Gonna grind some burger on Saturday.....looking for any tips

[Pappymn]

Unboxed the new toy. I have a 20 pound clod of beef defrosting in the fridge.

Want to vac seal in two pound packages. I now know that freezing the meat slightly before grinding is a good thing.  Other then that I am winging it.

Should I double grind the meat?

Vac seal tips? Press the meat flat in the bag, a log?

Any best practices or tips to improve my results are appreciated.

[Keymaster]

I like to cut my meat in 1" X 1" by as long strips as I can get. Cold as possible so the fat doesn't melt. I use a little veggie oil on the cutter plate. Some people will actually freeze the grinder attachment before they twist it on the drive motor. Wear your sanitary gloves and keep everything nice and clean. Most important is to make a bunch of burgers and freeze the rest Good Luck Pappy

[RAD]

Pappy, I really don't know but want to learn.

[CDN Smoker]

Pappy, I really don't know but want to learn.

X-2, I Know Nutting. In my best German

[Jaxon]

Deb gave me a meat grinder attachment for her KitchenAide stand mixer.  We hurried out and bought some beef to grind for hamburgers only.

We cut the meat into cubes and put on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a while - like Keymaster said.

I didn't think about cooking oil or PAM for the cutter and plates - like K M said - but that's a good idea.

We did a double grind and it might have helped.  we ran some cheddar cheese thru it to mix with the meat - BIG MISTAKE!!!  It did not feed well down the auger to the blades.  We had to take it apart a dig the cheese out.

Overall, a good experience...we'll do it again when the price of a whole chunk is cheaper than the ground beef we can buy.

[deestafford]

I can vouch for how well Jaxon did with Deb's supervision.  Now ain't no telling what would have been the out come without it.  Dee

[Smokin Soon]

Everyone has there own take on ground beef. It will save you quite a bit of money once you have it dialed in to your tastes. Make some test grinds with your Beef Clod. It may need some more fat content. As far as course grind, fine grind, grind twice, is just a personal preference as far as texture. Just do your tests in small batches and fry up a patty and try. Once you get a feel for it, you can try all sorts of things just to make the wifey crazy. For me, the best burgers are made with a combo of beef clod and a mix of sausage mix from a pork shoulder. It's all fun and nothing will be wasted. Enjoy your new toy!

[drholly]

Pappy,

I am looking forward to watching and learning form your experiences.

David

[Dakota Don]

Is it just me or does the home ground burger taste BETTER than the store bought stuff?? Back in a former life my late father in-law (a farmer/rancher) and i would get together about every 2 or 3 months and grind up a bunch. One of the popular requests was for a mix we called 'German burgers', which was about 2/3 chuck and/or sirloin and 1/3 pork shoulder (sausage). The overall recipe usually ended up being an 80/20 fat ratio. No room for a grinder is this marriage house, but I do have a KitchenAid  mixer, so I'm glad to see Jaxon's comment on that. Thanks, something to think about.

[Dakota Don]

Pappy,

I am looking forward to watching and learning form your experiences.

ME TOO!  Don

[veryolddog]

While you are at it, why don't you purchase a pork butt and grind it down and then add your sausage spices to it. Then you can fry some up with eggs and let us know how it came out. Then you can use your vacuum sealer and freeze one or two pound packages of your sausage mixture.

Now, for that, I would purchase a meat grinder. I do not know whether I would pay $200.00 for that, but maybe there is an adequate one for $100 to $150.00.

If you do that, let us know how that comes out. I for one would be really interested in the results.

Ed

[RickB]

Have a cup of cracked ice ready. Every so often add some ice to grinder to keep things cold. Just a little at a time.

[Sam3]

Pappy, put your grinder pieces in the refrig for about an half hour or so prior to grinding. Everything metal will stay cold while grinding.
If you have some bacon, add it to the meat when grinding if you want.
Invest in some of LEM's food grade silicone spray too, it makes clean up nice and easy.

When I'm grinding bulk pork for future sausage experiments, I use the 2" stuffing tube on the end with the game bags. Twist the end of the bag tight and run the end through the tape machine. Works real well and no freezer burn.

http://www.lemproducts.com/product/3774/meat-grinder-parts-accessories

[Sailor1]

Pappy I think your question was about grinding a 20 pound clod.  First thing to figure out is what ratio of meat do you have to the fat in the clod?  When you cut it up to grind .....I would cut the fat off and weigh it and weigh the lean meat to get an idea of what ratio that you have.  I use a 80/20 mix for my beef sticks and summer sausage.  I like a 90/10 ratio for burgers.  Others have said to experiment with what ratios you like and make the grind to your liking.  When I make GB jerky I use a 97/3 ratio as I don't want fat in the jerky.  You have to have some fat for flavor.  When you find out what ratio your clod has you may want to go ask your butcher for some fat trimming to increase the blend.  When you do a brisket and trim the fat you can vac seal it so you can use it later to blend in with your future grinding.  I would recommend that once you grind it then to mix it up to distribute the fat into the meat then make 1 to 2 pound packages.  This will help if you want to make a meat loaf or make 4 1/4 pound patties.  The smaller packages freeze well and are easy to stack.  I flatten them out once they are vac sealed and they take up less freezer space.

As for the grinder plate ....well that will be a personal preference.  I like my burger with texture so I would use the medium plate and grind once.  ( I buy GB pre ground so I only grind pork, chicken and turkey and deer).  Using the medium plate is good because you can always do a 2nd grind if needed.  Once you do a 2 pass grind you can not undo the 2nd grind.  Once you grind up a little then fry it up to see if the texture is to your liking and adjust the plate size or do a 2 pass grind.

You will get the hang of it....just experiment with your grinder.  I don't freeze my strips.  I just cut in strips that the throat of the grinder will take and keep feeding the grinder.  I seldom us the pusher because the auger grabs the meat and feeds it.

Good luck with your new grinder and let us know how the 1st grind went.

[Jaxon]

here's a link to the one Deb got for me...less than $50 at Amazon...and we like it.
B T W, Uncle Dee was standing right there when we used it the first time.  He coached thru the process like he knew what he was doin'.

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-FGA-Grinder-Attachment-Mixers/dp/B00004SGFH