With all this talk about pink slime in ground beef, I think it is definitely time to review the basics on grinding meat! Time for a primer? Indeed, I think so.
When I was growing up, my Dad treasured his mother's hand cranked meat grinder. Nanny's grinder was hefty and attached to our old maple kitchen table. Dad used that grinder intermittently and it was usually used to grind leftover cooked meat. I don't know if Nanny ever used it to grind raw beef, but Nanny was a dedicated Depression-era home cook, so I suspect that she did.
I'm sure my Dad still has the vintage grinder somewhere in his garage, but for more convenient options, I plan to talk about two contemporary meat grinding tools...the KitchenAid food grinder and the food processor. Both can be used to grind meat. Personally, I have used my KitchenAid food grinder countless times. We use it to grind meat and seafood for sausages. The grinder easily attaches to my KitchenAid Classic and it does a fine job of grinding meat to varying consistencies...we simply change the disk depending on the grind that we want. It is very important, however, to remove all sinew before grinding. It's also important to keep the food cold. If both of those tips are ignored, the grinder tends to clog and not work as efficiently.
The food processor is also an excellent tool for grinding meat. For a quick review on how to do it this morning, I checked Norene Gilletz's kosher cookbook, The New Food Processor Bible. In the section called, "Using Your Food Processor," Norene clearly tells her readers to remove all bones, fat and gristle from the meat. She also reminds us to keep the meat very very cold and to cut it into small pieces before pulsing in batches and processing to desired consistency.
So, if you want to avoid the pink slime, you might seriously consider grinding your own! If you do so, however, be sure to wash all tools thoroughly after use, preferably in the dishwasher!
--Melissa A. Trainer
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