One of the great things about the magical KitchenAid stand mixer is al the cool gadget-y attachments. The first one that I bought was the meat grinder. Over time I can experiment with different meat blends, but for this first one i just did a piece of sirloin, grinding it twice through the 2 sized die plates. 

chop it up small, keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to grind

grind twice

sometimes the grinding blade would get mucked up with fat, i’d have to stop and clean it out

grillin

one with cheddar, one with merkt’s cheddar cheese spread

on there

the texture was fantastic, unlike anything i’d had before

this takes some extra effort, but it’s worth it, not only for taste, but you also don’t have to worry about getting low quality cuts of meat, trimmings, or e.coli. i would reccommend trying this for anyone who wants to get a little more out of their burgers.

One of the reasons I love burgers so much is the combination of all the elements that make up the whole, when a burger is greater than the sum of its parts, that’s when you’ve got something special.  An essential part of burgers for me is not only the meat, but the buns they are served on. Everyone has their own opinion as to what makes an ideal burger bun. For me it can be a soft sesame seed bun, or a well-executed brioche bun, or a nice kaiser roll. They must all always be toasted. Here’s my stab at a kaiser roll. 

the results were ok. the buns were definitely enhanced by toasting them, but there was just something missing. here is the recipe i used:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/kaiserrolls

Kaiser Rolls

Makes 8-12 rolls, depending on how large you like them 

3 1/2-4 cups (1 lb.) bread or unbleached all-purpose flour 

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 tablespoon sugar 

1 tablespoon malt powder 

1 tablespoon shortening, butter, or oil 

1 egg 

1 egg white 

1 1/4 cups (10 oz.) water

Combine 3 cups of the flour and the other dry ingredients in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix in the water, eggs, and shortening. Knead by hand for approximately 10 minutes or 5-7 minutes in a mixer, adding more flour by the handful as necessary. The dough should still be tacky but not terribly wet. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour. Allow it to rise a second time for an hour before shaping. To shape the rolls, divide the dough into smaller pieces (if you are particular, use a scale to get them the same size). Roll the pieces of dough into balls and cover them with a damp kitchen towel so they can relax for 5 minutes.  

To shape them, first I press them out into flat disks on a well floured surface (Clayton suggests using rye flour, though any type of flour will do). I let them rest, covered, another 5 minutes. Then I stretch the dough a bit thinner again and fold pieces up into the center.

      

Finally I press down in the center to seal it up tight.

  

I place them face down on a sheet pan covered with poppy seeds while they are rising for the final hour.

 

One could just as well let them rise face up and then spritz them with water and sprinkle the poppy seeds on, but doing it this way prevents the seals from splitting while they rise.

 

Preheat the oven to 450 during the final rise. Just before placing them in the oven, flip the rolls upright. You want to have steam in the oven when you bake them, so use whatever technique you prefer: squirting them with water, squirting the oven sides with water, pouring boiling water in a preheated cast-iron pan or a cookie sheet. These rolls take around 20 to 25 minutes to bake. I suggest rotating the pan once 10 minutes into it so they’ll brown evenly.  

this post comes in a pretty timely fashion as, and I didnt really want to make an announcement about it yet, but i’m going to be grinding my own meat and making buns from scratch this weekend. so thats a heads up for a soon to come post. anyway, this is a great read from our friend Kenji at A Hamburger Today.

I hate for my first post to not be a review, but whatevs. I’ve been meaning to do a Paradise Pup-esque burger with Merkt’s Cheddar, and this kinda reminds me of that. Also, check out dude’s kitchen, its pretty badass.