While you're more than welcome to use pre-ground beef and pork in this recipe, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the experience of grinding your own meat for burgers. Not only are you limiting your experience to the meat of one or two animals—potentially safer when you consider how many may be involved in a single pound of pre-ground beef—but you'll notice a huge improvement in the flavor and texture of your burger. And you can choose which cut you want depending on your mood, or, like I've done here, you can mix and match different kinds of meat. Ground pork and ground beef can be substituted for pork round and beef chuck, just omit step 1.
Course Entree
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15minutes
Cook Time 20minutes
Total Time 35minutes
Servings 4
Calories 442kcal
Author Stephanie Stiavetti
Ingredients
3/4poundboneless pork top round(see note above)
3/4poundboneless beef chuck(see note above)
1/4poundmild cheddar cheesegrated
1/2teaspoonsalt
1/4teaspoonfreshly-ground black pepper
4burger buns
8leavesof Romaine lettuce
2wholebeefsteak tomatoessliced thick
Instructions
Trim any sinew or tough connective tissue from pork and beef. Cut the pork and beef into 1-inch cubes and place in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or two large plates (see note above). Set the plate in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from the freezer and place 1/3 of meat in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped but not mushy, 10 to 15 short pulses. Transfer ground meat to large bowl and repeat with remaining two batches.
Add the shredded cheese to the bowl with the meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using your hands, gently fold the meat and cheese until well combined. Form the meat into four wide, flat patties about 1 1/2-inches thick. Place the patties on a plate and allow them to sit, covered, for 20 minutes.
Heat a heavy-bottomed non-stick pan over medium flame. Fry the burgers two at a time, if your pan's size will allow it. Heat the burgers until they are well-browned and crisp on one side, then flip them over and repeat. Once the burgers are done, place them on a bun with lettuce and tomato. Repeat with the remaining burgers. Serve immediately.
Notes
The nutritional analysis does not include hamburger bun, tomatoes and romaine lettuce.