Burger Fat Content

thirdeye said:

Before grinding brisket I trim the good hard fat, then slice into pieces about as wide as my thumb. When prepping the meat for grinding I remove any of the softer fat and toss it. I par-freeze the meat strips and fat strips so I can alternate them when grinding. I do make some 100% ground brisket, but I use it mainly for chili or taco meat, and make it somewhat coarse. It will have a different texture than say sirloin or chuck. This is an example of my coarse grind for chili or tacos (this is pork, not beef)

As to your patties that were soft, floppy and hard to form: Your meat should be firm out of the grinder, and pretty easy to form. Did you use icy meat? And was this a single or double grind, and what size plate? Did you keep the meat cold after grinding?

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Thanks. I cut the brisket into cubes maybe 1/2-3/4" chilled it in the freezer. The plate, IIRC, was 1/8" or 3/16" which I thought at the time was too fine but it was all I had. I have since bought a 1/4" plate. Single grind.

The fat I did trim was the easy hard fat. So all the soft fat went into the grind.

Re when you are alternating fat and meat chunks, since there is quite a bit of intramuscular fat, do you think you actually end up with more than 50% fat in the result?

Colors on computer monitors are always difficult but here are the pale brats and the pale hamburger together with red-handled screwdriver:



Really, I think now that the problem was that trimming the brisket fat is such an obvious thing that nobody in the thread bothered to mentioned it. I did trim some because it looked like so much but I also assumed that no mention of trimming meant that no one was trimming. Wrong.

Bbq_lover said:

If you go 100 percent brisket, you may need to trim the fat aggressively. I do a whole I trimmed brisket with 1 lean sirloin. The result was perfect. Not to much shrinking and taste was amazing. It had the beefy taste of sirloin and buttery taste of brisket.

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Yeah. I think that is where I am headed; some brisket and some leaner cut mixed.

Actually this stuff tastes fine after it is cooked down to mini-sausages and mini-patties with the fat mostly gone. That's the good news I guess.

mtbchip said:

Briskett and boneless rib roast. That's what we put in our KA grinder:biggrin1:. Only goes thru once. We also add a few tablespoons of rendered bacon fat/lb
for that extra smooth goodness.

It's difficult to go back using the assorted scraps and fat the market calls 80/20 (I'm sure it is by weight), just doesn't taste the same :wink:

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Yup. I have the butcher grind up brisket for my burgers. Delicious.

I'm a fan of grinding brisket into burger.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=220370&highlight=brisket+burger

I slice the whole packer, trim the fat while cubing the meat for the grinder. I keep the trimmed fat on hand in case I want to add more to the mix.
Some briskets don't need an addition of fat, some do. I go by color.
Venison and other meats, I like to go one part fat to three parts meat.









I like to can the burger for quick future meals.

airedale said:

Thanks. I cut the brisket into cubes maybe 1/2-3/4" chilled it in the freezer. The plate, IIRC, was 1/8" or 3/16" which I thought at the time was too fine but it was all I had. I have since bought a 1/4" plate. Single grind.

The fat I did trim was the easy hard fat. So all the soft fat went into the grind.

Re when you are alternating fat and meat chunks, since there is quite a bit of intramuscular fat, do you think you actually end up with more than 50% fat in the result?

Colors on computer monitors are always difficult but here are the pale brats and the pale hamburger together with red-handled screwdriver:

Really, I think now that the problem was that trimming the brisket fat is such an obvious thing that nobody in the thread bothered to mentioned it. I did trim some because it looked like so much but I also assumed that no mention of trimming meant that no one was trimming. Wrong.

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Trimming is a given. At least get rid of the loose ends, bone dust, bone fragments and anything that looks weird. Then round any sharp edge or corner, it will just dry out anyway.

Hard fat, like around a ribeye or the edge of a pork chop has flavor, and is edible if you so choose. Hard fat you trim from a brisket is even tastier when ground. The soft fat you left is what you probably found some of tangled around the knife of your grinder and is not that great for eating (so why grind it?).... and some of it made into your burger. The photo from cowgirl showed a good example of trimmed brisket, plus some of the good fat to choose from (when needed) during grinding. As far as the meat/fat ratio of brisket 'flat' (I never grind the point) I bet it's 70:30, or maybe a tick less. I've always thought trimmed chuck was 75:25. But, I've had a couple of meat cutters tell me those numbers are reversed. When I grind meat, it is cold enough that it drops from the grinder on it's own. If it looks like a nightcrawler, it needs chilled.



As far as pale brats, this first photo is from a regional butcher shop, a Basque sausage which are excellent. I'm sure they are 60:40 (or maybe 50:50) and don't get me wrong.... these are made to be grilled and are very good, but I make a leaner version that I'm happier with.

FYI some grocery stores sell ground brisket. Wegmans for example does. It makes for excellent burgers.