Grinding your own ground beef has never made more sense than today. Unless you buy yours at a reputable locker plant like we can, you may be getting inferior ground beef with salt, water and additives you wouldn’t want to eat.
I have 2 ways I can grind beef – with my food processor and with the meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid. I don’t have a manual meat grinder like our Mom had, but it works just as well and I see them at thrift shops occasionally and you can get them online, at some farm stores and at stores that cater to hunters. I do like the quality from the grinder better than from the food processor, but it takes a little longer. For those of you who process your own meat, there a whole different array of huge, expensive grinders that make quick work of it.
I usually buy arm roast on sale, and that’s often enough that I don’t have to do huge amounts at once. Our butcher recommends it as a good cut for grinding your own.
Buy a 3# arm roast and try making your own ground beef – you’ll be surprised at how much less it cooks down – no water added! I patty my beef right away using a good, adjustable, heavy duty patty maker that you can purchase on-line or from many Amish stores, but my son uses a much less expensive patty-maker and they are very happy with it.
In December 2009, arm roast cost me $2.49 a pound; today it cost $2.99. However, today ground beef cost $3.29 to $3.99 at the meat counter, depending on the amount of fat.
 |
| Meat Grinder Ground Beef |
Ground Beef
3 pounds Beef Arm Roast -- boneless
Trim off any gristle or silverskin.
With a meat grinder:
Cut beef in strips sized to feed into the Kitchenaid grinder - about 1 1/2 x 1 1/2" by any length. Place beef on quarter or half sheet pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Attach the food grinder with the coarse blade. Set to Speed 4 and run beef through the grinder into large mixer bowl.
Spread out on sheet pan again, freeze another 15-30 minutes.
Run through the grinder one more time. Form into 4 ounce patties. Package and freeze.
With a food processor:
Cut very cold raw meat into 1 inch pieces, pulse to chop. Check texture often to avoid over-processing. I usually do about 1 pound at a time to get a more even texture.
After grinding meat, it's a good idea to clean your grinder mechanism extra well, and perhaps rinse in a solution of bleach and water for sanitizing. Be sure to get all those little corners.
3 pounds Beef Arm Roast -- boneless
Trim off any gristle or silverskin.
With a meat grinder:
Cut beef in strips sized to feed into the Kitchenaid grinder - about 1 1/2 x 1 1/2" by any length. Place beef on quarter or half sheet pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Attach the food grinder with the coarse blade. Set to Speed 4 and run beef through the grinder into large mixer bowl.
Spread out on sheet pan again, freeze another 15-30 minutes.
Run through the grinder one more time. Form into 4 ounce patties. Package and freeze.
With a food processor:
Cut very cold raw meat into 1 inch pieces, pulse to chop. Check texture often to avoid over-processing. I usually do about 1 pound at a time to get a more even texture.
After grinding meat, it's a good idea to clean your grinder mechanism extra well, and perhaps rinse in a solution of bleach and water for sanitizing. Be sure to get all those little corners.
Just wanted to take a minute and say how valuable your blog is to a lot of us. It inspires me to stop and think about things I used to do and perhaps have gotten lazy about and stopped doing or it suggests things I never bothered about and should. Especially in these times it is useful to consider these thrifty habits. Thanks again. Diane
ReplyDeletei cannot believe i hadn't thought about this. we process our own deer meat in the fall and winter because it saves money, we know we are getting our own meat back and we can pick and choose what gets ground up. but i never thought about buying whole cuts of beef and grinding it up. thank you!
ReplyDeleteCan you use other cuts of beef to grind up as well? We buy ours locally each fall from an organic place and last year we received a ton of cube steaks which we don't really care for and don't cook. Would it be possible to use that and grind it up into ground beef? I've never ground beef up myself but I do have a nice kitchen aid food processor.
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
DeleteI don't see why cube steaks wouldn't grind up easily. Remember to partially freeze them first, and cube them for your food processor; you'll get a more even grind. I have also ground pieces of rump roast, although it is a little lean. Check out your food processor book for good directions.