Meat Grinding – Basic Tips

Using a meat grinder is really easy; you need to assemble the grinder with the desired plate, feed meat into the hopper and press it through. However, there are some things you should keep in mind for the best results when grinding.

Everything needs to be kept cold. To avoid meat to come out dry, with a cooked texture, place the grinder in the freezer at least an hour before the process takes place. Warm meat smears and the fat is likely to leak out, so make sure the meat is well chilled, too. When you’re making sausage, it usually requires several grinds, it’s a clever idea to grind the meat into a bowl that is chilled during grinds (for example, place the bowl inside another bowl with a lot of ice).

Meat has to be well trimmed before grinding to avoid smearing. In fact, a tendon caught around the blade cause meat to go rather dull. Instead of chopping meat, you might end up smoothing it through the plate with the chewed up texture as a result. So, trim the meat to prevent that. Furthermore, when the meat comes out of the grind, it should be easy to clearly identify meat and fat. If it comes out as one uniform mass, you’re doing the grinding wrong. In that case, it’s recommended to disassemble the grinder, clean the blade and then start over (with, of course, chill meat and grinder).

Blades are the only parts of a meat grinder that require some extra attention and care; keep the blade sharp all the time. Fortunately, with repeated use, the plate and blade actually get better, since the contact between them gets tighter. Nevertheless, it’s necessary to re-sharpen a blade if it’s got too dull; anual sharpening is usually enough.

When it comes to a plate, it has to be kept clean. Actually, a good way to get your family sick is to allow meat to dry and stick to the blade. In order to avoid it, removing and washing all grinder parts is a must. Although some grinders can be washed in the dishwasher, it’s better to wash them by hand in hot soapy water. After that, dry your grinder carefully with a clean towel and put it away. And, yes, you have to do this after each use.

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