Was thinking about getting the meat grinder attachment for our kitchenaid mixer but wanted to get some tips for getting the right fat content for burgers. Just trying to get a better understanding ding of how I know the fat content of the burgers and what fats I need to add in to get the mixture correct.
That’s not my question. How do I know it’s 80/20 or 75/25? My question is how do I know the fat content is correct if I’m grinding burgers myself?
In a perfect world of lean and fat all you need is a scale and calculator. Let's say you want to make 10 pounds of hamburger..... For a 90/10 ratio, start with 9 pounds of lean meat and add 1 pound of fat. For a 80/20 ratio, start with 8 pounds of lean and add 2 pounds of fat. There are a couple of other calculation methods to get the true lean to fat ratios, one is called Pearson's square, and the other is the lean point. There are also lab tests that can determine this. What myself and most people go by is called the "source grind" method which means... meat from a particular area of a steer has a somewhat consistent fat ratio.
Ground sirloin is roughly 10% fat. Select this if you want 90/10 burger and you will be really close.
Ground round is around 12% fat.
Ground chuck is usually 15% to 20% fat. This will be close to a 80/20 ratio.
Ground brisket will be 20% + fat.
With these approximate percentages you can experiment with different ratios and flavor profiles. For example
1. 50% brisket - 50% sirloin
2. 50% chuck - 50% sirloin
3. 33% brisket - 33% chuck - 33% sirloin
4. 40% chuck - 40% boneless short ribs - 20% brisket
5. 50% sirloin - 25% chuck - 25% brisket
Also, you can add ground pork into your ground beef, but pork that is sourced from different areas of a hog also has different lean to fat ratios. Pork butt is 25% to 30% fat depending on your degree of trimming (perfect for making sausage), pork loin would be 8% to 10% fat.
