ground beef

[bucketmouth64]

What is the difference in ground beef, ground round, and ground chuck? What kind of meals would you use each for and why not the others? I usually buy 93% ground beef.

[reinhard1]

the main difference is in the leaness or fat content. for burgers 80% ground chuck is the best. the meat from the chuck is the best tasting in my opinion. so from there on up in leaness with the next being 85% that still can be used for burgers but anything higher goes into hot dishes, spagettie sauce, were leaner beef is used in most cases. your 93% is too lean for burgers in my opinion, but if your on a diet, or for health reasons it would be a good choice. when they say ground chuck the meat comes from the chuck, ground round comes from the round and if its just plain ground beef its usualy a mix of trim and 75% lean. good luck.

[leech~~]

What is the difference in ground beef, ground round, and ground chuck? What kind of meals would you use each for and why not the others? I usually buy 93% ground beef.

As soon as reinhard1 wakes up I'm sure he will be able to chim in here. He was a butcher for many years!

See! didn't even get to post it and he was on this!!

[reinhard1]

grandkids weekend, cant get on the puter as much as i want. was also going to say that 80% ground chuck is what i use basicly for everything fo it has the best flavor. you can always drain the fat for sauces or hot dishes, and most of the fat drips down while grilling. fresh ground round when i was a kid we put on fresh baked bread with salt and pepper and onions. but it had to be freshly ground. i would not try it with store bought. good luck.

[Jim Almquist]

fresh ground round when i was a kid we put on fresh baked bread with salt and pepper and onions. but it had to be freshly ground. i would not try it with store bought. good luck.

We would put it on fresh saltines with salt,pepper and onions. Good Stuff

[reinhard1]

that sounds great too. we just loved it. i just hesitate to do it with store bought beef. with all the gas flushed pacs and very few places that still cut from hanging beef i hesitate to eat it raw. but from a service counter from the morning grind i would have it again. it would have to be ground round. good luck.

[Steve Foss]

Those of us who don't know where all the cuts of a beef come from still don't understand where ground chuck and ground round come from. I think we get the "ground" part.

Also, is the "ground beef" we buy in the store simply beef scraps ground up like what we do when we process vennie?

[reinhard1]

ground chuck comes from the front quarter of the animal. this is where you get cuts like chuck roast and arm roasts for example. this is where you get the flavor and the difference in fat content. ground round comes from the hind quarter where you get the round steak,tip roast,rump roast. those are the trimmings you use for ground round. only the lean parts of the round. you get sirloin steaks, t-bones, porterhouse also but those trimings go into the mix for regular ground beef. same with the front quarter with the prime rib trimming and other trim like the shank. so ground chuck is only from the chuch [roast part] and the ground round is only from the lean round rump area. i hope this helps, as i was typing this my grandkids and two puppies were running around [kind of distracting].

[bucketmouth64]

the main difference is in the leaness or fat content. for burgers 80% ground chuck is the best. the meat from the chuck is the best tasting in my opinion. so from there on up in leaness with the next being 85% that still can be used for burgers but anything higher goes into hot dishes, spagettie sauce, were leaner beef is used in most cases. your 93% is too lean for burgers in my opinion, but if your on a diet, or for health reasons it would be a good choice. when they say ground chuck the meat comes from the chuck, ground round comes from the round and if its just plain ground beef its usualy a mix of trim and 75% lean. good luck.

Thanks for the clarity. You are right that 93% lean isn't good for burgers. I always found them and my meatloaf to be on the dry side. I think I'll be changing what I buy.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, RH1. That explains it all.

[BLACKJACK]

ground chuck comes from the front quarter of the animal. this is where you get cuts like chuck roast and arm roasts for example. this is where you get the flavor and the difference in fat content. ground round comes from the hind quarter where you get the round steak,tip roast,rump roast. those are the trimmings you use for ground round. only the lean parts of the round. you get sirloin steaks, t-bones, porterhouse also but those trimings go into the mix for regular ground beef. same with the front quarter with the prime rib trimming and other trim like the shank. so ground chuck is only from the chuch [roast part] and the ground round is only from the lean round rump area. i hope this helps, as i was typing this my grandkids and two puppies were running around [kind of distracting].

I think a lot depends upon the butcher and how 'discriminating' they are about tossing the trimmed fat away - or into the 'grind it' pile. I normally buy beef quarters, and have bought from several different farmers that use different butchers. I've taken two pounds of burger from different sources out of the freezer for a meatloaf and you can see the difference in the burger, one is whiter, with more fat in it. That butcher tossed more fatty trim into the burger.

I'm not very happy with my current quarter of beef, too much fat. The chuck roasts had 1/2 inch thicknesses of fat around it and even thru it. Same way with the steaks, big 1/2 portions of fat around them. And the burger is very white looking. Now is that the farmers fault for raising a fat porker of a steer or is it the butchers fault for not trimming enough?? Doesn't matter to me, I won't be buying from that source again. I know you need some fat/marbling but in comparison to other quarters that I've bought, this one is too fatty.

[reinhard1]

it's the butcher's fault. if they dont want to take the time to make your beef table ready then i would not waste my time with them. the meat should be according to your order, not according how they want to prepare it for you. i dont know if you can but i would return it and ask for my money back.

as for the ground beef. if the package says ground chuck then it's ground chuck. if it states ground round then it has to be made with trim from the round. you can purchase ground chuck in pre packaged tubes or in the service case. most of the time it is graded by leaness : 75%,80%,85%,93%and 97%. by standards it cannot be less leaness than stated but can be more. the 75% or regular ground beef is made from all the trim from the animal. just a mix. there are times when a store like cub for example has a chuck roast sale, and their regular ground beef will be leaner because of the extra trim that week and often times on sale in store. thats the time to grab it.

i'm realy sorry to hear about your purchase. totaly uncalled for and they should be emarrassed to give you something like that. good luck.

[pureinsanity]

All this talk about ground beef makes me want some tar tar!

[Mike89]

this is a good one, I do meat inspection for a living and I'm some times surprized by what the general public does not understand, but then when I started things were not crazy!! you want some fat for the flavor at the very least. it'e like buying a choise steak and a select, but some people think select is the only way to go. OUCH in my book, they might "treat" it, but a good choise steak or a good burger blend is all I want.

[thirdeye]

Hey Steve, here is a visual on what reinhard1 described so well.

Here is my take on burger.... it's all in the beef, there is all kinds of burger out there, but I'm going to break it down into two main categories. Store ground and home ground. If you can grind it at home, do so. Some mixers even have an inexpensive grinder attachment, maybe $50 or so. So you don't need a $300 grinder.

REGULAR GROUND BEEF

This is the standard in the supermarket. It comes from pieces of meat that can't be sold as something else and from trimmings from a variety of cuts. About your only choice with regular ground beef is the fat content. It will be marked 70/30, 80/20, 90/10 or something along those lines. The first number represents the amount of lean meat, the second number represents the amount of fat.

SPECIAL GROUND BEEF

The next step up on the ground beef ladder is meat ground from a particular muscle or muscle group. Ground round, ground sirloin, ground chuck all come from a particular area of a beef. These choices are common in the meat case or at your butcher shop. You can also grind these at home.

CUSTOM GROUND BEEF BLEND

This is a high end choice. You won't find these "blend" options in the meat case, and it will be special order for the butcher shop. Unless they are doing something like this for a restaurant customer, you will have to supply the ratios. But just like the special grind, it's really easy for you to grind this at home. Here are some of my recipes to get you started. Don't be afraid to experiment. You are trying to get a balance of flavor and texture. These blends are more suited for hamburgers, hamburger steaks, meatloaf or some real good red chili.

1. 50% brisket - 50% sirloin

2. 50% chuck - 50% sirloin

3. 33% brisket - 33% chuck - 33% sirloin

4. 40% chuck - 40% boneless short ribs - 20% brisket

One thing to consider is supplementing some flank steak for brisket. For example #1 calls for 50% brisket and 50% sirloin. You could make that 25% brisket, 25% flank, and 50% sirloin.

All that said, Mrs ~t~ likes to use real lean ground beef most of the time and the 90/10 is what she buys. I'm with you guys, and that is pretty lean for a hamburger.... so I have her get me buffalo. It's naturally lean and I like the flavor. I make sure not to overcook it, and it really works for me.

[reinhard1]

great post third eye. but i got to tell you those custom blends are spendy but sure would taste great. like you i buy whole bonless chucks and have ground the whole thing at times when i can get a good price. but up here even sam's club prices are spendy for briskets, sirloin, and flank steak. flank steaks in a regular grocery store is over $8 per pound and in sams here just under $5. but outside of me being frugal [hate to call myself cheap ] those custom blends would be the ultimate burger as you have described each blend. tasty picture of that burger. good luck.