Okay, so this thread in GQ has me a bit freaked out about the safety of ground beef. We don’t buy pre-made hamburger patties, we buy ground beef and form our own patties. My husband likes his burger medium-rare and that’s generally how it’s served to my entire family, including our two young children. Is this inherently unsafe?
I’m now thinking of grinding my own beef, which is why I’m not asking this in the GQ thread, but in the foodie forum. If I grind my own beef, then cooked it to medium-rare, would that be safer? Can it be ground in a food processor with the chopping blade? Should the meat be cleaned in any particular matter beforehand? (I’m including ground turkey in this as well). Or is it worth getting a special grinder? We have a KitchenAid mixer, and I know there’s a grinder attachment available, but now I’m worried that I’ll contaminate our yummy baked goods.
What cuts of meat would be best for hamburger or meatloaf?
Chuck is my go-to for hamburger. It has a nice balance of meat and fat to keep things juicy. Sirloin is popular, but much leaner, and makes for a drier burger. I’m not a fan. Some people mix in bison with their chuck to amp up the beefiness. Others even use ribeye, which also has a good meat-fat ratio, but is a bit more expensive than chuck.
I personally have only used a hand-cranked grinder, so I can’t speak to the efficacy of a Kitchen Aid, although I’ve heard plenty of people use them with the meat grinding attachment to good results. I would wash the meat and pat it dry before grinding it.
Unless you run your baked goods through the KitchenAid grinder, there’s no contamination worries. You don’t run the grinder with a bowl or beater on the mixer, so if anything does fall out, it just lands on the base or countertop.
You can use a food processor as well, but you have to do pretty small batches, and in short pulses or you’ll wind up with meat paste. With the KA grinder, you can just keep stuffing meat through continuously.
ETA: IIRC, with a food processor, you can only do about a quarter-pound at a time, and it only takes about three one-second pulses with a strong machine. Smaller food processors will probably need more and/or longer pulses.
gotpasswords: you’re right; I wasn’t thinking that through. Of course, the grinder for the KA doesn’t go to the mixing bowl.
I’m still not sure though: is it safer for me to grind my own meat than to use the ground beef (not preformed burgers, just plain packaged ground beef) in the supermarket? Is it worth grinding it myself?
Following a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, I did some food-processor ground beef by putting it in the freezer for a bit before grinding - not enough to freeze it, but enough to make hard, and keep it from pasting. It was pretty close to what a meat grinder would have done, I think - less uniform, but the texture was fine.
runcible spoon: I saw a suggestion online for putting it the freezer too. They also suggested putting the cutting blade in the fridge to keep it cold. Since I already have a food processor, maybe I’ll try that first.
I’m still not sure about how to wash the meat first. Rinse?
runcible spoon: I saw a suggestion online for putting it the freezer too. They also suggested putting the cutting blade in the fridge to keep it cold. Since I already have a food processor, maybe I’ll try that first.
I’m still not sure about how to wash the meat first. Rinse?
controversial subject. Most experts feel you’ll be spreading E.coli and salmonella over yourself and kitchen surfaces, thus potentially contaminating other foodstuffs. However, I rinse chicken in my sink under slow cold water and pat dry with paper toweling, then toss the toweling in the waste container. I place the chicken on a cutting mat that I only use for poultry, then wash the sink and my hands.
Generally, there isn’t E.coli in chicken, but for beef and such, it’s an issue. I do the same with red meat, especially if I’m going to grind it up for hamburger in my KA. I think you have a better chance of less E. coli then when the meat is cut and ground in the store where you don’t know where the meat has been. Under any set of conditions, grinding puts exterior bacteria into the interior where only cooking will neutralize it. That’s why you can’t get a medium-rare burger at McDonalds, and why you see the disclaimers at the bottom of almost every modern menu.
Get a nice piece of chuck; rinse it off, and chop it up, put in your processor or grind it in a KA. Grill with S&P to the way you want it. Enjoy your food, and be sensible in it’s prep.
Since inheriting my mother’s old food processor I’ve been grinding my own. I can’t stand the fine texture of store-bought; I prefer my burgers and meatloaf with a coarser texture. And I like to combine different kinds of meat, like beef and pork. I just rinse off the meat, cut it into manageable chunks, then process. I also add egg, onion and seasonings, and have never had a health problem.
Are there different health issues with things like turkey and salmon?
With poultry you have the salmonella risk. I pretty much treat it as hazardous material in the kitchen, being extra careful to clean every last thing raw chicken or turkey have touched, and always, always, always washing my cutting boards and knives after dealing with poultry. This (admittedly dated, 2001) article claims 13% of turkeys are contaminated with salmonella. That sort of meat I will never cook less than well done. (Beef and lamb, I take to medium rare at most, pork to medium.) With fish like tuna and salmon, if I am reasonably assured of its freshness and quality, I don’t cook much past rare.
I make a lot of chili. I got a Porkert meat mincer several years ago, at one of those specialty kitchen-supply stores, so I can grind my own meat with a coarse “chili grind”. Don’t recall what it cost, but I’m sure it was less than $50. It has two grind-plates, with different-size holes, so you can grind your meat coarse or fine. It’s hand-cranked and fairly easy to clean (some parts are non-stainless steel, so watch for rust); the only difficult parts are (1) making sure you screw it fast to the top-and-bottom of a table-edge, so it won’t wobble when you’re grinding, and (2) making sure you don’t lose any of the parts. I keep the whole thing in the original box.
Here’s a great article/blog post on grinding your own hamburger. I’m thinking of buying a bunch of chuck and grinding it for burger - all the news stories I’m reading lately about just how horrible ground meat is for you is really scaring me.
As already mentioned, chuck or chuck roast is great for home ground burger. It has just about the right blend of fat and meat to get 85/15% lean ground beef. Don’t try to get all healthy and cut the fat off, you will just get too dry burger. If you are going to grind sirloin or some other lean cut you should get some suet/fat from your local butcher to add in, or you will have really dry, mealy burger. A friend of mine swears that adding a package of pork sausage when he grinds his chuck makes for a great combo.
Meat contamination is all on the outside, usually from improper cleaning of the animal or handilng after. A steak might have some contamination, but that will be killed by cooking it, even a rare steak has been cooked enough to kill exterior contamination.
The problem with ground meat is that it is all ‘outside’, even on the inside. So store bought meat can be worrisome because you didn’t see what was used to make it. Often that means everything left over, and sometimes even outdated meat pulled from the display shelf.
I really don’t worry about these issues myself, but I do prefer the ground meat from my local source rather than the mass produced stuff that comes from who knows where.
This is great information. Thank you all so much. I think I may try the food processor first, since I already have one, and then move on to the grinder if I don’ like the results.
Thanks for the link, Athena. I’m off to read that now.
Years ago I saw a program by Delia Smith (a legendary British cooking figure) in which she stated that she preferred a well made hamburger to a plain piece of grilled steak. She prepared hers like this in which she says:
*Few people, I suspect, have tasted the real thing, which consists of good steak chopped and tenderised, formed into burgers and grilled on charcoal. The degree of thickness is paramount, since that ensures a crisp, charred outside and a juicy, rare, medium-rare or whatever-you-like inside. I find that 4 oz (110 g) of meat is perfect if it is going to be served in a bun, but 8 oz (225 g) is best for a more sophisticated adult version. Personally, I prefer it to eating a plain grilled steak.
If you’re on a diet, don’t eat a hamburger: it really is vital that it contains 20 per cent fat, as this is what keeps the meat moist while cooking. If you’re using chuck steak, trim off any gristle and sinewy bits but hang on to the fat. Cut the meat into chunks, put it into a food processor and blend until it looks like fine minced beef: however, don’t overdo the processing, because if the meat becomes too fine, the burger will have a bouncy texture! If you do not have a food processor, pass the steak through the fine blade of a mincer.*