Saturday, August 21, 2010

How to make 18 burgers from 2 lbs of ground beef

I knew there must be a way to "stretch" ground beef for burgers, but I'd never tried until now. Last night we had a group over for dinner and we wanted to grill. So, because I've been stretching my ground beef recently with lentils and/or grains, I decided to give it a try in the burgers.

The procedure:
I used, approximately:
2 lbs ground beef
1 1/2-1 3/4 cracked wheat, cooked in 4 C of water (I used a cup of the cooked cracked wheat for bean burgers so make less if it's just for the 2 lbs g. beef; basically use enough so that 1/2 of the mixture is beef, and half is cracked wheat)
1 egg
seasonings: dried basil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, minced onion, Montreal steak seasoning, salt, pepper
Mix together, form into patties

The Verdict: They turned out well. Everyone seemed to like them, and no one could tell they were half cracked-wheat. Even when I tasted one plain I didn't notice it. So, it's definitely worth the stretching! Lentils are also a good ground beef stretcher in enchiladas, burritos, casseroles, soups, etc.

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