Grinding Chop Meat

I have been grinding my own chop meat for burgers. I've used bottom round, stew meat or just about anything on sale. If it's too lean, I've added suet. Problem is, I can't keep the burgers from falling apart on the grill. Also, after freezing, the meat is watery???

Any suggestions? Is there a particular meat I should be grinding?

Thanks, Todd.

Can't really help with the watery issue, but I've been grinding briskets this year that I got when they were on sale for $.99lb. Can't buy regular burger meat for that!

I've found that running the meat through the grinder twice seems to help the patties stick together on the grill better.

Yes chuck roasts are the best to grind for yourself. Most times comes out to be 80/20. If you are using a bottom round when ground by itself with fat still attached it comes out to be around 85/15. Like the other guy said, we send our hamburger through the grinder 3 times (2 times through and catch it on the third). Hope this helps.

Mike

boatnut said:

the water issue kinda confounds me...unless it was previously frozen maybe? When i grind meat for burgers. it's mostly always ground chuck. i buy chuck roasts on sale then grind. Sometimes i'll buy a hunk of sirloin roast from sams and grind but prefer chuck. this grinding twice or three times is new to me. what is the advantage? i've found that minimally pressing and shaping the meat makes for juicer burgers.

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Not sure on the advantage but ALL grocery store when they grind their trimming always grinds them twice and catch it on the third time.

Mike

Bind with Bread, Crumbs & Egg

I grind 2X too: 1st grind with the coarse disc, 2nd grind with a finer disc.

To keep your burgers together when cooking, just add an egg and a couple slices of bread soaked in milk (squeeze out excess milk) to your burger mix before shaping them into patties. If the meat is very watery, use dry bread crumbs instead of the milk-soaked bread.

I'm with BBQ Bull. I just mix the water back into the meat upon thawing. Excess water shouldn't be an issue if you take fresh meat, grind it and freeze. However, make sure you don't re-freeze thawed meat that you grind.
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