Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Cheaper, Leaner, Better Ground Beef


I've been to the meat counter several times in my day, and I've never seen what I saw the other day.

You're intrigued, aren't you? (wink) 

An older couple had a giant box loaded with hamburger. I politely asked them if it was less expensive per pound if they bought in bulk, and they said--

Round steak was on sale for $1.99/lb. They picked out several steaks and asked the butcher to grind it for them into hamburger. Who knew. What a great tip!

The butcher gladly did the same for me, and I wound up with several pounds of ground round at the same price as 80/20 hamburger on sale. It is a little dry for hamburgers on the grill but great for everything else.

Using my reporting skills for you, upon further questioning of the butcher, you can do this with pretty much any cut of beef that's on sale, although some will make better hamburger than others. He said when chuck roasts go on sale, they grind up nicely into ground beef.

I once read (maybe it was Elizabeth Elliot who wrote to her daughter in Let Me Be a Woman) the recommendation to find a good butcher and get to know him/her well. The butcher will be an invaluable source of information in one's cooking life.


4 comments:

  1. Great tip! I know that our supermarket butcher will cut up large pieces of meat (like a whole pork tenderloin), but I've never asked if they would grind meat to order.

    I have a meat grinder, and I used to grind London broil when it was on sale. I got out of the habit because the machine was such a mess to clean up.

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  2. Hi Melissa,
    Yeah--use their meat grinder and keep yours clean!! :) Have a great day!
    Were you happy with how the London Broil turned out as hamburger?? I see it goes on sale a lot. I will have to add that to my list of hamburger cuts!
    Blessings,
    Cheryl

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  3. We thought the London broil made fine ground beef. I think it's top round, isn't it?

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  4. We've been getting London Broil ground up when its on sale for a couple years now (here in our small town the sale price ranges anywhere from $1.79-1.86/lb). I usually have it trimmed first (saves me a step not having to drain grease when cooking it), but try to keep some untrimmed in the freezer for burgers on the grill or just mix it w/regular ground beef.

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