Grind Your Own Burger

Burgers. I love ’em. And when I got a meat grinder for Christmas the first thing I wanted to make was burgers. Well, sausage too, but I knew I needed to build to that so… burgers. This recipe is really more of a “how to” for using the grinder since the recipe itself is so fluid (meat types, spices), but I will lay this out like the first time I made them.

EGGcessories Needed

Cast Iron Plancha
Meat Grinder

Ingredients

• 1 lb (more or less) Beef Top Round Steak
• 1 lb (more or less) Beef Chuck “Choice” Steak
• 1 lb (more or less) Beef Brisket
• Salt, Pepper, and Creole seasoning (or any seasoning you want really)

Meat Types

As I mentioned earlier, this is a really fluid recipe. As long as the meat if balanced between fatty, sorta lean, and lean you can use whatever you want. In fact, I’m going to try the boneless short rib next time in place of the brisket with no lean meat.

Fatty

Brisket: Distinct beefy flavor. Makes a rich burger.
Boneless Short Rib: Makes an incredibly moist and rich burger

Sorta Lean

Chuck steak: Most commonly used. Usually the base meat with others added.

Lean

Sirloin or Tri-Tip: Good amount of flavor
Round: Very lean and cheap. Good for adjusting protein to fat ratio

Directions

Put meat grinder in the freezer at least 1 hour before using.

As you’ll read through this you’ll notice the “stuff being cold” is super important with meat grinding. I put my meat grinder in the freezer the night before just to make sure it stayed good and cold.

Cut the meat into cubes and place on a baking sheet covered in wax paper.

The ingredients repeat “more or less” for the weights because good luck finding anything at exactly one pound or anything close to it. I think my brisket weight a pound and a half.

Place meat cubes in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

See, more cold stuff!

Run the meat through the grinder using the coarser disk and then again using the finer disk.

I’m going to try running it through the second time with the seasoning included.

Add salt, pepper, and creole seasoning to the ground beef and gently work it in.

Gently shape the burger patties, but do not compact them too much. Make a small dimple in the middle using a finger or thumb to prevent burger bulge.

Lightly season the tops of the burgers with the salt, pepper, and creole seasoning.

Place the burgers in the freezer for 10 minutes.

With good burgers “cold” is the name of the game.

Set the EGG to direct heat and warm to 400° degrees.

Set the cast-iron Plancha in the EGG to heat it up.

I read somewhere that we’re losing a lot of juiciness when we cook burgers on a grill grate so I’ve been cooking them on the Plancha to retain the juice. You can give them a quick shot on the grate to give them the marks if you’ll miss them.

Cook burgers for 4 minutes for medium doneness, then flip and cook for another 4 minutes.

Add cheese if you desire and cook for another minute.