Choosing Your Meat

• Grinding your own burgers just sounds like it would produce a result of a higher quality than buying the meat pre-ground at the store, but that doesn't mean any old cut of beef will do. Look for cuts that have a ratio that's close to 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat. The sirloin, brisket, short rib, chuck or a combination of the four make for flavorful and juicy beef burgers. You'll want thick-cut bacon slices to grind into your burger mixture, because they will be easier to identify in the finished patties.

Prepping the Meat and Grinder

• When it comes to grinding beef and bacon for burgers, cold is always better. That means cold pieces of meat and cold grinder attachments for your stand mixer. Cut your beef and bacon into small cubes and then place them into the freezer for up to an hour, until they are quite cold. Place the coarse attachment for your meat grinder into the freezer at the same time, then when it is time to grind the bacon and the beef, the meat will go through smoothly and won't get stuck.

Grinding the Meat

• The real magic happens when the meat goes from solid pieces of beef and pork to ground and ready to make burgers. If you're using a stand mixer with the standard grinder attachment, assemble the chilled coarse grinding disc and set a bowl underneath to catch the meat as it comes out. Turn the mixer to medium speed and feed your chilled meat down into the tube and through the grinder. Continue pushing all the beef and bacon through until it has all been ground. Don't worry about the ratio of beef to bacon in the bowl, you can balance it out by hand when you are forming the hamburgers.

The Manual Method

• If you do not have an automatic meat grinding attachment, you can still grind your own burgers with bacon. Using a heavy and sharp knife, ideally a cleaver, chop the pieces of meat on a cutting board until it is the texture you want. Grinding the burgers manually will take longer than using an automatic grinder, but you can chop your burgers to as coarse or as fine a blend as you want. You can also experiment with different textures, and adjusting beef-to-bacon ratios becomes a little easier.

Cooking Your Burgers

• Once you have your hamburger patties assembled, cook them in a skillet in your kitchen or on your barbecue, if that is how you've planned to cook them. If you make an indentation in the center of each patty with your thumb, they will be more likely to stay flat as they cook. If you find the burgers too salty, try adding a smaller ratio of bacon to the mix the next time. The Foodsafety.gov website suggests cooking both ground beef and pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so once you see that number on the meat thermometer, you'll be covered for each one.