Running butter through a meat grinder

[paulraphael]

Has anyone added fat to burgers by chilling butter, dicing it, and adding it along with the meat? I'm thinking about trying this to kill a couple of birds.

[Tri2Cook]

Ideas in Food has...

[SylviaLovegren]

Has anyone added fat to burgers by chilling butter, dicing it, and adding it along with the meat? I'm thinking about trying this to kill a couple of birds.

 

I use James Beard's idea (probably lots of other people's, too, but that's where I first heard it) of enclosed a pat of butter in the middle of the burger.  Works pretty well for dry-ish meat -- and sometimes you get a Burger Kiev effect!

[Shel_B]

There's a new recipe posted on the Cook's Illustrated site, including a video, that shows a way to do this.

 

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/7969-tender-juicy-grilled-burgers

 

If you don't have access, send me a PM and I'll shoot the directions to you.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[TylerK]

I do this with bone marrow, and it works really well.  I imagine butter would be similar.

[paulraphael]

I'm hoping to use this technique to solve a problem. I've season my meat before grinding it (0.7% salt, 0.2% pepper for burgers). This has always worked well for conventional cooking, but when cooking burger sous-vide, I get a denser texture that's indicative of the salt beginning to denature the proteins and glue them together.

 

 

I'd heard about this but never experienced it before. My suspicion is that sv cooking extends the meat's time in a warm but uncooked temperature range, which accelerates these reactions.

 

Anyway, rather than trying to season the meat after grinding, which is more challenging to do evenly, I'm thinking of incorporating it into a compound butter. The fat will isolate the salt from the proteins, except for the brief period when the interior of the meat is above butter's melting range but below the cooking range. This is just 15 to 20 minutes, according to the time/temp model I used.

 

 

And of course, the butter will open up the option of using leaner cuts of meat, like shin, and still getting a fat level around 20%. (And I've heard butter tastes rather good).

 

Because of the concentration of salt and pepper, putting a pat of butter in the middle of the meat won't work. It will have to be distributed. And so the grinder question. I assume that as long as everything's cold enough it should work fine. Will report back.

[rotuts]

paulraphael

 

Im interested in how your project works out.  when I used to grind my on beef burgers  ( using the Cuisinart method ) I used leaner 

 

cuts of beef but added some pork fat to make up to 85 - 80 % burgers on the theory that pork fat that is not commercially rendered 

 

and hydrogenated is healthier than beef fat.  when i tried butter ( my preferred naturally processed beef fat ) it was too liquid and

 

thus 'greasy' but tasty.

[paulraphael]

Rotus, how much butter were you adding?

[rotuts]

Im sorry I cant say  this was a bit ago.

 

Im just concerned that butter 'soft'   ie on that bread underneath the Cheese  is different than

 

butter melted:  for the Shrimp and the Lobster etc to dip in

 

Its difficult for me to get marrow fat.  fresh etc

 

id go to that rather than butter just because melted butter might not be what you want in the 'perfect' burger.

 

Kiev ?  squirted around all over the place

 

Marrow Kiev ?    

 

well  who is making that  **** yet *****

 

just remember, you heard about it First, Here on the eGullet.

 

it will be in the dinning section of the NYTimes in a couple of weeks.

 

 

[paulraphael]

Makes sense. I can see the lower melting point of butter being an issue if there's a lot of it; maybe not so much if there's not so much. I'm aiming for about 4% by weight. We'll see. Butter appeals because I always have it around. It also may be an opportunity to add some dimension to the flavors, especially if it's cultured butter. The blends of meat I use are plenty beefy already.

[rotuts]

good thiking

 

Buuuuuuuuuut butter melts the same no mater how much you have.  of course the centger of the 4 KG mass might take a few

 

more minutes.

 

what I do w butter on the Burger is this:  if the Burger is an Indoor item, I deglaze the pan with a bit of dry wine

 

then off the heat I add a ( generous ) pat of butter and then put that over the burger.

 

Im keen on you trying Marrow

 

i cant find it easily my area

 

but it got me Mucho interested in Grind Your Own Burgers ( Cuistinart Method My Place )

 

Ill have to study the marrow situation My Area.

 

thanks !