Anybody ever grind their own meat?

[momx2]

We finally took the plunge and bought the meat grinder attachment to go with our Kitchen Aid mixer we have had for 13 years. My DH has wanted to do this forever. I have almost stopped buying ground beef due to E Coli stories. So DH and I want to grind our own beef and maybe sausage.

Kroger has whole sirloin on sale this week for $1.97 per lb. We plan on buying that and making ground sirloin. They also have pork loins on sale for $1.77 per lb. I usually buy some to make boneless pork chops and pork roasts with when they are on sale. I am thinking of grinding a couple of pounds to put in meatloaves. I like it half pork and half beef. I think I read somewhere that you can make sausage out of grinding pork butt or shoulder. Does that sound right?

Anyone ever do this and have any tips??? We'd love to hear what others have experienced doing this. Thanks!

 

[brewcrew]

I saw this week on the Today Show where the Economides family grinds their own meat. They are known as the cheapest family in America and just came out with a new book. Maybe NBC has a video clip of it.

 

[amez]

We've used an old fashion hand grinder before. The first time we bought half a cow we had 1/3 roast, 1/3 ground beef and 1/3 steaks. We ended up with a lot of roasts left. We found that leaving them semi-frozen it ground up into a consistancy that we liked better-once the thawed out completely it was a little mushy when we ground it. When we were done we packaged it and froze it. No idea how the kitchen aid attachment would work-I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

 

[akcire]

I have the kitchen aid attachment but have never used it-it was a gift from my in-laws. I still grind my meat by hand, mostly because I know exactly how to clean the old hand grinder.

I grind pork, beef, and reindeer (if I can find it, it is a herd animal in Sweden). Traditional Swedish meatballs are made of a combination of the three meats. I agree that grinding defrosted meat is gross and messy. I find it best to purchase the meat, trim off any trash, cube the pieces. Then I place the meat in the freezer for a couple of hours. Then I just turn the hand grinder and mix.

Hand grinders are also excellent for making bread crumbs and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.

 

[Sammy]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing. The ground beef in the grocery store has no flavor, but also I want to know exactly what I'm eating! What's the best to grind for a lean but still moist mixture?

 

[The Princess]

Yes I do it sometimes.

 

[Gigi22]

The only time I ground meat at home was when I was helping a friend make ground venison. It is a very lean meat and we had to add pork fat to it, we processed the meat raw at refrigerator temperature. The Cuisinart made short work of it.

 

[momx2]

Thanks, I think we will semi-freeze the meat before grinding since everyone seems to think this will help. Thanks for the info. We are going to do this next week early. I hope it turns out.

 

[ENSOCK]

we do ground vension/ground pork every year. I do not buy ground meat from the grocery store. When I was younger we used to get a cow every year and make our own ground meat. It was the best. We never froze the meat first but rather ground it cold. Whatever works best for you. Good Luck!

 

[brergnat]

If you grind pork loin, your meat will be VERY lean and dry, sort of like ground turkey breast.

Use pork butt/shoulder for sausage. You need FAT to make sausage...

I actually grind chicken and beef in a regular food processor (using a pulsing motion). I saw Alton Brown do that on food network once for burgers (he ground a 50/50 combo of ground sirloin and ground chuck). And, it works really well! Easier to clean than a meat grinder too...

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

I grind venison for use in ground beef recipes like spaghetti, lasagna, tacos etc. so I do not add any fat.
Why brown fatty meat and have to drain off all the grease when you can brown ultra lean meat and just roll with it?

I also use my KA meat grinder attachment to grind nuts for holiday baking.

 

[high meadows]

We butcher our own elk and deer every year; we use the smaller Cabella's grinder (and loan it out to friends) and have been very pleased with it. Some of the meat we take to a local sausage maker for jalapeno/cheese sausage: delicious! The amount of pork or beef fat you add really depends on your taste. Sometimes we prefer the very lean meat and add butter at cooking.

 

[kimble]

I got a meat grinder attachment for my kitchen aid recently as a wedding gift. I was also concerned about the ecoli, etc in the ground meat (and watching the movie Food, Inc. made me want to control the processing of the meat, as much as possible).

One tip I know of is to grind a piece of bread after you are done with the meat. It cleans out the grinder and you won't have trouble with bits of raw meat in the attachment.

 

[blanq]

I have an old-fahsioned hand grinder that attaches to the counter edge. I love to grind ham for ham salad and cooked chicken breasts for chicken salad. Also, we grind venison once in awhile. As far as hamburger goes, we purchase a 1/4 of a beef once a year and I get all my hamburger that way.