Before we start talking cuts of meat let’s start talking flavour …. Ie FAT. Great Burgers and lean meat are just not friends!!! A ratio of 30% fat and 70% lean protein will guarantee a melt in your mouth beef pattie packed with flavour. Lets stop here and have a very very quick Science lesson on that apparently terrifying word “fat” in an effort to decriminalize it a little …. Fat and the Maillaird Reaction (for another time) are the primary sources of flavour in our meat. Leaving the Maillaird Reaction aside for the moment … it is actually very simple as to why we should savour the goodness of some grass fed fat and the primary reason is because it is the reason we keep going back for that beef flavour filled burger or steak. You see,water is the most prevalent component of meat, and most of the flavour carrying, or aroma, molecules are hydrophobic - ie repelled by water. These molecules however dissolve in fat so embrace it - FAT EQUALS FLAVOUR.

Now that we have established that fat is our friend let’s talk grind. Many Butchers and Supermarkets put their meat through the mincer/grinder several times through a fine plate in an effort to disguise fat and as a result produce a very unpalatable fine pink paste - by doing so, that wonderful texture is lost and another bland patty is born. Always look for a burger minced once through a coarse plate - you should be able to see the mix of protein and fat …. If you can’t then don’t buy it.

We need to fess up right here that we have done a LOT of research (ie eating) in the prep rooms and kitchens of 1888 Certified to discover the perfect mix of meat cuts in our burgers. The combo that we stand by is 60% lean Chuck + 25% Brisket + 15% Beef Short Rib Meat. The balanced protein to fat ration of the Chuck takes credit for the base of a great burger … add to that the flavour packed fat from the Brisket and incredible umami depth of flavour coming from the short ribs and you have a burger worthy of a Sydney Summer.

So hard work over …. now get cooking

some images reproduced with thanks to Taste.com.au