Background: My kids love chicken burgers. I love making all kinds of things with ground meats. I don’t like buying pre-ground meat, however. The cheap stuff has serious supply chain questions and the expensive stuff is, well, expensive. I have a couple different meat grinder attachments for my stand mixer, one that can go through the dishwasher, which I use for delicate things like fish cakes, and another more heavy duty (hand-washable) one that I use for things like grinding beef. I might use either for this move that relies on ground chicken. Here are the steps:
- Long before you want them (maybe when they are on sale), buy some chicken thighs on the bone with the skin.
- Freeze them right away.
- The day before you want to grind them, start to defrost them.
- Debone and deskin the chicken thighs, but leave any fat. They should still be a little frozen, which makes this move easier. Save the bones for stock.
- Cut the pieces of thigh into chunks that will easily pass through your meat grinder.
- Pass through a meat grinder.
- Add seasonings and mix with hands or spatula. Don’t add salt or pepper yet.
- Make a panade and mix that into the ground meat.
- Pass through a meat grinder again.
- Use a mechanical ice cream scoop to make equal patties.
- Salt and pepper the patties, to taste, right before you cook.
- Cook in whatever manner your people like their burgers. For us, it’s on a cast iron griddle with a bit of oil or butter.
Why It Works:
- Chicken thigh meat is the most flavorful, the skin and bones are good for other moves.
- Freezing them will make this process a little easier because grinding meat is easier when it’s partially frozen.
- If you want to make these the same day, I would still chill them in the freezer as long as possible. You can also chill the parts of the grinder if you are pressed for time.
- The skins can be smoked and crisped up like bacon and the bones are great for stock.
- For me this is about 1 inch chunks.
- A first pass will make everything more uniform and easy to mix.
- I only use roasted or blanched garlic for this part, but season to your tastes. However, salt–or any seasoning with salt in it–should be added at the very end.
- The panade is a mix of old bread and milk that can be used to keep leaner meats moist.
- A second pass through the grinder will further mix the panade and whatever other seasonings you added.
- This will help keep your burgers uniform. Over time, this will help with purchasing and portioning. I use a scoop that creates the right size patty for a Martin’s Potato Slider Roll.
- When you salt the meat and then mix it and then cook it, it changes the texture of the meat, making it more sausage-y. You want a loosey, juicy texture. That said, if you want to take a crack at chicken sausage, go for it. Just don’t put it on a burger bun, please.
- This move benefits from a little browning, so the butter on cast iron helps with that.
Mods:
- This also works great with turkey thighs.
- You could make these into chicken meatballs, too. Either of the Superbowl Meatball moves would work here.
- You could bread them and fry them for a crispy chicken sandwich.