Nonny wrote:

> This has me thinking and remembering. Long ago, we lived near a friend
> who had an unusual way of making hamburger. Perhaps I'll give it a try.
>
> The guy and his family loved steaks and other cuts of beef. As with
> most families, there would be leftovers from cookouts, including large
> chunks of steak. When he'd have a rib roast, say for Thanksgiving or
> Christmas, there would be some cooked leftovers as well. When he'd make
> a stew, he'd have leftovers including uncooked trimmings and stewed meat.
>
> The guy kept a bag in his chest-type freezer and any decent looking
> piece of COOKED or raw beef would be tossed in. Eventually, he'd haul
> the bag out, thaw the meat enough to separate the pieces, then run it
> all through is meat grinder. The resulting hamburger would have a mix
> of (as I recall) about 50-50 cooked and uncooked beef in it: all from
> leftovers and trimmings of large cuts of beef.
>
> The meat was fantastic in chili and even burgers. The previously cooked
> and seasoned leftovers from steak or roasts added tremendously to the
> flavor of the food and to me, it seemed a wise way to use leftovers.
> This was before the concerns of contaminated hamburger. Maybe I'll
> start a bucket in the freezer with leftover meat in it.
>

I can't quite get up the nerve to do this for ground beef, but
I do it for stock. For both cooked and raw scraps that are of
respectable origin.

Freezer burn and other deterioration can be an issue. It effects the
texture mostly, which isn't a problem for stock.

--
Reg