Grinding meat at home yourself will save you the trouble of buying processed meat from the market and maintain hygiene standards.
Plus, it also gives you the option to grind your meat the way you want it in your recipe, a good deal for the home cooks out there.
However, when it comes to grinding meat, you have two options, either go for a manual meat grinder or for an electric meat grinder.
Depending on your convenience, you may choose to use any of the two options. And to make things easy for you, we will guide you on how to grind meat using both electric and manual meat grinders.
Grind Meat Using Manual Meat grinders
Manual meat grinders come with a handle that is spun by hand to move the auger to grind meat. You can use a manual meat grinder to grind your meat at home.
Depending on the model you might be using, the grinder either comes with a clamp to fix it to a surface or is bolted down to a fixed spot.
So, the first thing you need to do to grind the meat is to fix your grinder using a clamp or the bolts to a flat stable surface.
You may firmly mount it so that it does not wobble when you grind your meat. Once the grinder is set, follow these steps to grind chicken at home:
Step 1
The next essential step you need to take care of is removing excess tendons and fats from your meat before cutting it into small pieces. We recommend this because these fats and tendons are small enough to squeeze their way through the grinder and often times make it clogged.
And trust us, it’s pretty messy to clean up a fat clogged meat grinder. So, save yourself the hassle and shred of any excess fats from your meat before cutting it into smaller chunks.
Step 2
Another optional step we will recommend you to follow is to chill your meat before grinding. This helps to tone down the friction when the meat is being ground and at the same time reduces the chances of fat melting and clogging up the meat grinder. This way you can easily grind meat at home, without much hassle.
Step 3
Now that you have prepared your meat, it is time to grind it. Place a clean bowl at the mouth of the grinder to catch the ground meat.
Now slowly rotate the crank on the side of the grinder and gently lower the meat chunks into the spout of the grinder. Avoid using your hand to push in the meat, you may harm yourself if you do so.
Step 4
Once you are done grinding the first bit of your meat, pass a moist bread piece through the grinder, this will help clean any blockages in the grinder. You may later remove the crumbs from the meat bowl. Continue this process until you are done grinding all your meat.
Step 5
Once the grinding is done, it is essential to take apart the grinder and thoroughly wash it up to remove any stuck bits. Make sure you do so and let it dry before reassembling it.
And that’s how you use a manual grinder to grind chicken at home or any meat of your choice. However, this task may seem tiring to some and they would prefer opting for an electrical grinder to do the same job in less time and less effort! So, for those who prefer to use electric grinders, the following are the steps you need to follow!
Grind Meat Using Electric Meat Grinders
Before we jump onto the method for using the electric grinders, let’s see why so many culinary experts tend to prefer these over the conventional and economical manual grinders.
Although a bit expensive, electric grinders are handy and get the job of grinding done in no time. These machines are more powerful and in addition to meat grinding, provide functionalities of automatic nut slicing, cheese shredding and vegetable chopping. With all these features and ease of use, they have become a sought-after product for the culinary addicts.
So, let us begin with the steps to be followed to grind meat using electric meat grinders at home:
Step 1
First thing’s first, refrigerate the meat and the grinder parts so that they are chill. This will ensure a smooth grinding process and prevent the meat from becoming pasty after being ground.
Step 2
The next step is to prepare your meat. Trim your meat into strips, this prevents the grinder from choking and blockages. So, make sure you slice the meat with a sharp knife and then put it into the grinder.
Step 3
Once the meat is prepared you can now assemble the chilled grinder and plug it in. Now put in the sliced meat pieces and then push on the button and let the grinder do its job. If you happen to have a lot of meat, you can have them ground in batches. Make sure to put a clean bowl to collect the ground meat.
Step 4
Depending on the application, like if you want the meat to be grounded for the burger patties or sausages you can change the blades accordingly. However, make sure they are clean before using them.
Step 5
You may use a larger die/blade to roughly grind the meat first, and then finely grind it again with a smaller blade to your liking. This way you can even grind venison yourself if you follow this technique.
Step 6
Finally, when you are done, it’s time to clean the grinder. Due to fats, the grinder will be greasy so its best to wash it immediately. Before washing it with liquid soap we suggest wiping away the grease using a tissue paper and then scrub off the remaining grease.
So in no time at all, you are done grinding your meat at home. No more need to depend on the packaged ground meat, just use these grinders at home and grind the meat to your liking. Whether its sausages, hamburger patties or chicken mince for lasagna, the grinder will help you get all that!
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About Faisal Khan
Hi, I am Faisal Khan from California. I am a shop owner and blogger. Blogging is my hobby actually. I usually love to do camping at different places. In this blog, I will write about some kitchen appliances.