How to Grind Meat

Whether you grind meat for baby food or soft foods to fit into your diet, the goal is to get a smooth finish. Minced meat that is too thick or mushy will not make people eat it, even with children. The secret to good ground meat is to chill the processed meat and grind it while it’s cold. Besides, adding a little water to the meat will help you get the perfect finished product.

Table of Contents

Prepare Meat

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Choose tender meat. The softer the meat, the smoother and more delicious the finished product will be. Whether you’re grinding beef, chicken, pork, or lamb, choose the part that’s tender without being hard when processing. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Usually the cheapest cuts of beef are the toughest, so it’s best to choose the tenderloin.
For chicken, you can buy boneless or boneless meat. If you buy a boneless variety, be sure to remove the bones very carefully so that small pieces of bone are not left in the ground meat.

Cook slowly until the meat is cooked through. Cooking meat slowly will preserve the flavor and moisture of the meat, making it easier to grind. Regardless of the type of meat you use, cook it slowly for the best finish. Here are some helpful processing methods:

Tunnel
Use slow cooker
Boil

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Make sure the meat reaches the right temperature after processing. Meat must be cooked before grinding. Check the meat after cooking to make sure the meat inside has reached the required temperature. Here are the temperatures that meats need to reach: ^{[2] X Research Source}

Chicken: 75°C
Pork: 70°C
Beef: 65°C
Lamb: 65°C

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Refrigerate meat. After cooking, chill the meat in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Meat should be completely chilled before grinding. Chilled meat will give a better finished product than warm meat.

Cut the meat into pieces about 2.5 cm. Take the meat out of the fridge and cut it into pieces that are easy to put in the meat grinder.

Chopper

Put one cup of meat in a meat grinder. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can use a regular blender; however, the finished product will not be as smooth as when using a multi-function meat grinder.

Grind the meat until it becomes a powder. Maybe the word “powder” is a bit strange to describe meat, but that’s the texture you’ll get when you grind it cold. Continue processing until the meat is evenly ground and looks like sand. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Add water and continue grinding. In order for the meat to be finely ground, you will need to add a little water to loosen the mixture. Regardless of the type of meat, for each cup of meat, you will need 1/4 cup of water. You can choose to add the following types of water: ^{[4] X Research Source}

Water obtained after processing meat
Meat broth without salt
Water

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Store minced meat in the refrigerator. Once the ground meat has reached the consistency you want, place it in a sealed container for storage. Store ground meat in the refrigerator until needed. Meat will keep for 3 to 4 days.

You can freeze ground meat for later use. Remember to store meat in a freezer container.
Before serving, let the meat come to room temperature or reheat in the microwave.

Variations with Ground Meat

Mix more mashed vegetables for young children. You can make pureed baby food by mixing mashed vegetables with ground meat. This will add spice and nutrients to the dish. Try the following combination:

Ground chicken with grated carrot
Ground beef with mashed beans
Minced pork with mashed apples

Add seasoning to meat if preparing adult food. While children do not need salt and other seasonings, adults will need a little more seasoning to taste better. For each cup of ground meat, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon seasoning of your choice.

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Grind the meat not too fine. If your child is older and can chew meat, make the ground meat more varied. Instead of grinding until the meat is completely smooth, you should stop while the meat is still large. Besides, you can also do it differently by adding chopped cooked vegetables to the finely ground meat.

Advice

Add a piece of bread to the meat grinder along with the meat for a nice texture. Alternatively, you can add 1 tablespoon (20 g) of mashed potatoes.
Canned meats like tuna or salmon can be ground with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise.
You can always marinate the meat to brown before putting it in the slow cooker for extra seasoning.
You do not need to process canned meat before grinding.
Do not use slow cooker to cook fish meat. Instead, grill the fish in the oven or preheat it in the microwave.

Warning

Meat should be cooked before grinding.
If you prepare ground meat for young children, consider using organic meat. Moreover, you should make sure the kitchen area and cooking utensils are always clean to avoid causing food poisoning for children.

Things you need

Meat
Chopping board
Knife
Long-handled spoon
Slow cooker
Multi-function meat grinder or blender

Steps