I have to say I love a great beef burger! Juicy and full of flavour squeezed inside a freshly baked burger roll with fresh salad, pickles and plenty of my favourite Thai Sriracha sauce, its making my mouth water right now!
I love the different flavours and textures that butchers are creating when it comes to judging the butchers beef burger competitions at the AMIC Sausage King competitions. I still remember a burger I sampled at a Burger comp in Victoria a few years ago and it was a simple coarse grind brisket burger with salt and pepper, I could taste the brisket and the seasoning was spot on. There are some great butchers doing some amazing things and take great pride when creating these juicy and tasty bread roll fillers.
What type of beef cuts do you have in your burger? Most would be using trim, fresh or frozen, from 70cl to 95cl, a mix of various beef cuts from the carcass and there is certainly nothing wrong with that, after all that’s what you are getting from the local burger restaurants.
Why not call out what is in your burgers or meatballs and raise the profile of the humble beef burger. Blend cuts like chuck and short rib or brisket and chuck, or even some of the butt cuts like topside and knuckle, this gives you an opportunity to get a premium price because you are using different cuts, these beef cuts all have different attributes, either texture and or flavour.
Try wrapping them individually, have some beef burger stickers made up that tells the story of what is inside the wrapper i.e. “Chuck and Short Rib” Beef Burger or for a bit of fun “Knuckle Burger” or “Top Burger”. Use your imagination to get the customers to notice and do not forget your shop name this will give you that point of difference.
Many butchers have a smoke house in their shops, that lie idle for a lot of the time or a smoker at home, try cold smoking some burgers, natural wood smoke has a far superior flavour than a smokey flavoured liquid spritz that burns off once it hits the hot plate or grill. Keep the temperature as low as possible and chill before vacuum packing.
Vacuum packaging the smoked burgers for your customers will retain the natural smoke flavour and enable you to freeze them for a few months without losing and of the flavour.