Grinding your own meat

Did you ever notice that I rarely use ground beef or ground turkey in any recipes?

Why?

Because I *skeeve it.

*definition (pronounced "SHKEEVE"):
1. skeeve
(verb) to gross out; to digust; to make your skin crawl, sometimes with undertones of sexual deviance/perversion.

I don't know what's in the meat; who made it; how long it's been sitting in plastic wrap in the supermarket, etc. etc.

Ground beef is usually made with scraps and fat and once you open the package it's like little worms that turn grey.
Sorry to be so gross so early in the day.

When I was a kid, my grandmother had a big industrial stainless steel meat grinder in the basement with attachments for beef, liver, and also was used as a mixmaster for dough. It was a work horse, and I'm sorry that I never took that monster when it was offered to me. It was from the 1940's and lasted forever.

I found this method on The Kitchn website, how to grind your own meat with just a food processor and without having to pay the butcher extra to grind up your steak. It worked out beautifully!

Here's how: (adapted from The Kitchn).

1. Buy a nice chuck steak from a reputable butcher.

2. Partially freeze it (this step is important).

3. Cut the beef into 1" size cubes.

4. Place the cubes in a food processor fitted with a knife blade. Fill the bowl only half way. You can do this in batches.

5. Pulse for 7 seconds, then scrape down with a rubber spatula and pulse another 10 seconds.

Perfection.

Ready for my excellent chili recipe tomorrow!

I'm happy to learn something new.
I hope you are too.

:)