He has another recipe in which he uses a combination chuck, aged short rib meat and brisket.  That sounds better to me, more burger-like than plain sirloin.  Definitely, I would add some chuck, even if you don't go for the ribs and brisket because it has that great beefy flavor that you want in a burger and this is a case where I think you need more fat than what you get in most sirloin cuts.

I want to grind my own too.  I should get the attachment for the KitchenAid (yikes, it's expensive).

When you form the burgers, use some ice water on your hands, don't pack the meat down firmly, just form it enough that it'll hold together.  Putting a divot in the center of the burger really works.  While some associate charred food with barbecuing, try not getting any char on it one time, just give it some hickory smoke over the grill.  Charring to me, is kind of the cheat's way of screaming too loudly, 'this food's been grilled' and it really overwhelms the flavor of the burger, it can be bitter and it's also not healthy to eat burned food.

Last edited by MsPablo (Sun 06 May 12 10:50pm)

I have been experimenting the past few years with custom grind blends.   Lots of research online led me to a few different ones .

1 part chuck/1part brisket /2 parts sirloin( I think thomas keller is an advocat of this blend) was touted highly but while good wasn't what I was looking for.

some tips from Jeffrey steingarten are pretty good here. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/200 … thful.html

his blend of 2 parts chuck, 2 parts boneless short rib  , 1 part brisket is darn good but still not my favourite , but he is spot on about adding in a bit of cold water( or better yet some crushed ice with the meat as you are grinding. )   

MsPablo is spot on about having cold hands and being very fast and lighthanded when forming your patties.. you want them to barely come together.


Salting before or after grinding or even just salting the patty as it goes on the heat or after it is cooked is pretty contentious.   On this I don't think there is an absolute answer.  Experiment with this yourself and find what you like best.   Salting before grinding and being very careful to not overwork the meat when forming the patty and cooking right away  is my preference but I do see the arguement about it toughing up the burger patty.   Salt denatures the meat protein which causes it to glue itself together again  ,  cold meat, added cold water or ice, not overworking and using it right away mitigates most of that and the fullness of seasoning of having the salt blended through the meat more than compensates for any textural difference it makes imo


My preferred blend is a  equal parts mix of  chuck and tritip . ( tritip is a steak that is from the sirloin primal.  It is actually the very bottom muscle of the sirloin primal right above the kneecap )  Also called triangle steak in the UK or Steak Tail in other places.  Interesting and amusingly enough it is known as Bürgermeisterstück    in German (which  I just googled. )    Historically it was usually used in ground beef  before the 1950's according to wiki.


I chill the meat and then cut into managable chunks , salt and pepper just before grinding . 0.75% by weight of kosher  salt to meat. pepper is just by eye. I like my burgers fairly peppery though.
I grind  with a bit of cold water or ice  on the large plate  of my KA .

patties are formed  immediatly  and quickly after grinding .   Into a hot pan or preferably onto a hot ready charcoal grill.   


edit.   kosher salt doesn't pack as tightly as say fine sea salt or table salt  because of its flaked shape,  so some of that weight will be air, which means that if you aren't using kosher I would use less of these kinds of salt.

edit #2-  I know everyone likes the nice grill marks from doing the one turn then flip then turn again method but I am in the flip it often camp , for just about any meat.  It cooks more evenly and the outside ends up with more browning( mailard) which is where so much flavour comes from in grilled food. Harold Mcgee and Adam Perry Lang brought me around to this , even though I was loathe to give up my pretty grill marks. 

Last edited by Ashen (Mon 07 May 12 8:00am)

Cheers good people, keep them coming. I am about to time out on a Library computer, will write more when I am at home.

Fat is a great thing. The sirloin was good, not cheap; I also thought perhaps I should have just had the steak.
Chuck Brisket Sirloin sounds like one to try.
I hit London soon ish. I am going to Bread street, its burger scored 9.5 with http://www.hamburger-me.com/
And Gordon Ramsay is its owner, win, win, win.
If its brown its cooked, if its black it’s ??????. That said I like char on a burger, childhood memories again.
Triangle steak is another one to investigate.
What to put on top hmmmmm.

Last edited by @nGoose1 (Tue 15 May 12 12:37am)