You're going to grind your own meat! Because you're industrious, discerning and - not allowed to go to the grocery store. Instructions for grinding meat with a hand grinder, food processor or stand mixer.
As you know, things have changed a bit around the world in the past couple of months. You might not be quite as likely to run out to the grocery store as you once were because. And if you do go, they might not have everything you want.
I was able to find all kinds of Paul Newman for example, but there wasn't a single Idris Elba anywhere. Not even in the protein powder aisle.
Just last week my mother asked one of my sisters to grab her some ground beef at the store. Nope. No ground beef. Apparently the ground beef ran off to have a torrid love affair with the toilet paper.
But that's O.K. because you can easily grind your own meat even if you don't have a meat grinder. Aside from doing this because we're suddenly living in a very weird moment, grinding your own meat gives you more control over the cuts of meat and allows you to blend different types for optimal flavour.
So don't think, OMG I can't believe it's come to this - I have to grind my own meat like some sort of dirt eating peasant. Think of it as, HOLY CRAP - I can't believe I'm suddenly so brilliant that I can custom make my own blends of ground meat.
Hamburgers are fantastic little creatures that even taste good when they’re terrible. Do you have any idea how good they are when you grind your own beef???
I do.
BECAUSE NOW I MAKE THE MOST DELICIOUS HAMBURGERS EVER!
O.K. Now that I have you sold on burgers for dinner tonight with the above photo, we can commence.
I'm not going to scare you with a list of alarming things that go into store bought ground beef. The truth is you've been eating store bought ground beef for years and it's been just fine and will continue to be just fine.
I'm just saying a slightly better option is grinding your own.
Grinding your own meat sounds like more of an ordeal than it is. Unless you have 3 or 4 kids. Because even peeing is an ordeal when you have 3 or 4 kids.
Give it a shot. And revel in the fact that all of us, together, can continue to enjoy tasty hamburgers.
How to Grind Beef
If you're grinding your own beef the main reason to do this is for flavour. If you only plan to do this occasionally then make it for an event where the beef is the star of the show, like Hamburgers.
→BEST CUTS FOR GRINDING INTO GROUND BEEF←
Look for roasts/meat labelled:
Blade Roast
Chuck Roast
Blade Roast
Cross Rib Roast
(Some are the same thing but labelled differently depending on what country you're in or what your butcher labels them as.)
These all come from between the neck and the shoulder of the cow. THIS is the area that's going to have a good fat to meat ratio.
- The BEST ground meat will have a ratio of 15-25% fat in it.
- If your cut of meat doesn't have that, ask whoever is behind the counter if they can throw in some fat for you to add to your meat.
To make delicious ground beef for hamburgers from scratch use:
2 parts chuck to 1 part brisket or flank steak.
If you have a package of stewing beef in the freezer, it's the perfect thing to turn into ground beef!
It's already cubed & usually has plenty of fat. It's perfect.
That tough, cheap steak that's been sitting in the freezer for a year, it can also be turned into ground beef!
WAYS TO GRIND MEAT
With a hand crank grinder.
One way to grind your own meat is by using a hand grinder that you clamp to your counter.
- Clamp the grinder to your counter with a bowl beneath it.
- Cut your fat and meat into cubes small enough to fit into the funnel of your grinder. Freeze them for about half an hour to firm them up and help prevent them from getting sticky and pasty when you grind.
- Feed the cubes into the top funnel of the grinder, pushing down with the tamper.
- Whirl away on that handle until all your cubes are ground.
- Then do this again two more times with the already ground meat to get the proper consistency of ground beef.
With a Cuisinart (Food processor)
A Cuisinart can do a fairly good job of grinding meat as long as the meat is partially frozen. It shouldn't be frozen solid, just firm. Partially freezing the meat is also the easiest way to cut steaks from a roast. I do this all the time. I buy a large tenderloin roast and then cut it into individual steaks.
To grind with a food processor:
- Cut your fat and meat into 1" cubes trimming off the silverskin (that's the rubbery, very tough tissue). The cubes need to be small so they grind quickly and easily.
- Drop cubes of meat into the Cuisinart until the container is half full.
- Pulse 10X for one second each time and assess your meat. If the consistency looks good, you're done. If not, pulse a few more times.
- Remember PULSE, do not run the Cuisinart steady. If you do you'll end up with pasty baby-food like meat.
- Once I've finished grinding, I poke around looking for gross bits, like silverskin that I missed or hard fat that didn't get ground up.
Poking around for chunks of fat or silverskin is only necessary if you use a food processor for grinding. An actual grinder (hand or electric) will take care of those things.
With a Stand Mixer Attachment with grinding attachment.
*note, you don't have to buy the expensive, stainless Kitchen Aid grinder, less expensive ones work just fine on it.
Along with an electric meat grinder, a stand mixer will give you great ground beef. It's done exactly the same as using a hand crank grinder.
- Cut your fat and meat into cubes small enough to fit into the funnel of your grinder. Freeze them for about half an hour to firm them up and help prevent them from getting sticky and pasty when you grind.
- Meanwhile, plug your stand mixer in and attach the grinding attachment with the finer grinding plate. Set a bowl under the grinding attachment.
- Feed the partially frozen cubes into the top funnel of the grinder, pushing down with the tamper.
- Process until all your cubes are ground.
- Then do this again two more times with the already ground meat to get the proper consistency of ground beef.
How to Grind your own Beef
How to grind your own meat with a hand grinder, food processor or Kitchen Aid with grinder attachment.
Materials
- Knife
- Beef, Chicken, Lamb or Venison
Tools
- Hand meat grinder
- Food processor
- or
- Kitchen Aid
Instructions
Hand Grinder
- Clamp the grinder to your counter with a bowl beneath it.
- Cut your fat and meat into cubes small enough to fit into the funnel of your grinder. Freeze them for about half an hour to firm them up and help prevent them from getting sticky and pasty when you grind.
- Feed the cubes into the top funnel of the grinder, pushing down with the tamper.
- Whirl away on that handle until all your cubes are ground.
- Then do this again two more times with the already ground meat to get the proper consistency of ground beef.
Food Processor
- Cut your fat and meat into 1″ cubes trimming off the silverskin (that’s the rubbery, very tough tissue). The cubes need to be small so they grind quickly and easily.
- Drop cubes of meat into the Cuisinart until the container is half full.
- Pulse 10X for one second each time and assess your meat. If the consistency looks good, you’re done. If not, pulse a few more times.
- Remember PULSE, do not run the Cuisinart steady. If you do you’ll end up with pasty baby-food like meat.
- Once I’ve finished grinding, I poke around looking for gross bits, like silverskin that I missed or hard fat that didn’t get ground up.
Food Processor
- Cut your fat and meat into cubes small enough to fit into the funnel of your grinder. Freeze them for about half an hour to firm them up and help prevent them from getting sticky and pasty when you grind.
- Meanwhile, plug your stand mixer in and attach the grinding attachment with the finer grinding plate. Set a bowl under the grinding attachment.
- Feed the partially frozen cubes into the top funnel of the grinder, pushing down with the tamper.
- Process until all your cubes are ground.
- Then do this again two more times with the already ground meat to get the proper consistency of ground beef.
Notes
Partially freezing the meat helps stop it from becoming like baby food.
How to Grind Beef Meat
If you're looking for another way to use ground beef, I'd go for my spaghetti and meatball recipe that's delicious. Not just because it's my recipe, so of course I think it's delicious, but because IT'S DELICIOUS.
Even though we're heading into spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, comfort food might be sticking around for a while in this house.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
I love the red nail polish for the bloody occasion of meat grinding... You go ghoul.
You noticed! ~ karen!
"Because even peeing is an ordeal when you have 3 or 4 kids.
Give it a shot."
LOL! ;')
I would like you even better if you were a vegetarian!
Art from Victoria, BC
And most people would like vegetarians even better if they stopped saying things like that! ~ karen!
I bought my first Cuisinart in 1990! My first two uses were for making a cake and for grinding beef for hamburgers (and whatever else one uses ground beef for). No pink slime in burgers or tacos or meatloaf chez Osberg! Delicious. A boxed cake mix is processed in a Cuisinart in about 20 seconds or less of pulsing. Very quick clean up. That machine has been a joy of an appliance and I use it nearly every day for something. Great article and yeah, I do like to do stuff! But I also do Math.
ACK. If I could do it I would like it, lol. ~ karen!