Fresh Grind meals

[JEL]

Does anyone else like to freshly grind meat before cooking up burger dishes? I don't do this all the time by any stretch but will on occasion. Last night I took 1 package of venison and 1 package of antelope steaks, ground (kitchenaid grinder)with pork fat and made a meatloaf. It was delicious and seemed better that using frozen burger. Not sure why that is but I will be doing more in the future. I think burgers this way would be excellent.

 

[TN2shot07]

I completely agree that fresh ground is better and make sure to have a meal plan around it when grinding up a batch. I’ve always thought it was too much work on a per meal basis tho. I think the freezing/thaw process and the liquid it draws out is at least part of the difference

 

[Cheater]

I have a big Cabelas grinder. I love it, but wouldn't want to deal with cleaning it that frequently. I bet it tastes good that way though.

 

[44hunter45]

That sounds tasty. Lard makes everything better! I do like to have fresh ground burger, but I only do it while the grinder is set up for butchering.
Try this experiment. Thaw your frozen burger in a colander inside a catch bowl. Make sure there is enough space under the colander to keep it and the meat out of the drainage. Get it as dry as possible. If it smells off, that is the blood, not the meat. This seems to me to really improve things with frozen grind. This not original to me. I got it from MeatEater's Daneille Prewett and her "Wild and Whole" content.

 

[MThuntr]

I have a big grinder also so that would not be fun however I like chili with chunks so sometimes I take steaks, roasts, and stew meat and run it in the food processor. You get different sized bits.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I'm a one and done guy!

There is something about packing away all that ground meat in the freezer!

You have me interested in your method. I might try grinding right before a meal

 

[kwyeewyk]

I've been doing this recently, just because I didn't have a functioning grinder for a bit, so had stockpiled the grinder meat, and now haven't had a chance to do a big grind so have been doing about 5-10 lbs at a time and using some fresh and freezing some if need be. Works good, but lots more cleaning overall.

 

[Tiohunter]

That sounds tasty. Lard makes everything better! I do like to have fresh ground burger, but I only do it while the grinder is set up for butchering.
Try this experiment. Thaw your frozen burger in a colander inside a catch bowl. Make sure there is enough space under the colander to keep it and the meat out of the drainage. Get it as dry as possible. If it smells off, that is the blood, not the meat. This seems to me to really improve things with frozen grind. This not original to me. I got it from MeatEater's Daneille Prewitt and her "Wild and Whole" content.

Something else she mentions is when browning ground that is thawed, is to make one large flat burger, brown one side flip brown the other, then break up. This helps browning by not releasing all the moisture so you are not steaming the meat. I think by thawing in the colander and browning this way it helps remove any gameyness the meat has.

 

[88man]

I'm a one and done guy!
View attachment 136718
There is something about packing away all that ground meat in the freezer!
View attachment 136719
You have me interested in your method. I might try grinding right before a meal

Yup I had the vacum packing weston going good this morning as I froze 18 rings of Ring Bologna sure does make you feel good.

 

[HSi-ESi]

I agree that fresh ground is better. I do like the Kitchen-Aide attachment for that purpose - it's a smaller grinder so there is less overall waste. Although if I am doing a stew or meat sauce - I'll chunk up the stuff that didn't get ground and put it in the sauce (unless I'm worried about texture when cooking for a bigger group).

Sometimes I have time to do a big grind (which for me might be 40-50 lbs at a time). I do label packages with just "grind" on them (plus whatever meat / date). Then I have more options when I go to cook it.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I use an old fashioned hand crank grinder. I usually grind 15-20 pounds of burger at a time and shoot for an 80/20 ratio using bacon ends and pieces or pork shoulder trimmings. I certainly wouldn't want to grind every-time I needed burger.

 

[JEL]

The KitchenAid is pretty slick. Grinds well and easy clean-up. I agree with doing large batches and do that as well but like the freshness of newly ground.