Does anyone grind their own meat? (red wine, hamburger, frozen, paprika)

[Moonlady]

I bought one of those grinding attachments for my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I have questions!

First - what's the best cut to grind for hamburger meat? I bought a chuck roast because I like a good 80/20 mix but then I cut out some of the larger chunks of hard fat - I'm guessing I should probably leave them in there?

Second - what's the secret to grinding pork? The beef went off without a hitch but when I tried to grind the pork I ended up with a gooey mess. I'm thinking I need to use a leaner cut like pork loin or I need to freeze the chunks before putting them in the grinder?

Any tips or information would be helpful, thanks!

[mainebrokerman]

I do
Here is my recommendations as a 40 yr butcher

For the best value shop the loss leaders…, if you can find chuck roasts
On sale (2.99-3.99). Stock up ..
the other option is to buy the whole sub primal
The two major chuck sub primals are chuck roll and chuck shoulder clod

If you know a butcher ask him for a deal … independent stores and butcher shops
Are worth a call or visit the whole chuck roll is about 22-25 lbs the shoulder clod is
18-20 lbs ( choice grade)

I’ve millions of pounds of burger- the rough trim goes thru out grinders 3 times
To blend the lean and fat on beef

On pork … it’s a much softer muscle .. some like it just put thru the grinder once
And some twice … the 4 components of a grinder is the auger, the knife, the plate and the head.
The knife is usually four sided blade… The plate has the holes in it, and the head fits on the thread to hold all together
You can buy different size plates with whole sizes… If your ground pork is coming out, stringy or like spaghetti, I recommend two things… The first is to make sure it’s super tight turn the head as tight as you can… And here is the best advice when grinding at home… The meat Hass to be cold, and if the meat is not cold, 32 to 35° you can put it in the fridge or even the freezer to chill it up… And you can place the components in the fridge to cool them down too

And I buy what’s on sale for lost leaders at grocery stores… I buy chuck roast/shoulder chuck roast… I buy bottom round roast… These are usually the cheapest.
I also grind real fatty stuff for my dog… And I will save beef fat … for mixing you can ask a butcher for beef that he may give it to free… And there’s a difference between suet, and beef fat … suet is hog fat that protects the kidneys that runs along the tenderloin… Beef fat is the outer tribunes or it could be internal fat think of ribeyes. Do you have outside fat and sometimes kernel fat.

I commend you and grinding your own burger because today in many places you don’t know what’s in the burger and neither does the store.. Walmart and even many supermarkets will have case ready burger that come to the store prepackaged… This saves them major labor and also easy to keep grinding logs for USDA, which is now mandatory for traceability… The butcher shops in the smaller IGA stores with meat cutters in them most still grind bench trimmings and not use pre-processed burger, or tube burger or case ready

If you want to know the difference between a beef chuck roll, and a beef shoulder clod, look it up on YouTube there are hundreds of videos.
And go with choice grade… There’s some very inexpensive meat on the market… Some of it comes from Mexico and some is ungraded ( call Sukarne and no roll/ungraded
Top three grades of beef is prime choice and select.
Add stick with choice and select

I hope this helps

[Moonlady]

Thank you so much for your wealth of information mainebrokerman! Very helpful tips. Yes, I'm really hoping for better quality than the junk they sell in the grocery store. When I was a kid, my mother used to pick out a chuck roast, ring the little bell at the meat counter and hand the roast to the butcher to be ground into hamburger meat. Not something you can do these days.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

Thank you so much for your wealth of information mainebrokerman! Very helpful tips. Yes, I'm really hoping for better quality than the junk they sell in the grocery store. When I was a kid, my mother used to pick out a chuck roast, ring the little bell at the meat counter and hand the roast to the butcher to be ground into hamburger meat. Not something you can do these days.

You come to Salem’s Lot IGA in Maine ,
I’ll still grind your chuck roast ,
Make sure you come in daylight!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

For beef, the chuck is the best option. Remove any connective tissue before you grind it. The more times you put it through the grinder the finer a ground it will become and you have to decide how finely ground you want your burger. You might have to get in there with your hands to mix the meat and fat together. I don't use my Kitchenaid for grinding so I don't know what sort of grind you will get. My personal choice for burger is a bit on the coarse side so I know I am eating a chunk of meat. Ditto for sausage making. I like a bit of texture in the meat, but other folks might like to have the meat be smooth and chunk-free,

For pork, cut the meat into the size chunks you put through the grinder and then put the meat into the freezer. When it just starts to form ice crystals, grind it then, I like the pork loin for ground pork. Grind the fat cap with the muscle meat and you will end up with a lean ground pork with enough fat to make it cook up well and be tasty., Pork loin also has the advantage that it is often on sale for a very good price.

For chicken, the same as pork. Semi-freeze it first. You will get a lovely product that has no similarity to the ground chicken that the stores sell in tubes.

I don't use pork shoulder (pork butt) for ground pork because it contains too much fat. The boneless loin is perfect. the pork sirloins are too lean.

I buy boneless skinless thighs for ground chicken.

You can also grind sirloin for beef burger and that will be good but starting to get more expensive. Round works, but it will be leaner, so it depends upon what you will use the burger for. I just trimmed up an eye of round and the waste was very near one pound off of a 5 pound eye of round so if you use an eye of round that hasn't been too closely trimmed you will get 80-20 burger. The chuck is the cut on the beef that has the best flavor and the fat level is good, so that is what I usually use.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

I bought one of those grinding attachments for my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I have questions!

First - what's the best cut to grind for hamburger meat? I bought a chuck roast because I like a good 80/20 mix but then I cut out some of the larger chunks of hard fat - I'm guessing I should probably leave them in there?

Second - what's the secret to grinding pork? The beef went off without a hitch but when I tried to grind the pork I ended up with a gooey mess. I'm thinking I need to use a leaner cut like pork loin or I need to freeze the chunks before putting them in the grinder?

Any tips or information would be helpful, thanks!

I use the same setup, often. For pork, I always run it through with the course grind insert, then again with the finer one. At the end when no more is coming out, I'll insert some bread to get the last bit. OI always ise pork shoulder which seems to have sufficient fat for sausage, and for breakfast sausage I use a Penzeys spice mix made for it.

I don't do beef that often with Costco having good ground beef at reasonable prices, but when I do I also like chuck, it's cheap and also has enough fat. With too little, you will have a burger that falls apart, and has less taste.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I use the same setup, often. For pork, I always run it through with the course grind insert, then again with the finer one. At the end when no more is coming out, I'll insert some bread to get the last bit. OI always ise pork shoulder which seems to have sufficient fat for sausage, and for breakfast sausage I use a Penzeys spice mix made for it.

I don't do beef that often with Costco having good ground beef at reasonable prices, but when I do I also like chuck, it's cheap and also has enough fat. With too little, you will have a burger that falls apart, and has less taste.

Good tip on using bread to force the rest out. It probably makes cleanup easier too! I used the Penzey’s spice to make breakfast sausage- it’s very good.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

You come to Salem’s Lot IGA in Maine ,
I’ll still grind your chuck roast ,
Make sure you come in daylight!

In big cities, independent butchers are hard to find.

I do grind my own meat - sometimes, when I want superior ground meat for my dish, or when I want to eat that meat raw.
(steak tartare)

[lubby]

I have the same attachment and was curious about making my own sausage. The sausage around here tastes so bland. No flavor. I don't like fennel seeds either. I want to make Italian sausage. any one have a recipe? Where can I get the casings?

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by lubby

I have the same attachment and was curious about making my own sausage. The sausage around here tastes so bland. No flavor. I don't like fennel seeds either. I want to make Italian sausage. any one have a recipe? Where can I get the casings?

I ordered the natural casings online, Amazon has them. They come packed in salt, and I keep them in the freezer, and soak in warm water before using. There will be enough to last for years and they will keep that long. I usually do patties for breakfast sausage, but also make Linguica with the casings.

The recipe I use for Italian is:

About a pound of boneless pork butt cut into 1" or less cubes then ground
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic (or 1 frozen cube from Trader Joe's)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon dry red wine
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon coarsely toasted cracked fennel seeds (or not)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (More, less or none to taste)

About 1/4 teaspoon each of dried:
Thyme
Rosemary
Oregano
Sage

I will use the big Kitchenaid Stand Mixer to combine, then stuff, twist and separate into the desired size. I will wait at least 24 hours before cooking for dinner and freeze the rest using my Foodsaver vacuum sealer.