tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post5326000191138069907..comments2022-11-09T06:57:27.904-08:00Comments on Eating Every Day: HamburgerCharles Sherehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-41883452322918386662011-01-25T22:45:11.233-08:002011-01-25T22:45:11.233-08:00A meaty comment. Chopping beef, rather than grindi...<i>A meaty comment. Chopping beef, rather than grinding it, makes a fine tartare, but of course that gets bound with egg. My mother had a meat-grinder too; I suppose everyone did in those days. We forget now how different beef was before the craze for corn-finishing changed its texture completely. <br /><br />Those grinders work by turning a blade against a perforated plate through which the already hand-chopped meat is forced; the operation first crushes, then chops, breaking the fibers and tenderizing the meat. Along the way the fat is more thoroughly amalgamated with the meat.<br /><br />I've used such a grinder a couple of times when making sausage. (Incidentally some sausages exist which traditionally use chopped meat, not ground; the texture is of course quite different.)<br /><br />Fat, yes. I was amazed at the amount of fat left in that iron skillet after frying the hamburgers. This is a reason to grill or broil them, of course; the fat is rendered away from the meat, leaving only the proteins and carcinogens.<br /><br />As to the Brits, I imagine insufficient food was far more widespread than surfeit of beef.</i>Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-87300801395518095672011-01-25T12:03:48.858-08:002011-01-25T12:03:48.858-08:00John McPhee, not a writer known much for his thoug...John McPhee, not a writer known much for his thoughts on food, has an opening essay in his collection Giving Good Weight where he talks about his (then) favorite restaurants--these would be radial to his homebase in Princeton (where he teaches). He's careful not to mention names, but there's one scene where he visits the cook and requests a world class hamburger. The chef take a cut of lean steak and hand-chops it, out of which the "hamburger" is made. I tried this once, and of course the mash didn't hold together. And the taste was dry and lifeless. My mom used to have a meat grinder, a laborious instrument one turned by hand. I don't recall what meats she processed this way. We didn't make sausages. <br /><br />The best hamburgers have a fair percentage of fat, and this is what gives the flavor and mouth feel. And it's certainly not good for you, if eaten regularly. I think the trick is in grinding up the fat and mixing it sufficiently with the muscle fibre--more easily done with large mechanical grinding-mixers than by hand. <br /><br />Weren't many of the maladies of the British the consequence of eating such beef-rich diets? Remembrances of Doctor Johnson and his many aches and pains.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com