I had need of several pounds of ground beef
for recipes the wife was making. I had none
at hand, so I ground some cubed round steak.

This cubed round steak was from a cow my
father-in-law purchased from the Ottawa
county fair last fall. Cut by local butcher,
freezer wrapped. Decent meat. Been frozen
since last September. I cut the steaks cross-ways
into strips, and ground it, fat and all. I ended
up with about 12lbs of ground beef. Very red,
not particularly marbled, however. It was
extremely lean ground round.

Unfortunately, the taste of the cooked meat
was not that great. She made some meatballs
with it, and there was almost an "off" taste to
them. The meat did not seem to have that
savory flavor we generally associate with
hamburger or ground beef. The chili she made
was OK, as was a Mexican taco pie type dish,
obviously the spices carried the day on those
two items.

So, I am wondering. Was there too little fat
for decent flavor? Should I have added some
fat, or other cuts of meat into the mix? What
is the best way to achieve a decent tasting
ground beef mixture that can be used for
burgers, lightly spiced dishes and similar
things? Is cubed round steak the wrong cut
to use for that purpose?

Thanks.

--
Tank

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