When you buy ground beef, pork or other meats in the store you can never be sure exactly what that meat contains nor trust that is hasn’t been contaminated by grinding equipment. Usually, the more steps the meat has gone through, the more you can’t trust the quality. If you’re making something that you don’t want to over-cook, such as a medium-rare hamburger or meat loaf, or if you just want to ensure the quality of your meat, then you’re better off buying a larger cut of meat and grinding it yourself.
Most people don’t have a meat grinder in their kitchen, but a food processor is a relatively common appliance and works excellent when chopping meat to a ground consistency.
When you’re chopping a piece of meat to such fine pieces, the quality of the meat matters less. Cuts such as chuck, round, or bottom sirloin are perfectly fine choices.
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How To Chop Meat
Start with cleaning your meat. Remove any silver skin or other connective tissue. The more fat you remove, the leaner the ground beef will be. Remember though, that if you are planning to make hamburgers for example, you want to make sure to keep some fat. Fat ensures moist meat and the more fat you remove, the drier the meat will be.
Cut the meat in about quarter inch size cubes. In small batches, process the meat in the food processor with the cutting blade for about 5-10 pulses - the more pulses, the finer cut. It’s important to not put too much meat in the food processor at a time when you are doing this, then the meat won’t cut as well, especially if any connective tissue remains.
Once you have processed all the meat to a desired size, you’re ready to cook with it or freeze it to use at a later point.
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