by Nick Mangigian
We take a lot of care with our ground beef. In addition to sourcing meat from local farms with conscientious practices, we have been thoughtful with how we developed our two signature blends of ground beef. A couple of the key details:
A Coarser Grind: Our Burger grind is chopped through a ¼ inch die—much thicker than the grind you’ll find anywhere else, and that means you get a gloriously meaty hamburger blend. Our House grind, after extensive testing, goes through a ¼ inch die twice: we tried multiple compositions through both an 1/8th inch die and the ¼ inch twice, and it was no contest: the texture was much more delicious with the double grind.
Blend Composition: We tried a variety of different blends when developing our ground beef recipes: all chuck, all round, different percentage mixes—even trim from the brisket, sirloin, and short rib when we were developing the burger grind. Where we eventually landed was the product of careful trial and error. Our House Grind is mostly chuck, with a little round, because that’s what tasted best. Our Burger Grind includes trim from the rib, loin, and short rib, because that’s what grabbed us by our lapels and screamed: “this is amazing!”
Meat to Fat Ratio: For most applications, 80/20 is the best meat-to-fat ratio. That’s why we spec-ed our house grind to that percentage: we envision the house grind as your do-it-all, day-in, day-out grind, perfect for easy hamburgers, meatloaf, and so on. When it’s time to be indulgent, shortcuts are counterproductive— so we blend our Burger grind at 70/30. When you combine that ratio with the composition and the grind, you get a truly unique (and truly delightful) burger experience.
This February, our House Grind is only $7/lb for the entire month and burger grind is $8/lb! There has never been a better time to get your burger on. But if you’re feeling adventurous, we have a couple other recipe suggestions for you here:
MEAT SAUCE
There are ways to spend lots of time making a decadent meat sauce. But if all you have is 45 minutes, a pound of ground beef, and whatever’s in your pantry, it’s hard to beat this meat-enhanced adaptation of Marcella Hazan’s iconic butter-tomato sauce.
You will need:
1 pound House Grind
1 can San Marzano Tomatoes, crushed
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
3 tbsp butter
salt, pepper, oregano to taste
Heat a 3 or 4 quart pot with a small glug of olive oil and brown as much of the ground beef as can fit without crowding.
When meat is browned, add San Marzanos and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, scraping off any fond that has developed at the bottom of the pot. If there is additional, un-browned ground beef, you can add it now.
Also add the butter and the halved onion, and let all ingredients simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove onion and season to taste: salt and pepper on their own are enough to make this deliciously simple, but other seasonings like oregano, basil, red pepper can be nicely complementary as well. A tablespoon or two of gremolata—freshly chopped garlic and parsley, along with fresh lemon zest—can also be a perfect finish.
Serve with your favorite pasta! We might recommend Ma’Kaira Chitarra.
MEAT LOAF
Meat Loaf has an old-fashioned reputation but when it’s done right, nothing’s better. Here is an easy but decadent recipe that might just blow you away.
For the loaf:
1 pound House Grind
1 pound Ground Pork
½ cup pork or chicken stock
½ cup milk, buttermilk, or cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup breadcrumbs
¼ pound grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
For the topping:
12-18 strips bacon
your favorite barbecue sauce or ketchup
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all meatloaf ingredients except the milk and stock together until just combined; gradually introduce milk and stock until mixture is homogenous but not over-mixed.
Line a 9x5 loaf pan with strips of bacon and put meatloaf mixture inside.
Spread barbecue sauce or ketchup over top of meatloaf mixture, then cover the top of the loaf with bacon.
Bake in oven until center of meatloaf registers 160 on an instant read thermometer, about 1 hour— start checking after 40 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.