Ground Beef

Ground Beef

Extra Lean Ground Beef
© Denzil Green

Everyone in North America uses the terms Ground Beef / Ground Hamburger / Hamburger interchangeably, and that is completely fine as far as the lingo at home goes. For producers, in the US at least, there is a legal difference they must adhere to: any fat in Ground Beef must be the fat already adhering to the meat content they are adding; for ground hamburger, additional beef fat other than what was on those pieces of meat can be added.

Whether you call it Ground Beef, minced beef or hamburger, there are two questions surrounding it still (as of 2004). Will it kill us from the saturated fat in it, or will it kill us from the bacteria in it?

Let's handle the bacteria question first. As surprising as it might be, that's the easier one.

The Bacteria Question
Ground Beef isn't evil in itself; it doesn't want to harbour all the nasties in it such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. The thing is, because the beef is ground up, it has way more surface area than a single hunk of meat would, by a factor of, say, 10 squillion. Combine this increased surface area with the extra handling and equipment that the Ground Beef has had to go through, and the Ground Beef gets lots more chances to pick up something, and there you go. The E. coli may already be in the cow (in its intestines), but we humans have lots of chances to add to the potent cocktail through our handling of it.

The bottom line is that unlike other beef, which you can cook to rare, Ground Beef must have no pink inside when cooked. Colour alone, though, isn't an indication of safety: sometimes hamburger can appear browned before it is safe to eat. It must reach an internal temperature of 160 F (71 C). If you're nervous about this, get an instant-read meat thermometer, which costs less than a double-tall latte at Starbuck's.

The Fat Question (Lean Ground Beef, Extra Lean Ground Beef)
Varieties of Ground Beef are now being sold as regular, lean, extra lean, super lean, etc. Leaving aside the fact that either a meat is lean or it isn't, and that superlatives make no actual sense, consumers now are used to looking for such monikers. We have been told for the past several decades that fat is bad, and that Ground Beef is a particularly insidious source of it. So, not wanting to send the loved ones that we are cooking for to an early grave, we dutifully followed the latest information in all the supermarket food magazines, and spent the extra to buy the packages of leaner Ground Beef. (Producers found that while most consumers were willing to pay the slightly higher price point for "lean", they weren't willing to pay the much higher cost for "extra lean" -- damn right, too, not when the price of what was supposed to be an economy meat suddenly approached the price of T-Bone steak.)

But what does regular, lean and extra-lean mean? Basically, the labelling laws are horrific. Canada's are more updated and clear than those of the UK and the US (a sad commentary indeed), so we'll use the guide for fat content in Canadian Ground Beef as an example to show what's wrong with all of them:

	Canada
Regular	30% fat
Medium	23% fat
Lean	17% fat
Extra lean	10% fat

In any other kind of food labelled 10g fat per 100g serving (who are these people who eat only 100g of something?), your math would be right if you worked out the fat content to be 10%. But the 10% in that extra lean above isn't actually 10%, it's far higher. That 10% number, on the surface, is reasonably accurate. It's the percent of fat, by weight, that the producer of the Ground Beef has either added to the Ground Beef or left in that was already part of the meat. Now, Ground Beef has a lot of water in it. That's not the producer adding water, we're all made of water. Ground Beef is 55% water. When Ground Beef is cooked, the half the weight that was water evaporates away in steam. The fat content didn't go anywhere, though, so with the overall weight of the cooked product having gone down, your ratio of fat to product has now doubled to 20% if you pan fried your hamburger (a bit less if you barbequed or broiled it, allowing fat to drip off.) A pan-fried hamburger patty from 10% fat Ground Beef will still end up deriving 47% of its calories from fat.

Here's the final kicker: take two 3.5 oz hamburger patties and fry them in separate pans. The one made from 30% fat Ground Beef will end up with 49mg of cholesterol; the one made from 10% fat Ground Beef ends up with 51mg cholesterol -- 2 mg more! Granted, neither result is fabulous, but the 30% fat Ground Beef, having more fat that will drip off, will lose more of its cholesterol with the fat. And you just paid more for the extra lean. Life's just not fair sometimes, is it?

You can't assemble one tidy table comparing the fat content of Ground Beef in the UK, the US and Canada.

The guidelines in the UK and the US are shifting and vague;
The guidelines such as they are in any of the 3 countries aren't actually followed. Consumer advocates measuring fat by weight, as the current system allows, found that Ground Beef products they purchased at stores varied widely outside the ranges for how they had been labelled;
Even when percentage fat by weight guidelines are standardized, as in Canada, and even if they were rigidly followed, they would still be inaccurate in terms of what the deal is when the consumer puts the cooked product on a plate;
Even if Ground Beef were required to conform to the same format of nutritional labelling that other food is (for instance, saying 21g fat per 100g, cooked), it's not clear how your local butcher would be able to measure that on some beef he had just ground up for you. It's not as though s/he has the extra time to set up a science lab in his back room. The solution might be to legally require the local butcher to do it anyway, effectively stopping him from selling Ground Beef and putting Ground Beef sales squarely in the hands of the big supermarket chains who could do this, but some people might reasonably argue that, precise fat content aside, they actually feel more comfortable buying their meat from a butcher who has been serving them for 17 years as opposed to the supermarket butcher who is the most recent in long line of replacements. The UK has already taken this into account: its fat content guidelines apply to supermarkets, and not to butchers;
In Canada and the US, the general guidelines for Ground Beef legally require that no filler or water be added to the Ground Beef, and this is rigidly enforced, at least.

In 2004, the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that many packs of "extra lean" minced beef sometimes contained more fat than regular ground beef. While there is no maximum fat content for minced beef in the UK, there is a maximum of 7% if the minced beef packaging bears the words "lean minced meat". If, however, the seller changes the wording to "minced meat lean", or labels it extra lean, etc. then the 7% maximum doesn't apply, though the consumer is still under the impression that s/he is getting a lower-fat product. The FSA found this not to be true, and consequently in 2004 decided to start work on clearer labelling guidelines for minced beef in the UK.

Ground Chuck, Ground Round, Ground Sirloin
Sometimes, in North America, Ground Beef will be labelled to indicate that it has been made purely from one specific part of the animal. Here, for what it's worth, is the fat content on those varieties:

Ground Chuck: 15 - 20% fat
Ground Round: 10 - 15% fat
Ground Sirloin: 8 - 10% fat

Ground Chuck is considered the optimum meat for Ground Beef (let's pretend here for a minute that we ever have any choice). The problem with Ground Sirloin and Ground Round as follows. We know now that hamburger has to be cooked till done, no pink allowed, so that we don't kill everyone we're feeding. That means the meat has to cook a bit longer. That's a problem if the meat is really lean, because what fat there is in it will have finished dripping out too soon, leaving the meat to shrivel and dry over the heat. Which means people are going to ask for it less well-done the next time, bringing back the basic health safety issues. Instead, if you are using a Ground Beef made from something like Ground Chuck, or with a high enough fat content, it has enough fat in it to keep lubricating the Ground Beef for the entire cooking process, so that people won't complain about their Ground Beef being over-cooked. If you are pan-frying Ground Sirloin or Ground Round, have some olive oil ready to help prevent the meat from sticking. I know that's added fat, which doesn't help those who are anti-fat on weight-loss grounds, but it is good fat, which does help those who want to replace bad fat with good on health grounds.

You may have noticed that all three sources (Chuck, Round, Sirloin) are pretty tough areas of the cow: why the hamburger still ends up tender is that the grinding process breaks down the tissue of the meat, effectively tenderizing it.

What colour should my Ground Beef be?
Beef is normally more of a purple colour. It only turns rosy red when it comes into contact with oxygen. Now, turns out, that rosy red colour is the colour that we consumers have come to associate with "safe to eat". So, retailers oblige us by packaging our fresh Ground Beef (and all other fresh beef) in plastic wrap which is actually specially selected to let air through to the meat, to keep the surface of the meat that rosy red colour. That's why home economists have been saying to us all along, don't freeze your meat in that home packaging: instant freezer burn. Should you happen to see Ground Beef on which the dates are good, but the meat is a bit more purply, that simply means it's been packaged with proper plastic wrap, and because of that will probably actually be fresher than the rosy red stuff. When you expose purply colour beef to the air, it should turn red in about 15 minutes.

Making your own Ground Beef
Some people use their food processor to grind their own Ground Beef. To do this, cut the meat first into 1 inch (2.5 cm) hunks, then put it in the fridge to cool it down again. Then process in small batches in the food processor. Use "pulse" rather than continuous run; continuous run will give you beef liquid, ugh. If you want 100% lean, you can make it. But I wouldn't want to try cooking with it. People who've tried seem to reluctantly admit that you should add back that fat you had just trimmed off: the optimum figure seems to be at least 10% fat, something the food industry seems to have currently settled on as well, given that the leanest Ground Beef is still 10% fat. Cover and refrigerate right away until you need it. Make sure you wash any items that you used in making the hamburger before you use them for anything else, including that cutting board and the counter.

Cooking Tips
Ground Beef must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 F (71 C). This is past the pink stage inside, but you can't guess that it's necessarily at that temperature just because it's no longer pink -- sometimes hamburger may be completely browned before it reaches a temperature at which it is safe to eat.

Thankfully, a quick poke of an instant read food thermometer will ensure happy burgers and tummies for everyone. There was no danger, of course, with my mother's hamburger patties -- they went into the frying pan at the start of the 6 o'clock news and didn't emerge until Gun Smoke at 7. You gnawed your way through them. In this instance, a food thermometer was unnecessary for the safety of our stomachs, but having one to assure Mum that they were done 40 minutes before that might have prolonged the life of Dad's natural teeth.

Some people suggest that to reduce the fat content of Ground Beef, cook the meat, then rinse with hot water in a colander. I am hard pressed to think of a reason why, given how little flavour would be left after this, you shouldn't just go whole hog and be frying up crumbled tofu or veggie mince in the first place? It would probably actually end up with more flavour. Instead, I just do what my mother and probably every housewife has done. Fry up the crumbled Ground Beef in a frying pan, then turn out onto paper towel, pat the excess fat off, and then proceed with the recipe. What kills me is some people rinse not only once, but 2 or 3 times, and then say there's no taste difference. It's like, hello, why not just run it through the dishwasher; if your mouth doesn't have enough taste buds left to tell the difference, try cutting back on cigarettes instead of worrying about fat.

In a pinch, you can cook Ground Beef from frozen. Everyone knows that technique. You dump the frozen block of it in a hot skillet, let one side brown, then flip it over to scrape that bit off, meanwhile letting another side brown until it's ready to be flipped off and scraped off. Of course, you always have the temperature too high, because you're in a rush, which means the Ground Beef sides are getting more than just "browned", you're getting blackened, shrivelled bits. We've all done it; what I admire in an awe-struck way is the people who say they prefer their hamburger cooked like that. Now, some say that the downside to doing it this way is that as the ice melts in the pan, it will carry the flavour off with it, but given that we simmer liquids to evaporate off the water content and leave concentrated flavour behind, I'm not buying that argument.

Still, I don't like doing it this way because it's very labour intensive; if you're doing it this way, you're in a rush to get food on the table, and probably have one or two other things to do rather than just standing at the stove flipping some flippin' Ground Beef. So what I'll do instead is thaw it all at once in the microwave, which leaves me free to do other things while it's thawing, such as empty the dishwasher so it's ready for a fresh load, wash lettuce, etc, and then crumble it into the pan and fry as normal on medium heat, which only requires quick attention at reasonable intervals. Besides, whacking the frozen hunk of Ground Beef into the frying pan always smacks of sad desperation. One may be serving Ground Beef, but one has one's standards.

Don't cook any Ground Beef at too high a temperature, as that results in too much fat running off, leaving you with something dry and flavourless. The time you thought you saved in cooking, you then spend in trying to rescue the taste by madly ferreting through your spice cabinet. Now, if you think, hey, if he says too high a temperature will force more fat out, so that's what I'll do, I would say, be reasonable: if you're going to have Ground Beef, have Ground Beef. If you want something with no animal fat in it, reach for the tofu or veggie mince. You can fry it up in olive oil, nicely flavour it, etc, and you'll seriously end up with something tastier than the overcooked, dried Ground Beef.

When you're pan-frying something such as patties or meatballs made from extra lean Ground Beef, chances are the meat may stick to the pan. Some people say to sprinkle salt on the pan bottom to help keep them from sticking, but if I care enough about my health to pay for extra lean, why would I suddenly be going salt crazy? Use olive oil instead: yes, it's a fat, but it's a fat your body needs, so just get on with it.

Substitutes
I often sidestep the whole fat versus lean argument by using veggie Ground Round, especially when I'm cooking for a vegetarian: my guiding light principle is that I'm damned if I'm going to cook two separate meals. The veggie Ground Round always comes out tasting great, and let's me still put a classic meat loaf, lasagna or spaghetti with meat sauce on the table, so I don't feel as though I'm compromising at all, and the price works out the same or less as normal Ground Beef. Don't get me wrong; when I'm buying deluxe hamburger patties for the barbeque, I want real moo-cow in mine; but that's still all one meal, as I'll get a box of veggie burgers that can go on the grill at the same time (why is it when they take the meat out of stuff it always costs more?) The fat content of the veggie Ground Round, by the way is a true 0.

When substituting Ground Turkey or Ground Chicken for Ground Beef (pound for pound), compensate for the weaker taste by increasing a tidge whatever flavourings you are using. You may also want to hold back a smidge on any liquid, until you see how the meat is taking it up.

Equivalents
1 pound (450g) raw Ground Beef = 2 cups raw Ground Beef = 12 oz (315g), cooked

Storage
Store fresh Ground Beef in refrigerator for up to two days. At that point, use or freeze it.

To freeze, remove from store packaging (which is designed to let air in, keeping the Ground Beef the rosy colour consumers expect). Package in portions that you can reasonably expect to use at one time. Freeze. When freezing patties, separate with plastic wrap (I've tried waxed paper and parchment paper, complete waste of time for all the good it did).

History
Chopped beef has been used forever. Beef Tartare, the recipe, has been around since at least the Middle Ages. Placing a raw egg on top the mound of raw chopped beef is a modern innovation (hmm, would you like some salmonella to go with that E-Coli?)

The original "hamburger" was a piece of meat pounded until it was tender, so even though it probably looked the same as a patty pressed together from chopped meat, it wasn't actually chopped. It was a "hamburg steak" (named for Hamburg, Germany, though I've yet to hear any explanation that doesn't strain credulity.) Cube Steak is probably our closest equivalent today.

Some say the hamburg steak first showed up on a menu at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City in 1834, but there is no actual backing for this claim. After all, what North Americans know as "hamburger" is minced beef, and mincing machines weren't invented until the 1870s in Britain.

The earliest documented occurrence of the phrase "hamburg steak" in print is 50 years later, in the Boston Evening Journal in 1884. From here, the pace quickens. One year later, in 1885, it showed up as part of a sandwich, being placed between buns both at the Erie County Fair in New York State and at the Outgamie County Fair in Seymor, Wisconsin. At this point in time, though, it was still a pounded piece of meat.

By 1904, patties made of Ground Beef had replaced the pounded pieces of meat as the "hamburger" in a "hamburger". This was at the World's Fair in St Louis. By 1912, the idea of a hamburger patty on a bun had caught on to the point that they could just be called "burgers". The first dedicated hamburger stand in the world was opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas by what became known as The White Castle hamburger chain. The White Castle chain was also the first one to sell hamburgers in the UK, though hamburgers didn't take off in the UK until after the end of WWII.

Acknowlegements
Derbyshire, David. Loophole lets stores sell fatty meat as super lean. London: Daily Telegraph, 28 September 2004.

Leonard, David. Slim Down Your Ground Beef. University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Food, March 2001. Retrieved from http://ceinfo.unh.edu/Common/Documents/EFNEP12.htm in Feb 2004.

Also called: Hamburger Viande hachée (French) Rindfleisch Hackfleisch (German) Amburghese, Carne maccinata (Italian) Ternera molida, Ternera picada (Spanish)