Grind Your Own Beef Effortlessly With One Rule Of Thumb

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It may be far easier to pick up a package of pre-ground beef at the supermarket, but we're here to empower you to grind your own beef at home. Grinding your own meat enables you to choose the best type of beef for your needs, and puts you in control of the fat content, grind size, amount, and freshness. While a meat grinder is a fairly straightforward tool to use, there are some tricks to bring out the best in beef while grinding, as well as keeping things sanitary. We spoke with Austin Stull, executive chef at The Grillroom Chophouse & Wine Bar in Chicago, Illinois, for expert advice on grinding your own beef at home. 

Stull's number one rule is, "Always grind meat chilled." To do this, we recommend cutting your chosen beef into one to two-inch chunks, small enough to fit through the feeder tube of your meat grinder, and then placing those beef chunks in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you plan to grind. Fast-chilling the meat helps keep the shape of the ground meat and prevents it from smearing too much on the grinding plate, especially the fat, which will have hardened in the freezer. Stull says, "This also helps with emulsification if you're doing say a mortadella or any emulsified sausage. As the fat heats up it will begin to weep into your mix, breaking your emulsions or yielding a less consistent product." 

In addition to keeping the meat cold, chef Stull has another temperature tip, which is: "Make sure your tools are as cold as possible." He says, "When we grind for sausage or burgers, we make sure to chill our grinder parts in the freezer or ice water beforehand." Assuming that you don't have a large commercial meat grinder at home, the parts of your grinder should be easy to disassemble and fit in your freezer for 30 minutes or so. Simply take the appliance apart and chill the sections alongside your cut beef. Using cold tools and meat is not only good for the texture of the ground meat, but for food safety, too. Stull tells us, "Chilling the product and utensils helps cut the possibility of bacteria growth in your grind, which is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness." 

While you can grind beef without any special equipment by using a meat cleaver, it's best and easier to use a proper meat grinder, which can be anything from a simple hand crank to this KitchenAid Metal Food Grinder Attachment (sold on Amazon), which is a breeze to use with your KitchenAid stand mixer. You could also purchase an inexpensive hand grinder for meat like this Gavigain Manual Meat Grinder, or a standalone appliance like this Keenstar electric version. Once you've gotten the hang of grinding your own meat at home, the possibilities are endless, and you can experiment with the attachment sizes for larger or very fine grinds of meat. Check out our tips for cooking with ground beef for the best ways to utilize that gloriously fresh ground meat.