I'm ready to start grinding!

We got a KitchenAid mixer last year as a wedding present, and I'm very happy to have it, even if I haven't used it to its full potential yet. (I'm not much of a baker, so I use it for mashed potatoes, meat loaf, and other savory things, not much for doughs. Hey, that should be another thread: what do you use your stand mixer for?)

The thread on ice cream makers almost talked me into buying the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment, but then I talked myself into holding off on that for a while. What I did buy was the meat grinder attachment (got a good price on Ebay). I have very fond memories of being in charge of turning the handle on the old meat grinder my mom used to clamp onto the kitchen table when she needed some ground meat for a recipe. I know I could hunt around and find one of those to buy, but I don't have a suitable surface to clamp it on to.

So (to get to my point), I'm ready to start grinding -- beef, pork, veal, chicken, turkey -- and get away as much as possible from buying those already ground. What I'm looking for is advice on the right cuts of those different kinds of meat to buy for grinding, for both flavor's and economy's sake.

What do you use your meat grinder for? And what do you put through it?

Well the first time, I used my meat grinder to extrude pasta. It was hysterical, I kept wondering why the pasta looked like spaetzle.

Now pretty much the only time I use the grinder is around jewish holidays, when I make chopped liver or gefilte fish. And I mostly buy the fish ground up already, same cost, much easier.

Sorry I'm not helping.

Wow - I never thought about using the meat grinder attachment to make spätzle. Sujormik, you're inspirational.

I look forward to learning how the grinding goes for you. When I took French cooking lessons a couple of summers ago, we made gorgeous pates with the fine grinding attachment on the KitchenAid (though a much larger one than the home version -- but then we were making lots of pate). I just got my KitchenAid (thanks to the person who posted that you could get one with miles -- woohoo -- thanks United), and while I haven't bought the attachment kit yet, that's one of the things I look forward to using. Maybe I could even make haggis!

MIL is Italian and loves to make her own sausage, so a few years ago we bought her a heavy duty grinder. She makes many pounds at a time.

So, I borrow it from her from time to time. For me, I don't use it for many things as I don't often have it. Usually I make Italian sausage or breakfast sausage. I do this both to get the taste I like and the grind. I prefer a slightly finer grind than some people for both. Not like knackwurst, but definitely finer than what I often get in the stores.

For both, I use pork butt. MIL is militant about getting all the little vessels and other parts (goombahs) out. I found a webstite a few months ago that had a great method for sorting the meat.

I place all meat in one pile, slightly fatty in one pile, heavily fatty in another, and then all "good" fat in another. Some of the fat just doesn't feel right, so I dump that. Someone who knows what they are talking about will probably have a term for it. The nice soft fat I keep.

Then when I grind it, I grind them separately. It allows me to control how much of what get puts in. I also always grind some fatback along with it to add.

You'll have to practice if you decide to make sausage regarding what amount of fat you want. Less than 20% and it's very, very lean. But, some sausage is 50%. That's tasty, but too much for me. I usually keep it about 35% or so.

I have often wanted to make other sausage, so would use a grinder for that. I did have it once for sausage, so made some burgers while I had it. I used chuck for burgers; if I had it more often, I'd also use it to grind sirloin with some chuck for meatballs or meatloaf.

There are so many types of sausage. I can easily see making lots of those. I haven't bought it, but several people here have had such wonderful things to say about Charcuterie - if I had more time and wanted to do more in this area, I'd definitely take a gander at this book.


Have fun and enjoy.

ViewsAskew wrote: I haven't bought it, but several people here have had such wonderful things to say about Charcuterie - if I had more time and wanted to do more in this area, I'd definitely take a gander at this book.

Absolutely, get the Ruhlman book. I have about 15 sausage making books in my collection and have found the recipes in Charcuterie to be among the best. Yesterday I made the ginger/sage breakfast sausage using pork butt ground in the KA attachment.

Bruce Aidells has a great sausage book. The chicken apple sausage recipe is great for cooking in a smoker.

BTW, the sausage stuffer attachment for the KA grinder is next to useless.

Bill/SFNM

nr706 wrote:Wow - I never thought about using the meat grinder attachment to make spätzle. Sujormik, you're inspirational.

I'm not at all embarrassed then...yeah, that was my plan in the first place. THANKS!

You can grind meats to make pot stickers , sausage , its endless. When you cube your meats , put them spaced apart in the freezer for 15 minutes before you grind. The meat grinds rather than shreds the meats when its slightly frozen giving you a better texture. Rule one is clean the machine w/ bleach water right away. You can buy sausage casings from your butcher by the quart , he can direct you as to storage of the casings. I made lamb,pork&pancetta sausage yesterday ................ enjoy

As for what to grind:

Beef - you're going to have to find out what you like most. Try grinding some chuck for economy - if you like that, great! But if you want the leanest ground meat, try to get some sirloin to grind. Round would be somewhere in the middle.

Pork - I really like to grind shoulder, or butt. It is a little fatty, but whenever I use this ground pork with my beef for meatballs or meatloaf, it just turns out so great.

Chicken - I really like to grind boneless skinless thighs. But if you're really into white meat, grind the breasts.

Now that you're grinding, try making burgers, meatballs, whatever with REALLY FRESH ground meat. Try to prep other ingredients (including cutting the meat into strips) and grind as part of your cooking process.

One of the best reasons to grind your own meat is the pure freshness of the product. Ground meat is more likely to lose meat juices, so the fresher the better.

Nancy

Bill/SFNM wrote:BTW, the sausage stuffer attachment for the KA grinder is next to useless.

Bill/SFNM

I disagree. I used the sausage stuffer attachment to make italian sausage and it worked like a charm! I got pre-tubed natural casings from Fox and Obel.

This thread inspired me, I bought some chicken livers to make chopped liver in my KA grinder.

Unfortunately I didn't have any schmaltz so I'll have to pick some up tomorrow.

nr706 wrote:Wow - I never thought about using the meat grinder attachment to make spätzle. Sujormik, you're inspirational.

I'm sure there's more than one recipe for spaetzle dough, but wouldn't the dough be much too liquid for a grinder? My spaetzle dough is only a little bit thicker than pancake batter. If you don't have a spaetzle maker at home, I find a flat cheese grater with big holes (like the one on the very right of this link) works just as well.

I've used a pastry bag in the past, dripping the dough/batter one-by-one in the boiling water. And yes, I'm sure I'd need a stiffer dough to use the grinder. I'll try it one of these days and report back.