The Request You Should Make To Your Butcher When Buying Beef For The Best Burger Possible

A truly amazing steakhouse-style hamburger requires the best ingredients. High quality vegetables, strong cheese, and fresh buns are a good start, but to really build the ultimate burger you need great ground beef which is why you should skip the packaged meat section at the supermarket and head straight to the butcher. There are so many more options for fresh ground beef when you get it from a butcher, so it helps to know what to ask for when you arrive. For more insight, we turned to Chuck Hayworth, private chef and COO at The Resort Chef in North Carolina. Hayworth pointed to one specific phrase you need to know when ordering burger meat from the butcher: coarse ground beef.

"For steak burgers and larger patties it works brilliantly because you can cook it steak-like to medium rare and have a delicious, juicy burger," Hayworth said. "It's also amazing in a meatloaf." There are four grind sizes for ground beef: extra fine grind (used for hot dogs and bologna), fine grind (used for hamburgers and pasta), medium grind (for taco meat and thick sauces), and coarse grind (great for chili and steak-like hamburgers). The grind size will impact the outcome of your burger, much like how grind size impacts the flavor of your coffee. Choosing coarse ground beef will create a meaty, juicy, well-textured patty.

Most pre-packaged ground beef sold at a grocery store meat counter is fine ground. It's great for holding onto flavorful seasonings, but it's better suited for smash burgers than thick, steakhouse-style hamburgers. Unless you're also on a mission to make the best smash burgers at home, go for coarse ground beef at the butcher. Take it a step further and ask the clerk for ground beef with the perfect ratio of fat based on how you like your burgers cooked.

The fat percentage you need in ground beef depends on how long they'll be cooking. For burgers that are cooked well-done, higher fat percentages help keep the meat from drying out which keeps it juicy after all the pink disappears. Hayworth recommended an 80/20 fat ratio for burgers cooked well-done. For those who like their burger with a little pink left in the middle, he had different advise. "For a steak-like burger, try 90/10 which is lean and can be cooked medium rare like a steak. Season it as you would a steak, too," he said.