What Makes Great Ground Beef: 80/20 and the Cattleman's Guide to Better Hamburger

A single pound of grocery-store ground beef can hold meat from hundreds of different cattle. Some reports put it as high as a thousand. One package, a thousand animals you will never know anything about. Most people have no idea. There is a reason some hamburger tastes rich and beefy while another cooks up gray and watery, and it starts long before the skillet. It starts with what the beef is, where it came from, and how it was handled. I am Marty Reichenberger, and my family has raised cattle in southeast Kansas for four generations. I cook our beef five nights a week. Here is what actually makes great ground beef, and how to spot the real thing.

This piece is about what makes a grind good. If your question is the earlier one, where ground beef comes from and how many animals end up in a package, that is answered separately.

The short version:

• 80/20 ground beef (20% fat) is the flavor and juiciness sweet spot. Fat is flavor.
• Grocery ground beef is blended from many animals. A single package can hold trim from hundreds, even up to a thousand head.
• Ours comes from one animal at a time, so you know exactly what you are eating.
• We hang and dry-age our beef for 16 days, then grind it fresh with nothing added. Beef and 20% fat. That is it.
• Real, well-raised beef does not need gas, water, or fillers. It needs a rancher who cares.

What "80/20 Ground Beef" Means, and Why It Is the Sweet Spot

The two numbers are the ratio of lean meat to fat. 80/20 ground beef is 80% lean and 20% fat. That fat number is the single biggest lever on how your hamburger tastes and cooks, and 80/20 is the ratio most butchers and chefs point to for the juiciest, most flavorful burger. Paul Vaccari, owner of the New York meat house Piccinini Brothers, said it plainly about the 20% fat blend: "That is what produces that juicy, flavorful burger people look for."

Here is the part most people miss: fat is flavor, and with beef raised right, that fat is a good thing. In our cattle the marbling makes 80/20 a natural result, not something we blend up. That is different from the very lean 90/10 you see in stores, which often comes from old cows or bulls. And our fat cooks into the meat. You do not need to drain it. As one of our customers put it the first time she made a batch, "I do not have to drain this hamburger."

If you are cooking a homemade hamburger helper or a pan of sloppy joes, that 20% fat is what carries the flavor through the whole dish.

Single Source: One Animal, Not a Thousand

This is the biggest difference between our ground beef and what is in the store, and it is the part almost nobody hears about. We take our steers to the processor four or five at a time, and the processor works one animal at a time. They cut the steaks, grind all the hamburger, package it, put it in the freezer, and only then start on the next animal. Every tube of our ground beef and every package of patties is one animal. Not hundreds. Not thousands. One.

A tube of grocery ground beef almost never is. Darin Detwiler, a food-safety professor at Northeastern University, says it straight: "Most people are not aware that ground beef purchased at a store is not from one animal. It typically comes from centralized, batch operations that can result in meat from up to 400 heads of cattle being mixed together." Other reporting on the practice, known as commingling, runs the high end all the way up to a thousand animals in a single pound. It can also be a lot of places. Some of that trim is imported, including from as far away as Argentina, to keep up with demand.

Blending is not just a quality problem. As Consumer Reports explains, ground beef "is often made from the meat of many animals, so meat from a single animal can end up contaminating many packages in a supermarket." One contaminated animal can spread through an entire batch. That is why a single sick animal can trigger a recall of tons of beef.

With ours, there is nothing to trace but one steer. I can tell you who the calf's mother was, who the bull was, what pasture it came from, and the date it was born. Try getting that at the meat counter. If you want the whole story of how we raise them, read how we raise our cattle. Our Ground Beef Box is 18 pounds of 80/20 from a single animal, and that is the whole point.

The 16-Day Dry Age: Where Flavor and Tenderness Come From

Great ground beef does not just happen at the grinder. It starts with how the beef is handled after harvest. Our beef hangs in halves in a temperature-controlled cooler in the mid-30s, with fans circulating air the whole time. Those halves run 400 to 450 pounds hanging weight, and they hang for a full 16 days, give or take a couple depending on the processor's schedule.

That hang is doing real work. The outside dries as moisture leaves, which is exactly what you want. No watered-down beef. On the inside, the animal's own natural enzymes go to work. Peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Animal Science and Technology describes how "the natural enzymes in beef break down proteins" during aging, tenderizing the meat, while "the flavors and tissue itself becomes more concentrated by the loss of moisture." In plain terms: the beef gets more tender and more beefy, by time and cold, not by anything added. Most commodity beef gets rushed. Ours does not.

The Grind, and Why Ours Has Nothing Added

After the steaks, roasts, and ribeyes are cut out, the trimmings, roughly 300 to 350 pounds per animal, go into the grind. It runs through a coarse grind first, then a finer grind for a good mixture, and we target 80/20. That is the whole recipe.

Our ground beef contains beef and 20% fat. That is it. No fillers. No ice. No mystery. When someone asks me what is in it, I tell them, "Ours has beef and 20% fat," and that is the honest and complete answer. Not every package at the store can say the same.

Natural Color, and What They Do to Grocery Beef to Fake It

Walk the meat aisle and every package is the same bright cherry-red, day after day, like it was ground that morning. It was not. A lot of that beef is sealed in packaging with a small amount of carbon monoxide gas that locks the meat into that fresh-looking red and holds it there for a long time, even as the beef ages. Don Berdahl, Vice President and Technical Director at the food-ingredient company Kalsec, put it about as clearly as anyone: "Carbon monoxide simulates the appearance of freshness, so consumers may actually believe meat is fresh and safe when it may be neither."

That is exactly why regulators do not trust it. The European Union banned carbon monoxide in meat packaging in 2003, on the grounds that the stable red color "can last beyond the microbial shelf life of the meat and thus mask spoilage." A peer-reviewed review of the practice notes it "is not allowed in most countries."

Real beef does not need any of that. We double-wrap our ground beef in 1-pound tubes with the oxygen removed, so what you see on the outside of the package is exactly what is inside. There is no color change when you open it, no mystery meat. When I open a freezer with a thousand pounds of ground beef in it, you can smell that fresh flavor even through the freeze. And when it hits a hot pan, it sizzles. No water steaming off. Just pure beef from one animal. If your ground beef looks identical on day one and day fifteen, that should worry you, not comfort you.

Why Single-Source Beef Matters

Traceability is the practical difference. Grocery ground beef can mix trim from many cattle and multiple processors. Diamond R ground beef is ground from one animal at a time, so the flavor is consistent and the source is clear.

That does not make any beef magic, but it does give you a cleaner chain of custody than blended commodity burger. You know the ranch, the feed program, and the family behind the package.

How This Beef Is Raised

Great ground beef is raised, not just processed. Our calves are born in late February and early March, and I check them every day, sometimes twice. Every calf gets a vaccination at birth and an ear tag for traceability. They spend the summer on green grass with their mothers, get weaned in late October, and are finished on a corn-and-oat ration with roughage and a mineral pack for 130 to 180 days. Straight corn would be too hot and the animal would not be as healthy, so it is the corn-and-oats combination that drives the marbling and flavor we are known for. The goal is to grow a healthy animal with a nice fat layer, not to just get it fat. For the full four-generation story and how we do it, read the journey from our pasture to your plate.

What Is in Grocery Burger That Is Not in Ours

Put it all together and here is what can be in a tube of commodity ground beef that is not in a box of ours:

• A blend of many animals, up to hundreds of head and by some estimates as many as a thousand, sometimes with trim imported from other countries.
• Carbon monoxide gas in the packaging to hold an artificial red color.
• Beef from cattle raised on routine antibiotics and hormone implants, from operations you will never see.

Here is what is in ours: one animal, our own cattle, dry-aged 16 days, ground fresh at 80/20, corn-and-oats finished, with nothing added. As some of our customers have told us, "I had no idea grocery store ground beef was that bad," and "this is the best ground beef I have ever had." A lot of them buy nothing but our ground beef, no steaks, no roasts, because the quality stands on its own.

How to Buy Better Ground Beef

You do not have to buy from us to buy better. Here is what to look for anywhere:

• Ask if it is single-source or blended. A rancher will know the answer. A grocery clerk usually will not.
• Look for the fat ratio. For burgers, you want 80/20.
• Watch the color over a few days. Real beef changes color. Beef that stays locked-in red has help.
• Ask how the cattle were raised. Antibiotics, hormones, and finishing all matter.
• Buy direct from a ranch when you can. It is the only way to really know where your food came from.

That last point is the whole thing for me. I want you to feed your family what I fed my family. I want you to sit around the table and enjoy a home-grown beef experience raised on a small ranch by a single family, and be able to trace back where that food came from. That is the most important thing you can do today. Know where your food came from.

When you are ready to taste the difference, our Ground Beef Box brings you 80/20 single-source ground beef from our family ranch, dry-aged and ground fresh, vacuum-sealed and flash-frozen. Put it to work in a pot of chili, a pan of baked ziti, or any of our weeknight ground beef recipes. If you cook through it fast, it may be time to look at a beef share.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 80/20 mean in ground beef?

80/20 means the ground beef is 80% lean meat and 20% fat by weight. The fat is what makes a burger juicy and flavorful. Leaner grinds like 90/10 have less fat, so they cook up drier. For most burgers and skillet meals, 80/20 is the preferred ratio, and in well-marbled beef that fat cooks right into the meat.

Is Diamond R ground beef grass-fed?

Our cattle spend the summer on grass with their mothers, then finish on a corn-and-oat ration for 130 to 180 days. It is that corn-and-oats finish, not straight corn, that builds the marbling and flavor. So it is grain-finished beef, and we would rather be straight with you than stretch a label.

Do I need to drain the fat from your ground beef?

No. Because the fat comes from healthy, well-raised cattle and the beef is 80/20, that fat cooks into the meat and carries the flavor. Many of our customers are surprised the first time they cook it that there is nothing to pour off. Season it and go.

Why does grocery ground beef stay bright red for so long?

Much retail ground beef is sealed with a small amount of carbon monoxide, which locks in a bright cherry-red color that can last well beyond the meat's freshness. The European Union banned the practice in 2003 because the color can mask spoilage. Beef that changes color naturally is doing what real beef does.

Is single-source ground beef safer than blended?

Single-source ground beef comes from one animal, so if there is ever an issue it is traceable to that animal. Blended grocery beef mixes trim from many animals, which is why one contaminated source can affect many packages and drive large recalls. Single-source is not a guarantee, but it is far more traceable.

How should I store and thaw ground beef?

Keep it frozen until you need it, then thaw it in the refrigerator overnight rather than on the counter. For a quicker thaw, seal it in a bag and set it in cold water. Cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit for safety.

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Marty Reichenberger is a fourth-generation cattleman and co-owner of Diamond R Cattle in Independence, Kansas. He and his wife Amy raise corn-and-oats-finished beef with born here, raised here, and fed here on our family ranch in Independence, Kansas. Everything on this ranch, from the day a calf is born to the day it reaches your table, is something Marty can put his name on.

Sources

1. Northeastern University, "Where do burgers come from?" (Darin Detwiler): https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/05/20/where-do-burgers-come-from/
2. Consumer Reports, "Why Is Ground Beef Making People Sick?": https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/why-is-ground-beef-making-people-sick/
3. HuffPost, "What's The Best Ground-Beef-To-Fat Ratio For A Perfect Burger?" (Paul Vaccari): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ground-beef-fat-percentage-perfect-burger_l_627a8f03e4b0d7ea4cd30783
4. Journal of Animal Science and Technology, "Dry aging of beef; Review" (2016): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4872334/
5. FoodNavigator, "FDA asked to rescind use of carbon monoxide for meats" (Don Berdahl): https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2005/11/17/FDA-asked-to-rescind-use-of-carbon-monoxide-for-meats/
6. "Carbon Monoxide in Meat and Fish Packaging: Advantages and Limits": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5848116/
7. World Health Organization, "Antimicrobial resistance" fact sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
8. Consumer Reports, "Conventional Ground Beef Twice As Likely To Contain Superbugs" (2015): https://www.consumerreports.org/media-room/press-releases/2015/08/my-entry/