Some of you may remember, back in the mid eighties, Eddie Murphy’s shtick about the “house burger.” Well that piece really resonated with me because everything he talked about was exactly how it was in my house. McDonald’s or, as was my preference back when I was a sub 5 footer, Ginos. The now defunct Ginos made a Gino Giant that put the Big Mac to shame. Hell, now Krystal’s (or White Castle’s depending on which side of the Mason Dixon line you are) put the Big Mac to shame. Have you seen one lately? I know that it turned 40 last year and it has its own museum now, but the burger is reminiscence of a bread sandwich with some salty charred film where an actual piece of meat once ruled. I mean, this thing is no longer a desirable selection when I jones for McDonalds to keep from getting night sweats. Quarter pounder please!

I was going to abbreviate Big Mac for the purpose of this post but that didn’t read so appetizing.

Well, back then, fast food burgers in our house was a rarity and the only time there were burger buns was when we were having people over for a cookout. If it was just us grilling, we got the bread, no buns. Yes, even hot dogs were mercilessly boiled, if we were lucky split and pan fried, then placed between some Wonder bread. If there was any of the government cheese left, we’d throw that down too.

And to think that I actually preferred the fast food burger over mom’s green pepper, onion, garlic powder, house burger. Well I guess we live and learn, because there is no way in Hades that I would have any sort of fast food burger over my king-of-the-house burger. And now I grind my own beef! People let tell you ’bout my best friend, my Kitchen Aid stand mixer! This workhorse handles the meat grinding, the ice cream making, the pasta rolling, and even slices veggies; not to mention its mixing duties. I am really happy with this multitasker! No disrespect to my food processor, he’s cool too.

Some of you may ask, why grind your own. My very simple and unscientific reply is, ‘cause it just tastes better. It really does. There are other factors as well. For instance, I know exactly what is in my grind. I don’t want to sound hypocritical, I do eat scrapple, but hell, if I could make it myself, I would. I just don’t have those kinds of pig parts readily available. (thank goodness)

The truth is that most of the contamination of ground meats happens at the processing plants. And the meat can come from multiple donors including that cow leaning against the wall over there because she don’t walk so good. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have the toys to grind your own, buy the cut that you want and have the meat guy at the supermarket grind it for you. He’s usually not doing anything.

Grinding your own allows you to control everything from the cut, the fat content, and yes, the flavor. If you were to grind a beef tenderloin for your burger, you would end up with a really tasty burger that was as dry as sand. There should be a good bit of fat in your grind if you want your burgers to squirt at you and drip that burger goodness all down your chin. That’s how I like my burger. If you use chuck or sirloin, with 15 to 20 percent fat you’re going to get meat that is really flavorful and juicy. For me, the best combination, is 3 parts chuck to 1 part sirloin. The chuck brings the juicy fat as well as beefy flavor and the sirloin is just a beefy injection of flavor. I cook my burgers medium rare from time to time and I would never do that with prepackaged ground beef.

This day, I chose only a fresh, well marbled chuck roast. Preeeetty!

I diced the roast into 1/2-1 inch cubes.



Then the cubes are off to the freezer for about 30-40 minutes to firm up. You want the meat to be really firm before going through the grinder. In fact, I freeze the auger, the blade, and the plate before grinding. Everything goes much smoother when everything is really cold.

Attach the grinder and the meat tray and grind away. I use the coarse plate. Kitchen Aid recommends that you grind beef twice, I never do and my burgers are just fine.

I mix in a little salt and pepper for the basic burger. For the binder, since I have 1 pound of beef, I went with 2 eggs and just enough breadcrumbs to hold together - maybe a 1/4 cup or so. There are other variations where I will add other spices, onions, and whatnot, but for the basic burger, all I want is beef and cheese.

On to the grill for and off when they reach 145 degrees-f. They get topped with sharp cheddar slices during the last 3 minutes of grilling. Oh, and never, ever, press down on the burgers with a spatula!



See? Ain’t nothing wrong with a little bump and grind!