Why does my hamburger taste like liver?

RevZiLLa · Sep 27, 2016

Everybody loves a good hamburger! I certainly have for years...until now. My wife and I have been noticing a liver flavor in our burgers this year that we have never had before. Grilled or pan fried, it tastes livery.

We have tried different sources and still get the same thing from Costco to Kroger to Food Lion to Walmart.

I know that beef is much leaner than it used to be and wonder if other changes in the product are causing this. I have also read that they are starting to inject beef too.
Do you guys get this too? Any idea why?

SteveKing · Sep 27, 2016

Do you notice a difference in taste for other foods?

RevZiLLa · Sep 27, 2016

It's in chuck too. I haven't been buying steaks for a while, but sirloin near the blood vein tasters that way

SirPorkaLot · Sep 27, 2016

RevZiLLa said:
Everybody loves a good hamburger! I certainly have for years...until now. My wife and I have been noticing a liver flavor in our burgers this year that we have never had before. Grilled or pan fried, it tastes livery.

We have tried different sources and still get the same thing from Costco to Kroger to Food Lion to Walmart.

I know that beef is much leaner than it used to be and wonder if other changes in the product are causing this. I have also read that they are starting to inject beef too.
Do you guys get this too? Any idea why?

Buying the higher priced ground beef over the lower priced? You may be noticing the taste difference between "Grass Fed" and "Grain Fed" beef.

Grass fed beef has become the latest buzz word and more and more places are carrying it these days.
It is a little pricier though, so if you are buying the cheap stuff, this is likely not the issue.

:noidea:

Mrtodd777 · Sep 27, 2016

Grass fed beef has somewhat of a livery taste and smell to me as well.

T.Mac · Sep 27, 2016

I haven't bought ground beef in a few years, as we rarely seem to run out of ground venison, but in the past I've looked for chuckies to go on sale and then asked the butcher to grind it. That way you know what you're getting.

rikun · Sep 27, 2016

This is the only resource I've found about liver taste in Beef. Beware, it's 125 pages long, but will probably give you pretty good understanding of "why" :-D

And yes, it happens sometimes, also with whole muscles.

RevZiLLa · Sep 27, 2016

rikun said:
This is the only resource I've found about liver taste in Beef. Beware, it's 125 pages long, but will probably give you pretty good understanding of "why" :-D

And yes, it happens sometimes, also with whole muscles.

I saw it. Kind of said...I dunno for sure

RevZiLLa · Sep 27, 2016

Not buying grass fed that I know of

landarc · Sep 27, 2016

Have you tried selecting some whole muscle cuts and having them ground for you?

YSR · Sep 27, 2016

rikun said:
This is the only resource I've found about liver taste in Beef. Beware, it's 125 pages long, but will probably give you pretty good understanding of "why" :-D

And yes, it happens sometimes, also with whole muscles.

Thanks for posting this. I've had the slightest of liver flavor in filets before and wondered if my taste buds were deceiving me...

cats49er · Sep 27, 2016

I've come across also and guessed it was due to the animal not being bleed out completely or a bruise.Just guessing though.

Battleborn · Sep 27, 2016

I would guess it's additives used to keep it looking fresh. Does it smell like liver?

RevZiLLa · Sep 28, 2016

It didn't smell livery.

Seems a $10/lb cut should come with a money back guarantee against off flavors

SmokinJohn · Sep 28, 2016

I just read those pages. Probably learned more than I needed to know.

If my pre-Google analytical skills are still intact, I will explain. No, let me sum up.

Liver off-flavor occurs in several beef chuck muscles, including the infraspinatus (flat iron steak)...

....Results of this study indicate that infraspinatus steaks from older animals are most likely to have objectionable liver, sour/grassy, or rancid flavors. Objectionable flavor scores were lower in steaks receiving antioxidant injection or packaged
anaerobically in 0.4% CO-MAP....

What are the other chuck muscles (Which, as you know, eventually end up in ground beef)?

Longissimus dorsi (Ribeyes, Strips, Chuck),
Serratus ventralis (Boneless Short Ribs) ,
Supraspinatus (Mock Tender, Chuck Tender), and
Teres major (Petite Tender)

Age and diet (grass vs corn vs polyunsaturated fats) can increase the off-flavors.

I would say find another beefmonger if you get another bad batch.

Why does my hamburger taste like liver?

RevZiLLa

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SteveKing

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RevZiLLa

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SirPorkaLot

somebody shut me the fark up.

Mrtodd777

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T.Mac

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rikun

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RevZiLLa

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RevZiLLa

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landarc

somebody shut me the fark up.

YSR

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cats49er

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Battleborn

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RevZiLLa

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SmokinJohn

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