Grinding beef: Interesting first attempt

Quoted message said:

DaveH writes:

I just finished my first try at producing home-made
hamburger, and it actually worked out very well. Using an
old "Perfect" cast iron hand-cranked grinder, I ground
about 8 oz of meat rendered from a chuck roast purchased
from a local abattoir.

I followed a roughly standard procedure as suggested by
Penmart01 and others--everything chilled, grinder frozen
in the freezer--except I did not cut the meat into strips
but instead produced roughly 1" chunks of meat and fat--no
bland Olive oil added. I ground an eye-balled 1:4 (20%
fat) ratio of fat to meat using what I think is the coarse
plate--oval holes ~ 3/8". The mixture was ground twice
with this plate.

Expecting the fist attempt to fail, I was surprised to
produce a result very similar to what one expects ground
beef to be in consistency and appearance. I cooked a patty
med-rare on a smoking hot skillet with nothing more than
salt and pepper and ate it just like that. It was
delicious, except maybe a bit too much fat content.

The interesting thing is that this meat tasted almost
exactly like the ground chuck sold by this particular
Abattoir. This is not surprising in view of the fact that
they also use their chuck roasts for producing chuck. The
question, of course, is whether it is worth grinding their
chuck roasts when there already-made ground chuck tastes
virtually identical?

I am going to try some other cuts. I believe Penmart
reports ribeyes make a good burger. Anyway, grinding at
home is not that difficult and clearly worth trying if you
do not have a good source of ground beef.

Nope, I would never suggest eye round for burgers, way too
lean... but top round makes great burgers. Next time use a
plate with smaller holes (3/16"😉 and grind ony once (the
less ground meat is handled the better the burger). And when
burgers are fried use leaner meat, with grilled a lot of the
fat drips into the fire. You really need to consider an
electric grinder, gives better results and with a whole lot
less effort. I wouldn't bother dirtying a grinder for 8
ounces of meat (my burgers are 8 ozs each - yes, I weigh
them), I generally grind 20 pounds of meat at a time. Anyway
it's good to see someone converted to grinding their own...
I can't understand how anyone can eat store ground.

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =--- ---= Move
UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without
tribulation." Sheldon ````````````

"DaveH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just finished my first try at producing home-made
hamburger, and it actually worked out very well. Using an
old "Perfect" cast iron hand-cranked grinder, I ground
about 8 oz of meat rendered from a chuck roast purchased
from a local abattoir.

I followed a roughly standard procedure as suggested by
Penmart01 and others--everything chilled, grinder frozen
in the freezer--except I did not cut the meat into strips
but instead produced roughly 1" chunks of meat and fat--no
bland Olive oil added. I ground an eye-balled 1:4 (20%
fat) ratio of fat to meat using what I think is the coarse
plate--oval holes ~ 3/8". The mixture was ground twice
with this plate.

Expecting the fist attempt to fail, I was surprised to
produce a result very similar to what one expects ground
beef to be in consistency and appearance. I cooked a patty
med-rare on a smoking hot skillet with nothing more than
salt and pepper and ate it just like that. It was
delicious, except maybe a bit too much fat content.

The interesting thing is that this meat tasted almost
exactly like the ground chuck sold by this particular
Abattoir. This is not surprising in view of the fact that
they also use their chuck roasts for producing chuck. The
question, of course, is whether it is worth grinding their
chuck roasts when there already-made ground chuck tastes
virtually identical?

I am going to try some other cuts. I believe Penmart
reports ribeyes make a good burger. Anyway, grinding at
home is not that difficult and clearly worth trying if you
do not have a good source of ground beef. DaveH

I see one major advantage to grinding it yourself.
Contamination - are you sure that the shop keeps their
grinders as clean as you do? I feel a lot safer eating a
rare hamburger if I ground it myself.

--
Peter Aitken

Remove the [censored] from my email address before using.

(PENMART01) said:

Quoted message said:

DaveH writes:

I just finished my first try at producing home-made
hamburger, and it actually worked out very well. Using an
old "Perfect" cast iron hand-cranked grinder, I ground
about 8 oz of meat rendered from a chuck roast purchased
from a local abattoir.

I followed a roughly standard procedure as suggested by
Penmart01 and others--everything chilled, grinder frozen
in the freezer--except I did not cut the meat into strips
but instead produced roughly 1" chunks of meat and fat--no
bland Olive oil added. I ground an eye-balled 1:4 (20%
fat) ratio of fat to meat using what I think is the coarse
plate--oval holes ~ 3/8". The mixture was ground twice
with this plate.

Expecting the fist attempt to fail, I was surprised to
produce a result very similar to what one expects ground
beef to be in consistency and appearance. I cooked a patty
med-rare on a smoking hot skillet with nothing more than
salt and pepper and ate it just like that. It was
delicious, except maybe a bit too much fat content.

The interesting thing is that this meat tasted almost
exactly like the ground chuck sold by this particular
Abattoir. This is not surprising in view of the fact that
they also use their chuck roasts for producing chuck. The
question, of course, is whether it is worth grinding their
chuck roasts when there already-made ground chuck tastes
virtually identical?

I am going to try some other cuts. I believe Penmart
reports ribeyes make a good burger. Anyway, grinding at
home is not that difficult and clearly worth trying if you
do not have a good source of ground beef.

Nope, I would never suggest eye round for burgers, way too
lean... but top round makes great burgers. Next time use a
plate with smaller holes (3/16"😉 and grind ony once (the
less ground meat is handled the better the burger). And
when burgers are fried use leaner meat, with grilled a lot
of the fat drips into the fire. You really need to consider
an electric grinder, gives better results and with a whole
lot less effort. I wouldn't bother dirtying a grinder for 8
ounces of meat (my burgers are 8 ozs each - yes, I weigh
them), I generally grind 20 pounds of meat at a time.
Anyway it's good to see someone converted to grinding their
own... I can't understand how anyone can eat store ground.

I will try the smaller plate--eliminating that second pass
makes sense.

Attributing the ribeye suggestion to you was obviously
mistaken. I wonder how Delmonico, for example, would work
when ground with additional fat which my butcher is willing
to supply--or even bacon fat. DaveH

(PENMART01) said:

Quoted message said:

I am going to try some other cuts. I believe Penmart
reports ribeyes make a good burger. Anyway, grinding at
home is not that difficult and clearly worth trying if you
do not have a good source of ground beef.

Nope, I would never suggest eye round for burgers, way too
lean... but top round makes great burgers.

He said ribeye, not eye of round.

Ribeye does make good burger, but not better than cooking it
as an intact steak (or even as chicken fired steak). I grind
briskets at $.50/lb when they're on sale.

-sw

Peter Aitken said:

"DaveH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just finished my first try at producing home-made
hamburger, and it actually worked out very well. Using an
old "Perfect" cast iron hand-cranked grinder, I ground
about 8 oz of meat rendered from a chuck roast purchased
from a local abattoir.

I followed a roughly standard procedure as suggested by
Penmart01 and others--everything chilled, grinder frozen
in the freezer--except I did not cut the meat into strips
but instead produced roughly 1" chunks of meat and fat--
no bland Olive oil added. I ground an eye-balled 1:4 (20%
fat) ratio of fat to meat using what I think is the
coarse plate--oval holes ~ 3/8". The mixture was ground
twice with this plate.

Expecting the fist attempt to fail, I was surprised to
produce a result very similar to what one expects ground
beef to be in consistency and appearance. I cooked a
patty med-rare on a smoking hot skillet with nothing more
than salt and pepper and ate it just like that. It was
delicious, except maybe a bit too much fat content.

The interesting thing is that this meat tasted almost
exactly like the ground chuck sold by this particular
Abattoir. This is not surprising in view of the fact that
they also use their chuck roasts for producing chuck. The
question, of course, is whether it is worth grinding
their chuck roasts when there already-made ground chuck
tastes virtually identical?

I am going to try some other cuts. I believe Penmart
reports ribeyes make a good burger. Anyway, grinding at
home is not that difficult and clearly worth trying if
you do not have a good source of ground beef. DaveH

I see one major advantage to grinding it yourself.
Contamination - are you sure that the shop keeps their
grinders as clean as you do? I feel a lot safer eating a
rare hamburger if I ground it myself.

Yes--I am aware of this factor but failed to mention it.

DaveH said:

Attributing the ribeye suggestion to you was obviously
mistaken. I wonder how Delmonico, for example, would work
when ground with additional fat which my butcher is
willing to supply--or even bacon fat.

dump the fat... it's completely unnecessary.

--
Use Linux - Computer power for the people: Down with
cybercrud...

"DaveH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I will try the smaller plate--eliminating that second pass
makes sense.

I like to do the large plate then put it through the
smaller one if I am going to want it samll.

Quoted message said:

Attributing the ribeye suggestion to you was obviously
mistaken. I wonder how Delmonico, for example, would work
when ground with additional fat which my butcher is
willing to supply--or even bacon fat. DaveH

That could have been me. I like ground ribeye, but you do
need to get one that hasn't had it's fat too closely
cropped. For making hamburgers I prefer using chuck and
about 15# fat.

Charlie

paul cooke said:

DaveH said:

Attributing the ribeye suggestion to you was obviously
mistaken. I wonder how Delmonico, for example, would work
when ground with additional fat which my butcher is
willing to supply--or even bacon fat.

dump the fat... it's completely unnecessary.

From the results of attempt #2 today, at least in the case
of grinding a chuck roast, I think you may be right. It
looks like the fat contained within the marbling may be
quite sufficient.