Meat Grinder recipes anyone?
#11
  Re: (...)
I just purchased a meat grinder attachment for my Cuisinart mixer and it is awesome! I ground sirloin for burgers a few nights ago. Now, I'm on a roll - any recipes or best practices from any of you? I'm thinking of pork sausage (breakfast and Italian), meatballs, etc. Yum!
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#12
  Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by carolekv (I just purchased a m...)
Carole, do a search for "sausage making" - so many of us have been making it the last few years, you'll find more than you would ever want!! Have fun. I (we all) love making sausage.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#13
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by cjs (Carole, do a search ...)
Also try chuck, for burgers, instead of sirloin. It's MUCH better for burgers than sirloin is. Sirloin is better as a steak, or in stroganoff. When restaurants want to impress patrons with flavourful burgers, they use chuck. When they want to appear fancy and "high-end," they use sirloin.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#14
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by labradors (Also try chuck, for ...)
Thanks! I did google sausage making and found some great ideas! Going to try one tomorrow, I think. And as for the chuck idea, I will try that. The sirloin burgers were really good, but a bit dense - I thought it might be because I used the thinner cut, but maybe there wasn't enough fat either - I actually cut it all off. I don't want a lot or filler in my burgers, but they did sort of need something to make them less dense.
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#15
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by carolekv (Thanks! I did googl...)
You'll find you do need a little fat for flavor and texture. I like the mixture of chuck & boneless short ribs for ground beef. (50/50)

You're going to have so much fun!
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#16
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by carolekv (Thanks! I did googl...)
That's one of the big reasons why chuck is used for burgers. Sirloin is too lean, and the burgers turn out dense - maybe even dry, even though the meat, itself is tender.

They say, "If you're going to make an omelet, you're going to have to break some eggs." Well, if you're going to make the best burgers with beef, you're going to have to include some fat. Fat is NOT a filler - it's fat. Bread, flour, bone meal, etc. are fillers used to extend how much you can produce with a given amount of meat. Fat is the entire basis of juiciness and flavour for burgers.

That doesn't mean you have to make a fatburger (although you may certainly enjoy the jazz music of the group "Fattburger"). It just means that at least SOME fat is necessary for the best burgers, and chuck just happens to be ideal.

Don't just Google around ANYWHERE for sausage recipes. Look right here on this site! Quite a number of things have been posted, especially by Jean. Her Italian sausage is a keeper! I also like the "Jimmy Dean" copycat recipes I posted a while back. Here are a few, so you don't have to search around for them:

Starting with Jean's recipe. I don't recall that the instructions for preparing the casings were ever included, but I only use this as bulk or patties, anyway, so I haven't looked any further.

Italian Sausage

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 feet medium casings
5 pounds boneless pork butt -- cubed
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
5 cloves garlic (optional) -- minced
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon anise seeds
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (1 to 3 Tbs) -- optional
1/3 cup flat-leaf Italian or curly parsley, -- coarsely chopped

1. Follow directions *To Prepare Casings for Stuffing.

2. Put the cubed pork through meat grinder with coarse blade in place.

3. In large bowl mix remaining ingredients with the ground meat.

4. Stuff mixture into casings and twist off into 4- to 5-inch sausages, or make one long coil.

5. Keep sausages loosely wrapped and refrigerated; use within 3 days. Freeze sausages that will not be used within that time.

6. To cook, place sausages in large skillet and add 1/4 cup water. Pierce sausages with 2-tined fork or needle in 2 or 3 places to allow for air expansion and to prevent bursting as sausage cooks. Cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes; turn sausages after 5 minutes.

7. Uncover sausage. Continue to cook until liquid evaporates and sausages brown.

----------
Jimmy Dean Sausage Copycat

The recipes (that I found on the Web) call for MSG, but I left that out when I made it. I've only made the sage, and it's just like the real thing!

Sage
16 ounces ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon MSG (such as Accent flavor enhancer)

Hot
16 ounces ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon MSG (such as Accent)

Maple
16 ounces ground pork
3 tablespoons maple flavored syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon MSG (such as Accent)
1/4 teaspoon coriander

Combine all ingredients for the flavor of your choice in a medium bowl. Form the sausage into patties and cook in a skillet over medium heat until brown.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#17
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by cjs (You'll find you do n...)
That is an excellent idea - thanks! And yes, this thing is so fun - the pasta maker attachment is fun and makes great pasta for lasagne and fettucini (not macaroni - not worth the trouble in my opinion) but this meat grinder is even more fun - fast and easy! I'm thinking too that for meatballs maybe putting some bread in with the meat when you grind it (and using pork and beef) might work out well - thoughts on that idea? I bragged to my husband - how many folks do you know who get to have homemade lasagne with homemade ground beef/pork and homemade noodles? (and in season, homegrown tomatoes) He said no one, and I was like a ha, touche! (He laughed and so did I.)
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#18
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by labradors (That's one of the bi...)
This is great! Thank you - google pulled up so much stuff that I did decide to contact you all - I've gotten pretty picky about where I get my recipes nowadays. For Jean's recipe, can I leave out the anise? I don't have and can't get any before I try this out.
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#19
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by carolekv (This is great! Than...)
The anise really does make a difference, but if you're in a pinch, you could try a little more fennel seed, since they are so similar in the first place.

BTW, the stores around here only started carrying anything resembling Italian sausage about six months ago, and I haven't bothered to try them yet, since Jean's recipe is SO good. The Cuisine recipe for Lasagna Soup calls for Italian sausage, and the only sausage I've ever used for it is Jean's recipe. No wonder that soup is so darned good!

When making the sausage, I always make it the day BEFORE using it, so the spices have a chance to flavour the meat even more.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#20
  Re: Re: Meat Grinder recipes anyone? by labradors (The anise really doe...)
That soup is one of our family favorites! I love that recipe! I've always used sausage either from our local Publix grocery or we did have a butcher shop for a short while around here and I'd use sausage from there. Sadly, that business went out of business, thus my purchase of the meat grinder!

I'm not a huge fan of anise anyway - too much of an anisette/licorice flavor, so I'll go ahead and try without first but add more fennel. I guess I need to smell that first too, but I know our butcher used to put fennel in his and it was awesome. (I don't have any anyway for now, so this makes sense!)
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