Making Your Own Ground Beef

Our beef source has been out of ground beef for quite sometime now.  We just can't eat ground beef from the grocery store after watching the movie Food Inc.  Hamburger rinsed in ammonia just doesn't sound that great.  We love hamburgers around here and have been missing them in our weekly rotation...especially during the summer.  What is a summer without burgers?  We got a wild hair to grind our own beef!  A trip to Kohl's for the Kitchen Aid grinder attachment and a trip to Von's for some beef....and we were in business.  I had done some research on the Internet as to what cuts of meat to get, it really comes down to personal preference.  I will be watching the sales closely to stock up on some beef.

This is 1-1/2 pounds of thin beef chuck shoulder sliced into 1 inch wide strips.

This is 1-1/2 pounds of tri-tip sliced into strips about 1 inch wide.  I did trim the fat down quite a bit, but you want to leave some for juicy burgers. 

The set-up.  One bowl placed in another bowl with ice will keep the meat very cold and help prevent the growth of any bacteria.

Let the grinding begin.

This is after the first grind.  The grinder comes with two plates, one coarse and one fine.  First grind through the coarser plate, then grind again through the finer plate.

Ready to go.

This is a 3 inch biscuit cutter.  Loosely pack your ground beef in ring for the perfect size burger.  Once you pop it out of the ring, gently press it to desired thickness.

It won't be good unless you fry it in a cast iron pan.  Okay, it might be good, just not as good!

Here it is in all its glory!  When the burger was first "invented" it was served on toasted white bread.  This is not toasted, but it was fresh baked and hot from the oven. 

Ground Beef

• 1-1/2 lbs. thin sliced chuck shoulder
• 1-1/2 lbs. tri-tip

Slice beef into 1 inch thick strips. Once all the meat is sliced, place in a single layer on a cookie sheet or a pan that will fit in the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.  Also, place the parts of your grinder in the freezer. You will want to work quickly to keep the meat as cold as possible to prevent bacteria growth.  Have a bowl ready to catch the meat, placed in a bowl of ice.  If you like your burgers rare and mooin' grinding meat is for you.  Push meat through grinder with coarse disc, then again with the fine disc.  Make your patties immediately or place in back of fridge to keep very cold for later use.  You can also freeze your fresh ground beef in desired amounts to cut down on how much time you spend grinding.

To cook the perfect burger, measure out burger into 3 inch biscuit cutter, loosely packing. Pop out of the biscuit cutter and flatten to desired thickness.  Sprinkle both sides with salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper.  Fry in a hot, seasoned, cast iron skillet for best results.