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Chopped Meat vs Ground Meat


Paul Bacino

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So last night, I took a boneless chicken breast and began chopping ( mincing )it into something I can make a blue-cheese buffalo chicken burger. I'm thinking I kind of like the result, but I haven't cooked it yet,as we'll have em tonight.

Looks like you can make the texture what ever you prefer. I'm thinking of making chopped hamburgers this week-end or next with a blend of cuts.

Anyone chopping your protein burger patties. Thoughts ?

Its good to have Morels

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We made a decision not to eat any pre-ground hamburger after all the articles I have read in the last year. So, for a large gathering we had this summer where Saturday night is traditionally corn and hamburgers, I asked my wonderful butcher to grind up a roast...can't recall if it was inside round or sirloin...inside round I think...and the resulting hamburger was not to my taste.

What should we have ground up for hamburgers?

We are planning to buy a meat grinder...just can't wrap my mind around it yet.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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The cut of meat makes a large difference in the quality of the burger. Chuck seem to be the standard, but sirloin and brisket are both often mentioned as better. General consensus is that a burger needs fat, and many roasts are just too lean.

I bought a very inexpensive hand grinder. My few attempts have made mush, not ground meat. I've had better results from mincing. I do have a fairly sharp knife, and can make fairly small shreds. Just takes some time.

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try chuck eye, if thats what its called. I used to 'age' it in the refrig for 4 days or so then chop it.

you can do this in a cuisinart nicely if the blade is sharp ( you can sharpen it yourself ) you cut by hand the piece into about 1 " chunks then pulse only a few times then chill in the freezer for a short while then pulse again until you get the consistency you like chill-pulse, chill-pulse.

a sharp blade is important, as is the chilling.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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Wegman's has a great 90% ground beef, which I use often, because they use a coarse grind, which I prefer. I find there's more beef taste in a coarse grind than fine. When the whole top or bottom rounds are on their annual sale, I buy a couple of them, then ask the butcher at the market for some beef trimmings to make my own ground beef. One for ground beef, one for steaks and cubes.

I prefer a coarse grind for most purposes, but when making vast amounts of meatballs or meatloaf, I prefer a medium grind. I use the Waring Pro meat grinder.

Theresa :smile:

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

- Abraham Lincoln

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try chuck eye, if thats what its called. I used to 'age' it in the refrig for 4 days or so then chop it.

you can do this in a cuisinart nicely if the blade is sharp ( you can sharpen it yourself ) you cut by hand the piece into about 1 " chunks then pulse only a few times then chill in the freezer for a short while then pulse again until you get the consistency you like chill-pulse, chill-pulse.

a sharp blade is important, as is the chilling.

Good Idea!! What I also like about using my Sanelli cleaver.. which works pretty nice , after I stone sharpen it. I can actually chop in my addition , yesterday I added Blue cheese chunks, that I could cleave in.. and still have chunks in it.

Paul

Edited by Paul Bacino (log)

Its good to have Morels

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another thing about using your own Chuck is that you can separate the muscle groups and control the amount of fat you want in the final mix

most supermarkets market chuck as 20 % fat. the fat tastes very good but you can get a very good chuck burger at 10 % and save that additional fat for something else

refrig. aging makes a big difference too.

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again, thanks to the pointer for the burger thread.

remember: you grind for a burger to be able to use tougher meat.

but what your really want in there is meat that has the most flavor. most expensive meat has a price gradient for tenderness, not really for flavor.

tenderloin is fork tender but has very little beef flavor. its what you put on it that makes is Taste Great ie Wellington !

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I never buy ground beef anymore, reading too much about what's in it (like dozens if not more different cows from different countries....), I get my meat ground fresh at Safeway (yes, they happily do that, at least at my local one) and select a nice well marbled piece of chuck or something similar. So far they always were happy to do it, if they should be too busy I'd get my own grinder out, but then I have to clean it...

It's a bit more expensive, but not by much, and the label does not say "product of USA, Canada, Brazil" or something equally disturbing.

Safeway uses I medium/coarse grind that I like and the burgers and sauces turn out very nice. Actually, when I ground it myself recently I ended up with a couple stringy pieces in there, maybe I should have run it through twice or trimmed it better (was chuck), don't know, but the one I get freshly ground never had that problem.

I did in fact just today consider chopping a piece for a meat sauce, but since I have to pickle some cucumbers today and run off for a photo shoot at 6 pm I decided to go with premade tortellini for dinner instead :-) I will give it a try though, might even make two batches to compare.

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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Back to the verdict, chopped will be my go to if I want something very special. It takes a bit of time , but what it brings to the dish is succulence and texture. By chopping, at least in my buffalo blue cheese chicken burger, the chunks of meat create pockets that trap the juice ( also cooked to 155.. carryover will rise it to 160 ) ). But, I was worried about the chicken protein falling apart, but not so.. So.. I did add a bit of flax seed to the mix.

Wife raved about it.. will do again.

Best Paul

Its good to have Morels

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would you be willing to share a more detailed step-by-step on that chicken burger?

i used to eat a lot of turkey burgers ( pre-ground store bought ) but am moving away from that due to various recalls. I like turkey burgers rare.

Id love to try your Ck. burgers with my own chopped turkey.

many thanks!

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would you be willing to share a more detailed step-by-step on that chicken burger?

i used to eat a lot of turkey burgers ( pre-ground store bought ) but am moving away from that due to various recalls. I like turkey burgers rare.

Id love to try your Ck. burgers with my own chopped turkey.

many thanks!

Paul kindly posted the recipe here in Recipe Gullet

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Elaine,

I just read what was I thought was on the package. I'll have to check it out tonight, thanks. But your correct it was more like 2T.

I would like also to add that you could substitute in thigh meat or make a blend of white and dark or possibly add a little parsley. Its just a framework of chopped poultry protein.

But my wife is a tough critic.. and she wants more.

I cant wait to try some different cuts beef, thanks.

Paul

Its good to have Morels

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I grind my own burger meat out of what ever they have in the "special mark down section at the krogers.only get stuff that has a suitable amount of fat in it,(If nothing suitable there, I use chuck roast),,, and grind it in a hand grinder with a plate with 3/8"holes (very course)

after the first grind..I put a touch of fresh ground black pepper and a bit of salt on the pile, and run it thru the grinder again,(same plate),comes out infinately better than the real fine stuff they sell from the stores...

Bud...

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  • 2 months later...

So I revisited and Re-tooled my Burger/ adapting it---- to bite size football snack

Chopped Chicken Breast Meat

Franks Buffalo sauce

Flax Seed

Shallots

Pepper

Maytag Blue

Served on a Hawaiian sweet role _ I topped mine with Shallots and extra sauce!!

6364481997_bfca5b6011.jpg

Nice!!

Its good to have Morels

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That looks fabulous, Paul.

Another concept you might like to play with is a teriyaki burger. You could start with this. I know that it the teriyaki concept works beautifully with ahi tuna, but have given that up on basis of both cost and sustainability, but, my, were they good! Chicken sounds like a great variation on that theme.

eGullet member #80.

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