What is the deal with the burgers?

I think British beef tastes fine, but if you disagree maybe it's because it's not been stuffed full of genetically modified grain?  In the UK, cattle are primarily forage-fed - allowed to roam in pastures (such as the Yorkshire Dales) and eat grass.  In the US, beef is grain-fed and generally kept confined in a pen or barn.

We buy most of our beef from our local butcher, who sources it from right here in the Yorkshire Dales.  I'll just make my burgers by hand from his ground mince, but I've also had great burgers at places like our local - so I think it just depends on the restaurant really.

Also, if you're buying beef at one of the major supermarkets - make sure you read your labels carefully, or you might not be buying British beef at all - it might have been imported from Argentina.

I've bought every type of ground beef over here to make my own burgers, yet I still can't find anything that tastes right. I've bought the cheap stuff on deal at Sainsbury, Angus beef from Waitrose, 10% fat, 20% fat, yet I still can't stand the taste of any British Beef. Does anyone else notice the difference?
We do have a burger place called "Ground" close to us in Chiswick, who do amazing burgers. Their burgers don't have a "weird" flavour to me, so there must be some British beef that taste right out there?!

I had this problem when I first moved over - the regular old mince that DH was used to buying from Sainsburys and Somerfield tasted really off to me.  I did a bit of hunting around and found that the Scotch Angus beef from Morrison's didn't make me gag, so we bought that for a while. It was annoying, though, because we don't usually shop at Morrisons so had to make special trips for mince.  Then I tried the SO organic mince at Sainsburys and haven't looked back since! 

I really, really, REALLY want to find a decent butcher in this area, though.  I'm fussy about cleanliness and every butcher I've tried has squicked me out in some way - not with the meat or offal, but just in general terms of cleanliness.  I know they're not all like that - I've been to fantastic ones when visiting friends in London, and I had a regular butcher when I lived in Boston!

I've never noticed a difference in the way the mince tastes, but I have noticed that burgers at a lot of pubs and restaurants here don't have much flavour, seem to be packed with filler, and they are often dry. I've never had any trouble making my own big fat, greasy, belly bustin' burgers at home.  

We have some fabulous butchers in our area, but they're awfully old school. Meaning, they smell appalling. I can't even go into the butcher in Battle.

My husband has a thousand times my sense of smell, but it doesn't bother him a bit. He thinks I'm a weenus.

Oh! And don't get me started on the fishmongers!

But I have to admit, when we get stuff home and cook it, it is incredibly good.

I don't think there really is a difference between US and UK beef in taste for normal things, but I do think the burgers here are made from more finely ground beef, you can see the difference and that affects the texture and taste.

Also, to make a good burger you do need to have more fat in the mix to make it clump properly.  

Leaving aside burgers that have fillers like breadcrumbs.

I think British beef tastes fine, but if you disagree maybe it's because it's not been stuffed full of genetically modified grain?  In the UK, cattle are primarily forage-fed - allowed to roam in pastures (such as the Yorkshire Dales) and eat grass.  In the US, beef is grain-fed and generally kept confined in a pen or barn.

I don't eat beef, but I am surprised that a lot of people here don't seem to like British beef and it's generally thought of as pretty superior meat, isn't it?

I don't eat beef, but I am surprised that a lot of people here don't seem to like British beef and it's generally thought of as pretty superior meat, isn't it?

Yes. 

I don't eat beef, but I am surprised that a lot of people here don't seem to like British beef and it's generally thought of as pretty superior meat, isn't it?

I wouldn't say it is overall superior to a lot of what you can buy in the US.  

But I guess it depends on the type of beef you are buying.  You pay your money and you take your chance.  

Personally, I'd rather eat grass-fed field foraging beef myself, than GM-fed beef that was all cooped up.  But maybe that's just me. 

There's a lot of stuff out there on how to make the perfect hamburger (google around)...you want fat content in the meat, don't overhandle it, don't pack it, don't press it down with the spatula, etc....

Not all US beef is feedlot and not all UK cattle are grass fed.

As I said you get to choose what you want to eat. 

I've bought beef for stews and pasties at our local butcher, and it was really nice. I've thought about buying mince there, but it's tres expensive... so it would have to be for a special occasion.

Personally, I would rather not eat beef at all if eating grass-fed field beef is always going to taste this way to me. Part of it is the texture as well, and using a higher fat content beef didn't seem to solve this either.

If it was Argentinian beef, I might like it more! The beef for the steak house chain Gaucho Grill is all imported from Argentina and I think it's devine.

I'm going to try SO organic mince at Sainsburys next, and hope for the best. Maybe it's just that those damn Texan longhorn cattle have me spoiled!

So you don't like the steak either?

For me it is the pasty quality of the ground meat that gets me and I think it affects the taste as someone here already said.

Like Racheeeee (that seems like too many es to me) I do like GBK, their burgers are very nice and just about right. 

One thing that seems to be pretty much limited to the US is the corn-feeding of cattle - apparently linked to the surplus of corn/subsidies thingie there (high fructose corn syrup anyone? ).  Corn feeding produces fatter cattle, which appears to be more to the American taste now.  (Although the corn feeding may have created that taste.)

Argentinian beef might be either grass or grain fed, but I suspect if it's imported to a mass market - it might more likely be grain fed/feedlot?

Apparently, a way to tell (from looking at the meat) whether it's grass or grain fed:  If the fat is very white - looking good & white under supermarket artificial lighting, it's likely to be grain fed.  Grass fed will have varied shades of creamy yellow fat due to the beta carotene in the grass that the animal ate.

I haven't had much steak over here actually. Years and years ago, I had a steak in a pub and it was dry and overcooked. However, I put that down to the pub and not the beef itself. I've had a steak since then in a popular gastro pub in London and it was very good, and I quite enjoy my father-in-law's Sunday roast beef.

Not the biggest beef eater in general, I've just been frustrated with my BBQ burger efforts this summer. It's always my job to make them, and I hate going to the trouble only to find disappointment in the end result.

One of the problems for me with the beef that they serve in pubs and restaurants here is that they won't usually cook it rare enough for me because of their health and safety rules. Getting a burger made to order is nearly impossible and I wouldn't consider spending the money on a steak that I know I wouldn't be happy with.

I'm a big meat eater and I think the overall quality of the beef here is very good. We buy most of our meat from Costco and everything from the filets to the basic mince has been reallly nice.