Handling and Shaping of Ground Beef

Most cooks handle their ground beef far too much. A light touch is the secret to better burgers, meatballs and meat loaves. Too much handling gives them a compact texture (defeats the purpose of having ground the meat in the first place), so mix carefully. When shaping burgers, or meatballs  try to keep them uniform in size. Use a 1/3 of 1/2 cup measure for each burger. A 1/4 cup measure or 1 or 2 Tbsp can be used for meatballs. Another, (undoubtedly the fastest), shaping trick for burgers is to form the meat into a roll 3 inches in diameter and cut in 1/2 inch thick slices. For meatballs, cut a 1 inch diameter roll in 1 inch slices, or pat meat to a 1 inch thick square and cut in  inch cubes.