Grinding meat [General]
2012 Mar 15
I also have a manual grinder, and I'd estimate it is 95+% efficient. The only waste occurs when sinew gets wrapped around the blades and the grinder stops extruding well. In that case you have to occasionally stop grinding, unscrew and remove the die, clean out all the tangled sinew and get back to work. This is especially important when making sausages.
As far as cuts go, leaner cuts tend to have less sinew in my observation (esp with respect to beef and lamb), but also less flavour. Another consideration is that there are very few whole cuts of beef that compete economically with buying ground beef, questions of quality, cleanliness and flavour aside. I tend to use blade/chuck and shank when making ground beef/veal. Heart has great flavour and is very lean, so it is a great option as well for the less squeamish.
Pork on the other hand is quite cheap regardless, and shoulder is regarded as having the best fat/meat ratio (roughly 30% fat) for sausages. I have no experience with grinding chicken.
One other tip, rub all the steel components of the grinder with cooking oil when dry to reduce corrosion.
As far as cuts go, leaner cuts tend to have less sinew in my observation (esp with respect to beef and lamb), but also less flavour. Another consideration is that there are very few whole cuts of beef that compete economically with buying ground beef, questions of quality, cleanliness and flavour aside. I tend to use blade/chuck and shank when making ground beef/veal. Heart has great flavour and is very lean, so it is a great option as well for the less squeamish.
Pork on the other hand is quite cheap regardless, and shoulder is regarded as having the best fat/meat ratio (roughly 30% fat) for sausages. I have no experience with grinding chicken.
One other tip, rub all the steel components of the grinder with cooking oil when dry to reduce corrosion.
2012 Mar 15
I hope this is helpful:
- different cuts have different flavours and fat content & muscle type contribute to texture. So pick cuts that have the flavour you want.
- the size of holes in your grinding plate largely determines texture, in addition to above.
- keep your grinder scrupulously clean and keep your meat and the grinder in the fridge before grinding so both are cold, as firm meat/fat grinds better.
- There is no math, other than the obvious, for telling how much meat you get from a bone-in cut. Trim the meat, cut out the bone and weigh the left-over. Buy as little bone as possible. From experience (and note taking, which I always lose) you will begin to figure-out how many pounds of chicken thighs = how much ground meat etc.
- I often find that whole muscle cuts are on sale cheaper than ground beef...yessss!
- if you want to make rare or medium/rare burgers: after unwrapping and trimming your cut, sterilize the exterior of the whole cut, by quickly blow-torching it or blanching it in boiling water for 10 seconds. You need to do this to stop exterior contamination from handling/butcher etc getting ground into the mix. Then cube and grind the cut and don't cross-contaminate from where you initially prepped the cut.
- I almost always use the medium-hole plate and the large-hole plate. I almost never use the smallest hole plate.
- the grinder blade and plates are usually carbon steel, so after washing them, dry them promptly.
- enjoy the compliments you'll be getting on those pumped arms you're going to be sporting this summer after cranking that grinder.
- different cuts have different flavours and fat content & muscle type contribute to texture. So pick cuts that have the flavour you want.
- the size of holes in your grinding plate largely determines texture, in addition to above.
- keep your grinder scrupulously clean and keep your meat and the grinder in the fridge before grinding so both are cold, as firm meat/fat grinds better.
- There is no math, other than the obvious, for telling how much meat you get from a bone-in cut. Trim the meat, cut out the bone and weigh the left-over. Buy as little bone as possible. From experience (and note taking, which I always lose) you will begin to figure-out how many pounds of chicken thighs = how much ground meat etc.
- I often find that whole muscle cuts are on sale cheaper than ground beef...yessss!
- if you want to make rare or medium/rare burgers: after unwrapping and trimming your cut, sterilize the exterior of the whole cut, by quickly blow-torching it or blanching it in boiling water for 10 seconds. You need to do this to stop exterior contamination from handling/butcher etc getting ground into the mix. Then cube and grind the cut and don't cross-contaminate from where you initially prepped the cut.
- I almost always use the medium-hole plate and the large-hole plate. I almost never use the smallest hole plate.
- the grinder blade and plates are usually carbon steel, so after washing them, dry them promptly.
- enjoy the compliments you'll be getting on those pumped arms you're going to be sporting this summer after cranking that grinder.
Tree Pug