Is a "Prime" Burger Really Better?

After a long week in Denver and before another long week in San Diego, the Ninja and I ate at Ruby Tuesday this past Sunday before he ran off to another pork industry event. During my decision, which took awhile because the RT menu is long and complex, I saw the header by the burger section "We serve U.S.D.A. Prime burgers." Interesting.

Initially, that sounds great, right?! Who wouldn't want a Prime burger? The United States Department of Agriculture defines Prime beef as:

"...beef that has abundant marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking such as broiling, roasting or grilling."

For reference, this is a photo of a Prime steak compared to Choice and Select. USDA quality grades are assigned to a beef carcass based on the amount of marbling, or intramuscular fat, that is within the meat. Marbling contributes to both flavor and tenderness which is extremely evident to anyone who has ever eaten a high Choice or Prime ribeye.

Image courtesy USDA

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Hunk of Meat Monday: Stuffed Burgers

I am horrible about meal-planning. Usually 'round 5:30, I start to think about what we might want for dinner and go into a panic because I want to make intricate, flavorful meals but forget that achieving that goal requires a little bit more planning.

So, out comes the hamburger. Or ground pork. Or, in last night's case, ground turkey.

I've seen lots of recipes out there for stuffed burgers - those are not a new fad. But I've never made one and I've also never had a turkey burger. Two birds, one stone.

So below are two recipes, intertwined - one for turkey burgers and one for beef burgers.

Buzzard's Stuffed Burgers
- 1 lb ground beef or hamburger (did you know they're not the same thing?)
- 1 lb ground turkey
- Worcestershire sauce
- Swiss cheese, torn into tiny pieces
- Shredded Cojack cheese
- 1/2 strip bacon per beef patty
- salt & pepper
- seasoning salt

Fry bacon while ground beef is defrosting - this is essential if you waited until the last minute to get started on dinner. Shred bacon into tiny pieces - one half piece per patty. I only made two patties so one piece of bacon was plenty.


Mmmm, bacon

After beef is defrosted, place in bowl and pour in a good amount of Worcestershire sauce (~4 tbsp) and mix up with hands. Let set for ~5 minutes before dividing beef in half and forming two- half pound patties.



Add in Worcestershire sauce, mix and let marinade for five minutes

Make a divot in the patty and place half the bacon and some shredded cojack cheese. Smush burger around filling, while retaining patty shape.



Add in your stuffing and mush the patty around the bacon and cheese to seal

Do the same process (two patties, cheese, smushing) with the swiss cheese and ground turkey. At this point, I had four- half pound burger patties.

Turkey and swiss sammich, anyone?

Season your turkey patties with salt and pepper; beef with salt, pepper and one of my fave seasonings, Red Robin french fry sprinkles.



Season beef patties with salt, pepper and Red Robin's french fry seasoning

Grill patties over medium charcoal heat until internal temperature reaches 160 F. Enjoy the gooey goodness when you cut into them (we didn't have any buns so ate with forks)!

Don't they look delicious?!

 

Bacon and cheesy stuffed amazingness!

I plan to try again with mushroom stuffed ground pork burgers (for the Ninja, not me) later this spring. Now that it's warming up, we basically spend every minute of every evening outside working or playing around, and 5 out of 7 nights, we end up grilling. I love it - quick prep, quick eat and quick clean up. Triple threat.

The turkey burgers were good but not great. I needed to add bacon in the middle or something. They also needed more seasoning but I'm not sure what is a great turkey seasoning? I would appreciate input and advice for ground turkey seasoning!

If you try these out, let me know if you liked them and leave me tips below, please!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

If You Can Brown Ground Beef: Easy Lasagna Soup

This is quite possibly the easiest soup recipe I've ever made - outside of opening a can of chicken noodle soup when I'm sick. And when you're sick, who wants to cook? "Not I," said Buzzard.

Sorry for the tangent - anyway, the weather is warm and the end of soup season is near. So I thought I'd try this one before spring is in full-swing and it's too warm for soup. My coworker is a huge fan of the lasagna soup he gets from a deli in DC and inspired me to try it (thanks, Joe). Thanks to some googling, I found this recipe from Mostly Homemade Mom. But per usual Buzzard style, I have some suggested changes (in parentheses).

Simple Lasagna Soup
- 1 lb ground beef (could substitute 1/2 lb with ground pork sausage)
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I would suggest cutting this in half)
- 15 oz jar pasta sauce - we are a Prego family
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning (I doubled this)
- 2 1/2 cups bowtie pasta, cooked until just about done
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese (I used cojack)

 

Brown and drain ground beef in stock pot, and return to pot. 

About 1/2 way through the browning process, I thought "Dang, this would be good with sausage, too." So, you could use 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 pork sausage and I bet it would be OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS.

Add tomatoes, pasta sauce, broth, water, and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Some seriously good smells were filling up my kitchen at this point.

 

Stir in cooked pasta and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Almost ready!

Serve with crusty bread and mozzarella cheese.

Your mouth will thank you for eating this soup.

 Seriously, it was so great. The Ninja is ridiculously hard to please with meals - "fine", "ok" and "good" are his general responses as to whether or not he enjoyed dinner. But every once in a while his face lights up with delight at the flavor hurricane invading his taste buds. This was one of those times. Other times include my fried chicken, beer drenched pork chops, mustard pork chops and rice (recipe soon), engagement chicken, homemade pretzel bites and my imposter Red Lobster cheese biscuits (which are BETTER than the real thing).

I'd love to get an influx of new recipes to try - please share your favorite concoctions below!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Easy, Delicious Beef Meatballs in Under an Hour!

Dear readers, it is 'Hunk of Meat Monday' and yes, you read that right. You can prepare a delicious home-made beef meal in less than an hour. For reals.

This week, I thought I'd share something that doesn't require a crockpot - no offense Crockie, I still love you but sometimes you need something that tastes fresh, ya know?

I made this recipe because I wanted to see if it could compare to my grandmother's meatball recipe, which I have no intention of sharing. Good news - these are fantastic! This is the second time I've made them and they were delicious both times and SO FANTASTICALLY SIMPLE. The great thing is that you could substitute pork, veal or lamb really easily, or do a combo. The next time I make them, I plan to combine pork and beef.

Buzzard's Meatballs

• 1 lb hunk of meat ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp H2O
• 1/2 c bread crumbs (I make a piece of toast, then tear apart and put in my food processor)
• 1/4 c minced onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• ~ 1 tsp garlic salt*
• ~ 1 tsp Italian seasoning*

* Remember my inability to measure things? Note the approximation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 177 degrees Celsius for my Aussie friends). In large bowl, combine all ingredients except meat and mix together.

Doesn't look like much but all those spices contribute to the delicious factor!

Add hunk of meat/ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine.

Mix it - mix it real good.

Form into meatballs and bake for 25-30 minutes for 1" balls. If your balls are larger, it will take more time to bake them. Mine were larger than a golf ball so it took about 40 minutes (always use a meat thermometer and for ground beef recipes like this, the internal temp should be 165 F).

Handsome little fellas

These could be really great for spaghetti or pasta or as a stand-alone meal. I like to prepare them as a meal and then serve with veggies and pasta on the side.



I've mentioned before that food photography is not my forte but trust your tongue not your eyes - these are delicious!

I hope you enjoy! Sound off below and let me know if you liked it!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~