Home ground meat(s) for burgers

[PZ]

While grinding meats for burgers is nothing new, this is what I have come up with for an economical but very tasty substitute for the 20% fat beef chubs available in the grocery stores.  The ground blend costs less than ground beef and contains bacon, petit sirloin, and pork loin.  Here's my general setup - I use a grinding attachment on my wife's stand mixer.

[Click images to zoom]

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Trimmed pork loin at the left, petit sirloin on the right, and bacon up top.  The spices I use are at the top of the image, and the sage at the far right came from our garden.  I purchased each of the meats for less than $3 per pound, ant that is about a dollar less than the price for ground beef in the grocery store.

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Burgers are grillin' (my wife hardly lets me use her grill, and this was no exception - she's off camera to the left)

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Finished patties - tender and moist ( we do not manipulate nor press the ground meat very much).

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I like to slop all kinds of things on my burgers - a habit left over from when I was a kid in Ohio, and a dollar bought me 4 hot dogs and permission to put as much condiment as I could on them (I was a hungry kid with not much money)

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Tender and juicy; you can taste the bacon, pork and steak all melding in your mouth in a perfect harmony of balanced flavors (yeah, I know... how can you tell with all that mustard and catsup!)  However, if you have not tried fresh sage in your ground meat, you might consider it - the herbal notes are like nothing else in a burger.

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Ready to eat with my sweetie!  Life doesn't get better than this, and I am grateful for every day that I am able to open my eyes to another day.

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[nexor]

Looks great PZ   :-X   :)

[PZ]

Thanks nex; as I become a bit more competent in the kitchen, I'm looking for ways to expand our taste horizons  :-()

[nexor]

And have the rest of us drooling over our keyboards, some people......... 8-X

[PZ]

And have the rest of us drooling over our keyboards, some people......... 8-X

Sorry guys! 

I went to the butcher shop today and purchased what they call "bag meat" which is a large chunk of whatever cut they are selling.  The prices were really good:

• Brisket - $2.99/lb (13 lbs) - I plan to do charcoal smoke on this one, and do it Texas style, all day with plenty of beers and friends
• New York steaks - $2.99/lb (12 lbs) - this is cheap enough so that I'm planning to use some of it for ground meat, like in this thread - I imagine those steak burgers will taste plenty good.
• Ribeye steaks - $3.99/lb (12 lbs) - they look great and will be used for searing.  However, at $3.99/lb, that is the same price as 15% ground beef at the local grocery store.  Kind of outrageous that I can get ribeye at a butcher shop for the same price as I can get ground beef at the marker.

I cut the large slabs of meat into inch and a half thick slices, and FoodSavered two per bag, for an average weight of 12 ounces per steak.

Sure does pay to purchase in bulk.

[Art Blade]

I can eat in bulk.

[PZ]

   Same here; that's why my bulk is increasing!

[Art Blade]

want to compete?  :-()

[PZ]

Heavens no!  That's a competition that I would definitely want to lose 

[Art Blade]

at least one I might win, then  :-D