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I like both ground beef and ground turkey. I like ground turkey with barbecue sauce.
The only problem I have with ground turkey is that when I cook a turkey burger, I find myself surrounded by four-legged furry creatures with pointed ears staring up at me imploringly. I've learned to cook up a small amount of ground turkey in a separate pan so that I can eat my turkey burger in peace.
As everyone else says, the fat is what tastes good. I buy the lean. My favorite is really ground round, which is generally 85/15, but I've noticed that they don't label beef as to the cut anymore. It just says "ground beef" instead of ground round, ground chuck, etc., which makes me a little nervous.
We can't stand ground turkey. For general "ground beef" recipes, I use 80/20. If we want burgers, & want to cook them a little less than well-done, I grind up a Chuck roast myself (including the fat). You can have it ground by your meat department/butcher, but you don't know if they thoroughly clean their grinder between each separate use (I seriously doubt it), it's just safer to do it yourself. You can get a grinder attachment for a Kitchenaid mixer, or use a food processor. I like to use ground bison in chili.
Different recipes require different types of ground beef.
For burgers I go with ground chuck (when Winn Dixie put these on sale I Stock my stand alone freezer with get a bunch of these chuck roasts, some I grind for burgers others for pot roasts)
For my special meat sauces dishes I grind short ribs, and sirloin mix. (the sirloins I also buy when on sales and slice, cube and ground the whole sirloin)
For my pork I also get a whole picnic shoulder and cube or grind ( standard meatballs are a combination of sirloin and ground pork)
My dad has a meat grinder, slicer and as a family we usually buy whole pieces when on sale and process ourselves.
I will say as another poster mentioned the whole pig we buy for lechon that is farm raised is a heck of lot better then any of the pork products we buy in the supermarket.
I definitely agree that grinding your own or buying from a butcher is the way to go. I like an 80/20 mix for most purposes.
I usually buy whole sirloins or top loins from Costco or direct from farms and butcher those into steaks or roasts. I always have a good amount of meat trimmings left over that I can use for kebabs, stews, or grinding. One of the best things about grinding your own is that it should be a little frozen when you grind it, so if you've forgotten to defrost something for dinner you can partially defrost frozen grind meat in lukewarm water for 5-10 minutes and then grind it. Costco also sells "chuck short ribs" that make great ground beef.
My grandfather was a butcher and always ground his own meat at home. My mom said it's better than any supermarket chop meat. He would take lamb, cooked potatoes and an onion, grind it all together and make frikadellen.
I like both ground beef and ground turkey. I like ground turkey with barbecue sauce.
The only problem I have with ground turkey is that when I cook a turkey burger, I find myself surrounded by four-legged furry creatures with pointed ears staring up at me imploringly. I've learned to cook up a small amount of ground turkey in a separate pan so that I can eat my turkey burger in peace.
As everyone else says, the fat is what tastes good. I buy the lean. My favorite is really ground round, which is generally 85/15, but I've noticed that they don't label beef as to the cut anymore. It just says "ground beef" instead of ground round, ground chuck, etc., which makes me a little nervous.
two ways to label burger
by percentages or by the primal as in ground chuck or ground round.. most of the butcher shops/independent stores in this area stil labels as ground chuck or ground round
most of the chain/box stores sell by percentages(lean to fat like 80/20) if you buy a package with a percentage as a description, it is usually part of a huge batch of burger that has been tested , placed in tubes for grinding, or gas flushed pre-pack
if you want the freshest burger,,do it yourself, ,, or ask the butcher to grind a chuck roast on sale, or buy from a butcher shop/independent stores
if you buy burger from a store that doesnt have butchers, it isnt that fresh,,or its gas-flushed.
[quote=kgordeeva;32948667......... if more expensive ground beef really does taste better. ........[/quote]
Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. It depends upon why it is more expensive.
The flavor in beef depends upon how the animal was raised, how it was butchered, and how the meat was aged. If the beef is expensive because it is labeled "organic" or "Grass fed", maybe it will be good and maybe it won't.
Grass fed beef can be very good, if the animal was carefully raised, fed correctly, killed without stress, and hung and aged correctly. Grass fed beef can be tough, stringy and off-flavored if the animal was not raised well and the meat was not handled well.
Grass fed beef is often not good. The "grass fed" farmers have convinced the public that "grass fed" beef should be extra lean. Well, lean beef means no fat and the only way you get a skinny cow is to starve the cow or to feed a poor quality diet. Well raised cattle on quality pasture are fat as pigs with nothing to eat but the pasture. They should not be skinny, which means that the meat will not be lean.
Cheap feed can give off flavors to beef, whether it is organic or not. The quality feed that makes good beef is mighty expensive if it is all certified organic. So, corners can sometimes be cut with the quality, resulting in off flavors.
The best beef is dry aged. OP, I suggest that you see if there is a custom butcher in your area that sells to the public. Some of those custom butchers will buy sides and dry age them and sell by the piece to the public. Expect to pay a lot of money for that burger. It won't be organic or "grass fed", but it will be worth the high price. Most of those custom butchers won't sell anything smaller than a side, but some of them also have a meat counter. You will have to get on the phone and call around.
I don't like super market hamburger. Especially the stuff that is sold in tubes. Bletch. Supermarket hamburger has an off smell to me.
I buy a whole beef shoulder and grind my own. When my son buys the shoulder, he will spring for the extra 20 cents a pound to buy the certified angus. It's higher fat, but excellent flavor, so next time, I will buy a shoulder and a round in the certified Angus and mix them together and see how that works.
If you have to buy in smaller amounts, OP, Costco sells decent hamburger. It's not cheap, but it's decent quality for pre-ground meat..
Incidentally, all beef in the USA and Canada (which is what we buy in our supermarkets) is grass fed beef. Cattle are raised on pasture up until the last couple of months, when feed lot cattle are put onto grain and hay. Hay is grass so cattle raised on hay are grass fed cattle.
A suggestion for those of you who prefer lean red meat: buy bison. It has excellent flavor and very little fat.
good suggestion..., but bison is $10.00lb in these parts
out of my price range-
we have a few deer farms in the area , some stores do sell frozen venison burger and steaks..but again, very expensive..
about 15 years ago someone started harvesting fresh rabbits in this area,,, the name of the business was called "the last hop"
and it featured Bunny Burgers .... which were very good!!
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