# Ground beef question....



## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Hi there,
I don't know why, maybe I'm bored but cooking dinner tonight a question came to mind. I was in the process of draining some ground beef that I was cooking to make up a batch of tacos. I usually buy at least ground round and occasionally ground chuck. I can't remember the last time that I bought "hamburger". Usually when I fry up ground round, there's very little fat to drain. But sometimes even with the ground chuck, there's quite a bit of fat that I drain out. We don't go nuts around here with no-fat or low-fat cooking but I try to cook fairly healthy most of the time. A lot of the time when making spaghetti, I'll use ground turkey and it tastes very good and I'm sure has a lot less fat than beef.

As you'd expect, you pay more for ground round or ground sirloin over ground chuck or hamburger. But if you do buy a cheaper grade and just drain it very well, is there really much difference? I don't know if anyone here knows or not but I just started thinking about it while making dinner tonight. I happened to grab a pound and a half of ground chuck instead of ground round. There was quite a bit of fat that came out as I drained it.

If you are cooking out a lot of the fat and just draining it away, is the meat left fairly close to the more expensive cuts? And one other thing crossed my mind. Yes you're paying a little less for ground chuck over the round, but if you're just paying for fat that you're going to drain away anyway it probably isn't really that much cheaper in the long run?

I'll have to do some digging to find out. I'd like to know. As I said, we try to eat fairly healthy around here most of the time. Except the once in a great while when my son asks me to make up a batch of Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken. The Alfredo sauce is very easy to do. It's two sticks of butter, two cups of heavy cream, and one cup of grated Parmesan. :yikes: Needless to say, I don't make this very often. I can hear my arteries hardening as I eat that stuff. But it is GOOOOOOD! :lol:

Take care

John


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Not all fat, some is water too.(alot will evaporate too while cooking)


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## alex-v (Mar 24, 2005)

I figure that since there is so much more fat to the cheaper grinds it will not matter how much I drain out. The more at the start the more that has to be remaining. It is also possible that there is a higher solid fat content that does not melt or drain when the meat is heated.

Only bad thing is that the 95% lean ground meat is often so tasteless that it needs to be over spiced. Best ground meat is about 85% lean and mix in just a little bit of minced or ground bacon.



> A lot of the time when making spaghetti, I'll use ground turkey and it tastes very good and I'm sure has a lot less fat than beef.


I read something several years ago that there is more fat in ground turkey than most people realize. The bulk ground stuff is not all meat. They grind in a lot of skin which has fat in it. The article recommended buying just turkey meat and having the butcher grind it just for you.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Actually, I don't really buy bulk ground Turkey. I usually get the 1.5 lb packaged type. They usually have 85/15 or 90/10 I think. It's much better looking and tasting then the bulk stuff. 

John


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

Meijers labels the percentages of fat content for each grade of ground beef they make. I believe their Hamburger is 80/20, Ground Chuck is 83/17, Ground Round is 87/13 and Ground Sirloin is 90/10. They also carry an "Exrta Lean Ground Beef" that I believe is 96/4. The numbers may be off some but I know I'm close.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

That sounds about right Ted. Like I said, I usually buy ground round when buying ground beef. But a couple times lately I've gotten cheap and bought some ground chuck. I noticed the difference immediately when it came time to drain after cooking. Overall I think I'll stick with the better grades like ground round and up. It's gotta be better for you than just plain burger.

John


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Better for you , but it makes lousy burgers that fall apart on the grill. I'll just eat fewer portions of red meat, but eat the fat when I do.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

That's true. But a burger on the grill is a different situation. 

If a recipe just calls for ground beef, I'll use the leaner stuff.

John


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

jpollman said:


> That sounds about right Ted. Like I said, I usually buy ground round when buying ground beef. But a couple times lately I've gotten cheap and bought some ground chuck. I noticed the difference immediately when it came time to drain after cooking. Overall I think I'll stick with the better grades like ground round and up. It's gotta be better for you than just plain burger.
> 
> John


Meatballs, meatloaf and hamburgers is where you find out just how much fat is involved. When they end up half the size you started with, it's pretty obvious your hamburger sucked :lol:


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## alex-v (Mar 24, 2005)

ESOX said:


> Better for you , but it makes lousy burgers that fall apart on the grill.


The leaner ground beef does not have as much flavor either.


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## wild bill (Apr 20, 2001)

cant help you about the fat content but if you really want good flavor with less fat find someone who raises cows and have them cut at a good processor. the meat in stores wont even compare.


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