I could just get a chuck roast and go to town, but I'm interested in hearing people's techniques, preferred cuts/ratios, etc. Any and all advice is welcome!
I use equal parts chuck and sirloin.
same here. i sometimes add a bit of pork, too. usually just loin.
I get good results but I do small batches. People who have unsatisfactory results try to grind up whole elks.
I like to use short ribs for my burgers and sometimes brisket as well.
yes. your motor will love you for it to. If you were doing it the old fashion way, you arm would love you for it.Ok so it's better to do a course grind then a finer grind rather than going from chunks to fine?
yes. your motor will love you for it to. If you were doing it the old fashion way, you arm would love you for it.
Short batches is best. You have to keep the die's cool. A good idea is to have a second set in the fridge and change them out when you start getting hot. Alton Brown explained that it has something to do with the fat molecule and keeping it small. When you get your die warm it starts to expand the fat, making it "not good eats."
Many passes through too, you want a even distribution of meat and fat.
we do 80/20 short ribs and brisket.
+1 when grinding any meats, regardless of the end product, colder is better. Chill all of your equipment, grinder parts, bowls, etc. and you'll get a much cleaner grind if you partially freeze your meats first. Not all the way through, just till its a little firmer. This will help prevent the fat from liquefying, and the collagens in the meat from shrinking. Which will contribute to a dry, grainy sausage/burger/meatball/pate etc. And if you want to get a really tender sausage/burger- seam out the major muscle groups, and then cut long even strips WITH THE GRAIN. This is very important. Because as you feed those long strips into the grinder, it will cut the meat against the grain, which will produce a far more tender product. Trust me- it's worth the time and effort. As to burgers- I do a 60/40 ratio brisket to chuck. Trim about 70% of the fat off the brisket, grind coarse, toss it back in the freezer till its crispy, add 1% salt and .5% white pepper, and grind fine. Nice beefy burger. I'm not a fan of adding pork to burgers as I feel it starts getting a little meatball-esque. I love meatballs, and pork(pork is my muse). But I like my burgers beefy, and tender, with some nice tooth.
+1 to all of these. I chill as much equipment as possible - grinder parts in the freezer, meat in the freezer for 15 minutes or until really cold. My trimming is exactly what's described here - seaming out the major muscles. I'll have to see how the result is cutting the meat with the grain and feeding the grinder in this manner.
I should have added that the one thing I haven't liked about the KA attachment is that meat and sinew tends to get stuck in the back. That's another reason why I grind my meat in one step. I don't want to have to interrupt my grinding because I need to pull the thing apart and clean it out.
By one step, do you mean from your hand cuts to a fine grind?
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