Great burger mix

[jaybee]

After enjoying the burger at City Hall (Thanks to Fat Guy), I was tipped by Henry Meer to their "secret."  "We mix brisket in with the sirloin, pan broil then finish in the salamandar for a crust," Meer told me as I left the restaurant. As quick as I could I ordered a mix of 1/2 pound brisket and 1 1/2 lbs sirloin ground at my neighborhood Ottomanelli's.  The perplexed look of the butcher not withstanding, he checked the paper I gave my wife, shrugged, and filled the order. Making two baseball sized patties, slightly flattened, I broiled them in my trusty forty year old "QuartzBroil" to a nice top crust. The result was the best home made burger I've had to date.  The meat tasted, well, meatier, beefier with no greasiness.  The middle was moist but not overly juicy and the crust was nicely al dente.  Just a little salt, pepper and ketchup with a fresh kaiser roll and I was in heaven.  I repeated this performance again the following two nights with similar results, though the three day old meat lost a some of its ultra fresh taste, it was still better than any previous burger I've made.  Maybe I'm just kidding myself?  If any of you burger lovers try this mix, I'd like the hear what you think of it.  I intend to make it my regular burger mix from now on.  NB: my brother in law was turned down by Schaller & Weber for the brisket grind.  They did not want to cut up the piece for only a portion.

[skoolpsyk]

finally this post is back up!

Hey, how lean was the sirloin you used?

[Roger McShane]

Please, please, don't use lean meat for your burger! You need 20% to 25% of fat for it to work properly. Any less fat than that and you have cardboard wafers!

[jaybee]

Hey, how lean was the sirloin you used?

I didn't specify that to the butcher, but generally, their fresh ground sirloin is about 15% fat.  With the brisket added in, the overall % of fat probably approached 20% which, as Roger McShane says, is minimum for a tasty, moist burger.  I later asked Meer if I was on the right track with my homemade mix and he smiled and said he hoped I would still come back and eat at his restaurant anyway.  I think he uses a lot of cuttings from his pot roast and sirloins to make his burger mix.  This one worked for me!

[Wilfrid]

I thought the use of brisket was a stunning innovation by Boulud at his bistro!  I mean, I know he uses foie gras too, but the brisket was a lot more noticeable than the foie gras when I ate there.

[Malawry]

Wouldn't brisket make your burger tougher?

[tommy]

i'm assuming the brisket in the db burger is braised, so it is very tender.  i don't think that there is enough of it on the burger to make too much of a textural difference.

[Wilfrid]

Yes, I think the brisket is braised for the Bouludburger.  I wonder if they chop it after braising it?

[Malawry]

So you mean these burgers are made of an amalgamation of cooked brisket and uncooked ground beef? Have patience with me here, I haven't cooked meat in about a decade (even if that is about to change).

[jaybee]

Posted on April 08 2002,17:13 So you mean these burgers are made of an amalgamation of cooked brisket and uncooked ground beef?

No, the brisket is raw (uncooked) when it is ground into the sirloin, so the mix from the butcher is an amalgam of sirloin and brisket.  I make patties from this mix and broil them.  I believe that is the way they make them in City Hall too.  I've never tried foie gras mixed in, but I'll leave that for a restaurant experience.

[=Mark]

How would adding brisket, a very lean cut, increase the ratio of fat to lean?  Did you retain the fat cap?

[jaybee]

markstevens

Posted: April 11 2002,10:08   

How would adding brisket, a very lean cut, increase the ratio of fat to lean?  Did you retain the fat cap?

Good question. I must admit to ignorance here.  I simply told the butcher I wanted two pounds of ground beef; to combine 1/2 lb ground brisket and 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin, well mixed.  That's what he says he gave me.  The result was delicious burger.

[Stone]

Please, please, don't use lean meat for your burger! You need 20% to 25% of fat for it to work properly. Any less fat than that and you have cardboard wafers!

Really? Some of my favorite burgers came from Citarella's lean ground chuck. I'm assuming it had a lower fat content.

[JAZ]

In the 2002 edition of the book Best Food Writing, there's a piece describing the burgers at a place called Tookie's in Texas. They're apparetnly famous for the "squealer," in which the beef for the burger is mixed with diced bacon. I very rarely cook burgers, but I'm wondering if this might be worth trying out. Seems to me that if you started with fairly lean ground chuck, the bacon would add the necessary fat, plus, well, bacon flavor. But my concern would be that the bacon wouldn't cook enough, and there are very few things ickier than underdone bacon. Any opinions?

[col klink]

In the 2002 edition of the book Best Food Writing, there's a piece describing the burgers at a place called Tookie's in Texas. They're apparetnly famous for the "squealer," in which the beef for the burger is mixed with diced bacon. I very rarely cook burgers, but I'm wondering if this might be worth trying out. Seems to me that if you started with fairly lean ground chuck, the bacon would add the necessary fat, plus, well, bacon flavor. But my concern would be that the bacon wouldn't cook enough, and there are very few things ickier than underdone bacon. Any opinions?

That sounds good enough for me. I have some guanciale at the moment, that will work even better that than bacon.

[IrishCream]

Ummm...Texas is a big state. But if they are talking about the Tookie's in Kemah (Seabrook) Texas, then I have eatan it. I would recommend grinding the bacon in with the beef rather than dicing it. Or parboiling diced bacon first.

[JAZ]

Ummm...Texas is a big state.  But if they are talking about the Tookie's in Kemah (Seabrook) Texas, then I have eatan it.  I would recommend grinding the bacon in with the beef rather than dicing it.  Or parboiling diced bacon first.

Yes, it is in Seabrook. So, I assume that as served there, the bacon is in a pretty large dice and still too fatty? That was my concern when I read about it. Is that why you think it'd be better to parboil it first, or grind it?

[IrishCream]

Yes...although that is just my opinion. Apparently, there are lots of people who enjoy it.

[elyse]

I've been fantasizing about adding a strip or two of bacon when grinding meat. I guess if I were to finally do it, I would grind in two stages. One would be the beef mixture, and one would have the added bacon. When forming the patties, I'd wrap the beef one with the added bacon mixture so I'd be left with cooked bacon on the outside. In case anyone's interested...