Meating—he's doinitrite

Chewing the fat with Kevin Healy

By CHRISTINE LIU

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I was introduced to Kevin Healy as one who loves freshly ground beef to the extent that he'll eat it raw, straight from grinder to mouth. "I don't know if I can legally recommend that, but it's the freshest taste you can ever get." O RLY? "The texture's great, smells fresh." He continues, "It tastes like you didn't cook all the flavor out of it." A little laugh follows that bit.

Originally from Philadelphia, Healy's finishing up his political communications degree at Emerson. Meanwhile, he's also busy burning the bacon grease as a carnivore's aficionado, perfecting the art of finessing flesh in the kitchen and beyond, and providing his services as professional meat whisperer at a zealously earth-friendly yet corporate supermarket that-shan't-be-named. I figured he's a sizable brain to pick on the art of ground beef.

He definitely recommends that burger fiends invest in a grinder—"just buy chuck steak or chuck roast, it's real cheap"—which will pay itself off all grill season. It doesn't really matter what the original cut is, but it's worth scoring antibiotic-free, hormone-free, vegetarian-fed beef, especially for fans of rare cooking. "You can definitely taste all the garbage [industrial beef producers] put in there.

"Make sure you have enough fat content—it's the number one problem that people have," stresses Healy. He believes 85-percent lean is a good benchmark, about the proportion of using straight chuck. With something too lean, patties can turn out unsatisfyingly dry. "I like a real juicy burger," pronounces Healy, his hands instinctively making squeezing motions as he says this.

"You can have fun with burgers, experimenting with different meats," Healy encourages. "Cut the beef with pork or veal ..." He then goes on to a favorite meatastic construction of his, involving braising a shank (he's fond of the lamb variety) and shredding the meat off the bone. It's then reformed into plump patties with a bit of egg and breadcrumbs, just enough to hold the monumental mess together. "It's a meatloaf, meatball, kind of thing," he explains.

Carpaccio, naturally, is a favorite food, but he remarks, "You don't really find raw meats around town, but I enjoy it." May the seas of steak tartare start bleeding ... now.