Old school butcher told me I was overworking my ground beef

A retired butcher who used to work at a shop in Chicago watched me grind some chuck last month and said I was running it through too many times. He said I was basically making paste instead of ground beef because the heat from the grinder was melting the fat. I always thought more passes meant more even texture but he showed me how the color changed after the second grind. Now I only do one coarse grind and mix it gently by hand. It holds together way better in the pan now and doesn't leak all that tallow. Has anyone else had to unlearn something an old timer called them out on?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowanp159d ago

@grace926 my grandma used to say the same thing about pie dough.

thompson.xena3d ago

Yep, learned that one the hard way myself. Now I just do one coarse grind and call it good, the texture difference is night and day. Cold meat before it hits the grinder helps too, keeps the fat from smearing.

grace92610d ago

Man, I was totally guilty of that too until I tried it his way and you're right, the texture is way better. One coarse grind is all it needs in my experience.