This story was originally published as part of “The Burger Lab” column.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 America's Test Kitchen | 2012-09-18 14:18:12 |  955,059 Views |
Science: Don’t Buy Ground Beef for the Best Burgers. Find out why it’s better to grind your own meat!
When my wife left the country for 11 weeks it brought about a few lifestyle changes. First I started sleeping on the couch with Dumpling (we don’t let the dog in the bed and I feel weird sleeping alone). I also opted to embrace the familiar don’t-do-any-chores-but-do-a-massive-clean-the-day-before-she-gets-back strategy of household cleaning management. Finally without my wife constantly telling me that the air in our apartment was thick with the smell of beef fat I had the chance to continue my exploration of the realm of ground beef with unhindered haste.
I’m a chef by trade but a miller by nature. There’s nothing I enjoy more than the carefully controlled deconstruction and reconstruction of what nature has so painstakingly put together. The Howard Roark of cows if you will. As for the deconstruction method my usual go-to is the KitchenAid meat grinder (check out this article for tips on how to use it and this article for our review of the best models ) but is that always the best method? What about the food processor? Mincing by hand? Or—dare I say it—pre-ground beef?
I grabbed my meat grinder food processor giant Chinese cleaver and 10 pounds of fresh ground beef to find out.
