Some chefs make a big deal about always using homemade stocks, or never buying pre-shredded cheese. I want to say that the most important item that that should be made fresh, but most people buy off the shelf, is ground meat.
Ground meats from the grocery store, or even the butcher, are disgusting. They were ground too long ago, ground on equipment that was cleaned using too much nasty sanitizer, and are often ground from chunks of meat that you would not have ground yourself.
Luckily, grinding your own meat each time you cook is easy. With a little practice, it’s easy to grind the meat you need for the dish you’re preparing AND wash the grinder in less than ten minutes.
I use a grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer and love it. I’ve heard others have had good luck with hand-crank grinders as well.
Here’s what you’re going to do:
- Buy cuts of nice fatty whole muscle meat (things like beef chuck, pork shoulder, chicken dark meat, etc.).
- Keep it cold until you’re ready to grind. Some advise crazy things like par-freezing the meat and putting all the grinder attachments in the freezer as well. Experience confirms that’s a waste of time. Just cold meat is all you need.
- When you’re ready to grind, just cube it up and jam it in. And don’t even think about trimming the fatty chunks away… that’s a key element of good ground meat.
- IMPORTANT: As soon as you’re done grinding, just let the meat sit there for a minute and wash the grinder with a little soap and water. If you have a plastic grinder, you can add to the dishwasher later. If aluminum, it’s not compatible with the dishwasher and must be washed by hand. Either way, it’s super easy to wash right when you finish grinding, and a big pain in the ass to wash later when little bits of meat have dried and cling to your grinder for life.
Tip: If you’re making a dish that calls for a blend of meats, such as Kenji’s Italian meatballs, mix the cubes together as you grind and the grinder will do the blending for you.