I am on a quest to make good burgers this summer, but I am having trouble finding good ground beef at the supermarket. Most of it is a 50-50 beef/pork mix, without any fat percentages listed. The 100% beef is super pricy and also doesn’t list any details.
Is there a general rule of thumb what the fat content is when its just not listed? Also, would a butcher know what I’m asking for if I said I wanted a 30% fat kg of ground beef? That’s a normal thing back home, but I kind of expect it’s an unusual request here.
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You should go to a butcher if you are particular about what’s in the ground meat. Super market ground meat is mostly 50/50 pork/beef with low fat content, I.e. cheap cuts
Not difficult to explain that to a butcher using a simple diagram.
I have one anecdotal story that might be useless but ultimately the point is to just try anyway. A good friend of mine was part of a small team that brought a LA burger chain to Japan and they were able to pick the kind of cows the beef came from, the percentage of beef vs fat, and where the fat came from. (The final choice was Australian beef amd 30% wagyu fat.) The concept definitely exists in Japan but not every butcher will be set up to give you what you want.
Look at the price and the colour
As others suggested, your best shot would probably be to go to a butcher. But if you still wanted to try with supermarket ground meat, if you check around at different places you might at least be able to find somewhere that list their percentages of beef vs pork. For example, I know of one supermarket in my town that has a 70% beef mix, and that was good enough for me. (The theory behind it is to add fatty pork to lean beef to simulate a better beef cut, so you can maybe just estimate what the fat percentages are.)
Then there’s always the option to buy full chunks of meat of your choosing and grind it yourself. It’s messier and you need some basic equipment, but the mix will be exactly what you put into it.
You can ask certain supermarkets to mince you meat to your needs. You’ll have to ask the manager of the meat department. FYI western does it for me, AEON does not.
As someone in a similar boat, I’m planning to give chopped/minced beef burgers a go this summer. One of the top burger shops in Tokyo does it this way and I’ll know exactly what is going into my burgers.
That said, the ground beef sold in supermarkets does work well enough for smash burgers, in my opinion.
May I suggest instead of going to a butcher to get your specific % of meat and fat which is troublesome and might cost a lot, why not just buy a piece of wagyu from the supermarket and cut it into big square slabs for your burgers?
I’ve been doing that for parties with friends and it’s amazing.
No mess of mixing bread crumbs and onions and cheese and meat, but with all the juiciness and meatiness expected in a burger patty which melts in your mouth when you bite into it.
Wagyu is expensive elsewhere in the world, so no one’s crazy to do this. In Japan however, use it to your advantage!