Technique for Grinding Beef

[RichieB]

I subscribe to Food&Wine hardcopy and digital. In last months issue, they had this on grinding meat. I read on Nook and it appears they don't want you cutting and paste to share stuff. I took a picture and it's below. I hope you'll be able to zoom in. I know the key is freezing the meat for about 30 minutes, They suggest placing the grinder attachments in the freezer too. As well as placing the bowl in another bowl with ice in it. this is for food safety. Not sure how necessary that is. The 3 other items are how to cut the meat for grinding. Cubed was the method I read about and use. They suggest 3 inch strips. Again has to do with keeping the meat cold. 2nd is finely grinding after the course grind. 3rd is if you're doing pork emulsify.
I thought I'd share. I'll give it a shot next time.

[RonB]

That's basically what I do.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I would assume chilling the grinder and the bowl is to reduce the heat buildup from the grinding process. Not sure how much heat the average home grinder is going to generate, but definitely makes sense for industrial scale where the parts would have time to build up sufficient heat to cause problems... But the indy stuff is generally done in a giant walk in fridge

[Steve B]

If I recall, I could be wrong, the manufacture of the meat grinder I have says NOT to put grinder parts in the freezer. They say it can make the metal parts brittle potentially causing metal chips breaking off. Otherwise the article you posted is pretty much on the mark and how I do it as well.

[RichieB]

Thanks for that tip. I have Kitchen Aid, I'll check up on that regarding freezing parts.

[MattTheGR8]

What manufacturer is that? Freezing the grinder parts is pretty standard practice. Sounds like they don't have much faith in their stuff if a home freezer can make it brittle.

[Steve B]

MattTheGR8 I forgot the name of my grinder. But its probably their way of getting out of any possible lawsuits.

[JeffJ]

Last night I left the meat in the freezer a bit too long and some pieces wouldn't grind. I let those pieces sit on the counter for about a half hour and all was good after that. Hopefully tonight's meatloaf turns out good. I'm a little nervous because I used lean meat. I'm hoping with all of the other stuff in the loaf it won't turn out dry.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I wouldn't store metal parts in a freezer, but I do it to chill them down before grinding.

http://blog.westonproducts.com/2014/09/Meat-Grinder-Tips-Tricks.html

[RichieB]

Great info. Thanks for sharing.

[MattTheGR8]

That article looks like the other standard practices I've seen. The main reason for keeping the meat really cold is to ensure that the fat is firm enough to cut cleanly rather than smear.

[Bighorn Dave]

If I recall, I could be wrong, the manufacture of the meat grinder I have says NOT to put grinder parts in the freezer. They say it can make the metal parts brittle potentially causing metal chips breaking off. Otherwise the article you posted is pretty much on the mark and how I do it as well.

Sure depends on the grinder manufacturer. Here is the users manual for a Cabela's brand grinder. Scroll to page 10 and read paragraph 3 for what they suggest. https://www.cabelas.com/assets/produ...e_Grinders.pdf

[Steve B]

Interesting. I gotta say I like the idea of keeping the blades cold like that.

[RichieB]

Update; Did 2 pounds of chuck using the method in the article. Omitted bacon as I wanted to see the results with beef. What a difference with the 2nd fine grind. Not sure what the cold did for the cutter and grind attachments. The meat cut in strips was much easier to work with than cubes. The result of the 2nd grind made the texture much more like what you get from the store bought. That was one issue I had with just course. The burger did not hold together well. I recommend doing this way if you haven't yet.