Ground Beef

[NebraskaX24]

I'm curious, throughout all of my readings on this forum I've seen toppings ranging from basic cheese and pepperoni, to some borderline crazy combinations. This is fine, but I haven't seen one mention of ground beef, nor seen a picture of somebodies ground beef pizza. Sausage, sure, but sausage is quite a different topping to me at least.

Rather hard to believe since it is one of the top 5 most common toppings on a pizza :S (Not to mention my favorite by far)

Any particular reason it's so uncommon here on pizzamaking.com ?

[Pete-zza]

NebraskaX24,

If you do an Advanced forum search or a Google forum search using the terms ground beef, you will find several examples of where members have used ground beef in or on their pizzas. But, you are correct. Ground beef is not one of the more popular toppings on the forum.

Peter

[robs]

I fry up some Italian sausage meat that i squeeze from the skin. It adds a nice bit of spice without being too spicey for my wife.

[Tscarborough]

Wow, I hadn't thought about it, but you are right.  Of the 100+ pizzas I have made over the last year or so, only 2 have hamburger meat (replies 109 and 150 in the Pizza Anarchy thread).  I will have to rectify that situation this weekend!

[NebraskaX24]

Wow, I hadn't thought about it, but you are right.  Of the 100+ pizzas I have made over the last year or so, only 2 have hamburger meat (replies 109 and 150 in the Pizza Anarchy thread).  I will have to rectify that situation this weekend!

I enjoy your thread very much, looking forward to your creation!

[Tscarborough]

Even though I did not make the dough, this was a very good pizza tonight.  Pics and info on the PA thread.

[Saturday Coffee]

Greektown (Detroit) chili is made by boiling the ground beef in a pot of water a couple minutes just until the meat is no longer pink, then draining or rinsing and draining.

This makes soft, smooth and virtually grease free beef -- this would be great on a pizza.

I think the meat in some Cincinnati-style chilis are made the same way.

Does anyone here use boiled ground beef or sirloin as a topping???

[pmoores]

Ground beef is a often used ingredient in my many pizza places in Canada but when I lived in the USA for 3 years, virtually unheard of. Sausage was much rarer up here.

[Jackie Tran]

I haven't seen too many ground beef pies on the forum as well, but I have made some.

Here is a recent ground beef and onions.  Beef was placed on pizza raw and baked around 5m.  

Reply 35 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,16969.20.html

Here's a 1/2 cheese 1/2 meatball pie.  A huge crowd favorite.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CNW3Htpilw&amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CNW3Htpilw&amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player</a>

Chau

[pizzablogger]

I can only recall seeing ground beef as a topping choice in a handful, at most, of the pizzerias I have visited.  I may have missed it listed on a few ocassions, but I haven't seen it much (mostly northeastern and mid-atlantic USA).

That being said, knowing a tad too much about how ground beef is produced, there is absolutely no way I would order that as a topping unless the pizzeria made their own ground beef in the shop. Too much already made ground beef is s*&t....literally. --K

[buceriasdon]

I use hamburger to make a sloppy joe pizza that I don't eat myself but my Mexican friends love them.
Don

[SquirrelFlight]

What got me interested in making my own pizza is the lack of a good taco pizza in the Phoenix area (surprised me, too when I moved here).  What I'm looking for: refried bean/salsa "sauce" topped with ground beef (sometimes seasoned with "taco seasonings", sometimes by itself) and cheese.  Cook the pizza, and top with shredded lettuce, sliced tomato and grated cheddar/jack cheese.

[buceriasdon]

Yep, I have to do something with the hamburger to jazz it up, otherwise it's pretty bland on pizza by itself.
Don
add. I made some of my spicy sloppy joe hamburger with mushrooms and jalapeno pepper tonight. Manchego cheese on top. Yum

What got me interested in making my own pizza is the lack of a good taco pizza in the Phoenix area (surprised me, too when I moved here).  What I'm looking for: refried bean/salsa "sauce" topped with ground beef (sometimes seasoned with "taco seasonings", sometimes by itself) and cheese.  Cook the pizza, and top with shredded lettuce, sliced tomato and grated cheddar/jack cheese.

[buceriasdon]

I forgot to mention this trick to getting more flavor from ground beef. To 1/2 lb. of ground beef add three drained anchovies finely diced when cooking the beef. This is my method when making sliders. Really helps bring an extra something  to the beef. Also try a tablespoon of oriental fish sauce.
Don

[lawman]

I thought a bacon-cheeseburger pizza sounded like a good idea so I made a "ground beef" pizza the other day using a recipe based on http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,15203.60.html.

Unfortunately it was rather bland as is the case (imho) when I order it on my pizza. I'll definitely try and spice up the flavor of the meat when I try beef again. Not sure about anchovies though... taco pizza sounds interesting.

 

[buceriasdon]

 Lawman, Anchovy is just a seasoning, like salt and pepper, a flavor enhancer. It doesn't change the actual flavor of the burger the way something like Worcestershire sauce or onions do, it just adds a bit of umami that makes ground beef, um, beefier. I use anchovy or fish sauce in many of my dishes and people don't know what that extra flavor is but they know it tastes good. As the saying goes, don't knock until you've tried it. Your pizza looks very good.
Don

[lawman]

don't knock until you've tried it. Your pizza looks very good.

You are correct... about not knocking before trying, sadly the pizza looked better than it tasted.  I don't think I've ever eaten an anchovy (or anchovy flavored anthying) in my 43 years. I'll keep an eye out next time I'm at the store and see if I can sneak in on the next beef pizza or as a topping and see what the family thinks.

[Tscarborough]

If you have used Worcestershire sauce you have eaten anchovy.

[lawman]

Noooooooooooo!    Thanks for shattering my perceived anchovy-free lifestyle.

I love worcestershire sauce... so I'll definitely try the anchovy in the beef or on a pizza.