alan wrote:
> I did used a Kitchen Aid grinder attachment to make chopped meat for
> hamburgers and it was very simple and most of it went into the
> dishwasher. I was just going to by ground sirloin at another market
> but it's a zoo there so I decided to get three pieces of sirloin cut
> for london broil. I ground in everything and didn't trim it at all.
> I used the metal extruder plate with the small holes.
>
> After I was finished, I mixed it all together with my hands not for
> too long and maybe not long enough. I made hamburgers that were 1/3
> of a pound each but I felt that I didn't compact them enough.
>
> Out of 10 people who were there, 9 wanted their hamburgers medium to
> well. I should have made mine after everyone else's because I like
> mine medium rare. I was disappointed with the taste. I don't know if
> it was from one of 3 reasons or maybe all of them.
>
> 1. Perhaps I didn't mixup the meat enough after it was ground.
> 2. Perhaps I didn't compress the patties enough. It seemed as though
> they were to soft and almost flakey.
> 3. Perhaps sirloin london broil doesn't make good hamburgers as it
> might be too lean. I had no way of measuring but the meat could have
> been 95% lean and that is too lean for a good hamburger. .
> 4. Maybe it was just a little too overcooked but I don't think it was
> only that.
>
> Can you make hamburgers out of london broil or meat cut for steaks?
> Will the fat content be too low and if so, what do you use? Before I
> saw the sirloin, I was going to try top round and skirt steak. Maybe
> I should have mixed the skirt steak with the sirloin.

Sirloin composes an entire section of beef so it depends which cut you
used. I prefer top round to any cut of sirloin for burgers... on Lung
Guyland there's even a very nice family restaurant called The Ground
Round, their burgers are superb and I rarely choose burgers from any
menu, but there you can actually watch them grind the meat to order.

Top round doesn't contain quite enough fat but rather than adding fat
from other cuts, after cutting the meat into strips for grinding I give
it a light coating of neutral flavored olive oil, adds fat but no
cholesterol... also lubes the grinder... I even sometimes coat the
burgers with olive oil just before they go on the grill, they don't
stick and a nice crust forms. I sometimes grind chuck for burgers too
but the better cuts are best for pot roast, or chuck steaks for
grilling, but don't make for an improved burger and costs about twice
top round.

Another thing to keep in mind is to never grind previously frozen
meat... you can get away with freezing meat you've just ground without
too much degradation but once meat is frozen, besides the liquid that
exudes upon thawing, gtinding squeezes out so much more liquid that you
really can't use it to make decent burgers. Still, the best burgers
are from meat that's never been frozen and cooked within an hour of
grinding.

Another problem you encountered is that the KA grinder attachment
really is incapable of achieving the proper texture, it's so teeny it
*tears* rather than cuts cleanly, it produces a kind of meat mush.

Sheldon