Burger Education/ by Shelley Lance, Blog Editor
Today’s burger education class plus beer tasting at Palace was useful, informative, and fun. The goal, according to our CEO, Pamela Hinkley, was to help staff understand that the way we make hamburgers at our joints is important!! “The time we take to source the whole meat and grind it fresh is a standard far above the industry norms. The hamburgers served by many of the big chains and box stores are produced by methods that defy accepted wisdom of food safety standards,” writes Pamela in a staff email.
First, Warren Peterson, our corporate sous chef and beer expert, did a tasting of 5 beers. I particularly enjoyed the Trippel, a Belgian style beer that Warren chose as an example of a strong ale. This one has some sugar in it and is a little sweet. Very tasty. I also liked the Oatmeal Flax Stout, chosen by Warren for its roasted flavor which comes from malted barley: A flavor like roasted coffee beans, and a lovely aroma.
Palace’s Chef Brian cooked off some burgers for us to compare. One plate held burgers made from Country Natural Beef- which is the beef we use for all our burgers in the restaurants- ground by us. The other plate held patties of pre-ground supermarket hamburger. The biggest discernible difference was texture- our Palace burgers had a nice coarse texture and beefy flavor. The supermarket burgers were too finely ground, a bit mushy, and coated your tongue with a little bit of grease.
Rancher Dan Barnhart from Country Natural Beef talked to us about the way they raise their cattle- grass fed on pastureland and finished with grain. No antibiotics or growth hormones are used. Country Natural Beef tests every one of their grinding bins for E coli, by the way, which is great to know if you buy hamburger from them.
We receive our meat from Country Natural Beef as a minimally processed cryovac-ed portion of beef, the clod or chuck, and grind it ourselves to make burgers for all the Tom Douglas restaurants. On the other hand, inexpensive mass produced burger patties or hamburger meat may contain bits of meat of various grades from different parts of a cow, from cows from different states and even from different countries, including fatty trimmings and a mash product of scraps all ground together. Sadly, the USDA only sets draft guidelines urging processors to test for E coli, but allows processors to set their own safety guidelines internally. In fact, New York Times writer, Michael Moss, says “many big slaughterhouses will sell only to grinders who agree not to test their shipments for E coli.”
Which adds up to this- if you eat burgers, it’s a good idea to buy your meat from a producer you can trust- like Country Natural Beef. Here’s another thing I like about Country Natural Beef- the “Raise Well” standards which certify the humane care of their cattle have been endorsed by no less an authority on the humane treatment of animals than Dr. Temple Grandin. If you don’t know who Temple Grandin is, look for this HBO movie which is an excellent dramatization of her unique life story.
I feel pretty great about eating a burger at any of the Tom Douglas Restaurants! If you want to make burgers you feel great about at home, you can buy Country Natural Beef at PCC and other stores.
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