Do you grind your own meat? We started doing this a year or two ago, and we have found that we really like having control over the quality, freshness, and types of cuts going into our ground meat. And it's really not that hard to do! We've used this easy food processor method for making everything from chili to hamburgers.
What You Need
Ingredients
Meat - You can use any cut or any blend of meats called for in your recipe, or whichever cuts you prefer. Commercial ground beef and pork generally uses top or bottom round, shoulder, and chuck cuts. We like cuts that show some visible fat, at least 15% - 20%. If we go much leaner, we find that the meat ends up dry and tasteless.
Equipment
a sharp knife
a baking sheet
a food processor
Instructions
1. Cut the Meat into 1-Inch Cubes - Cutting the meat into same-sized chunks will help it grind more quickly, easily, and uniformly.
2. Partially Freeze the Cubes - Spread the cubes out on a parchment-lined baking sheet, making sure they don't touch. Freeze until the edges are stiff but the middles are still pliable, about 20 minutes. This will help the food processor blade to cut the meat cleanly, rather than tearing or smearing it.
3. Grind the Meat in Batches - Fill your food processor about half-way (roughly 8-ounces of meat) and grind it in about 8 - 10 one-second pulses, until it looks coarsely ground. Empty the meat into a bowl and repeat with the remaining meat.
4. Check Over Meat - Check through the meat for large pieces. Re-grind pieces of meat and discard any tough gristle.
5. Use Immediately or Freeze - We usually grind just what we need for the recipe we're making. You can also freeze any extra for another time, which is handy if you find a good bargain on meat and for quick meals.
Additional Notes:
We first learned this technique from a Cook's Illustrated recipe for old-fashioned burgers and have adopted it for all our recipes calling for ground meat. Mark Bittman uses a similar technique without the freezing step:
• For the Love of a Good Burger by Mark Bittman in the New York Times.
Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?
See more How To posts
We're looking for great examples of your own household intelligence too!
Submit your own tutorials or ideas here!
(Image: Emma Christensen)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
We grind our own meat using the meat grinder attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer although clearly the food processor would work great too. It is amazing the difference it makes! And it doesn't take that long at all. Totally worth doing.
I just bought a food grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid and used it for the first time to grind some chuck roast and pork shoulder. The pork shoulder was a breeze. However, the chuck roast jammed up the blade several times. I had to disassemble the attachment and clean out the unspeakable fatty bits that had clogged the blade. I'll try the semi-freezing technique. Any other suggestions? I cut the meat into strips per the Kitchenaid instructions.
I can't believe this has never ever occurred to me! I'm always feeling deprived of ground beef even though I've got a few pounds of chuck roast and other miscellaneous muscle bits in the freezer.
I have only done chicken hearts and livers in the food processor. It makes a kind of slurry that I freeze in an old metal muffin tin I no longer bake with and then the meat pucks go in a freezer bag until needed. I add a couple of pucks to any ground meat meals (chili, meatloaf, homemade hamburger helper type casseroles) as a way of boosting nutrition and extending our meat (nutritional filler, so to speak).
I am considering a grinder attachment for the big mixer, but our butcher grinds our beef on the spot if he doesn't have any fresh and it's extremely lean and local, to boot :)
@marigoldsandy
A trick for the kitchenaid grinder is to not only partially freeze the meat, but to put the grinder in the freezer about an hour before using. It helps prevent the fat from turning to goo, and you get a much easier, cleaner grind.
Your own meat? No, you cant do that. It hurts.
OMG that is so funny..'your own meat'
Hello, I tried this method tonight with pork and it worked like a charm! I will continue to make my own ground meat using this procedure. Thank you for sharing this!