How Long To Freeze Meat Before Grinding?

One of the fundamental rules you need to follow while grinding meat is never to grind meat at room temperature. Make sure your meat stays in a freezer before you chew it. It does not need to be completely frozen meat but partially frozen.

How Long To Freeze Meat Before Grinding? Professional chefs have suggested freezing meat for at least 15 or 20 minutes before grinding it.

Why Is Freezing The Meat Important Before Grinding?

A lot of top chefs consider this process as the freezer treatment, and it is. Putting it in the freezer before grinding meat has plenty of benefits to both the machine and the operator behind the top rated meat grinder. 

Efficiency

It will save a lot of time from freezing the meat. Once you freeze meat before you grind it, it will take the least time and effort. The warm ground meat will mainly clog in the tube of the meat grinder if it is not cold meat.

More friction

Friction is the most important thing when you think about meat grinding. Then, freezing the meat helps users create all the friction they want. 

Overheating Decrease

What should you do if the meat grinder starts to overheat? You can avoid this situation if you keep all the grinder parts refrigerated before the grinding process. This step also prevents bacteria growth in the meat grinder.

Another method to prevent the heat is to grind meat slowly or at medium speeds. Fast grinding with a high speed will increase the heat. It is not suitable for the whole grinding process.

How to freeze meat before grinding

Some may not know the proper process of freezing the meat before you grind it. The meat needs to be cold before grinding.

Related: Can you grind meat in a vitamix

Step 1: Remove the fat and the skin from the meat.

Remove the fat and the skin from the meat

The first step before freezing meat is to remove the fat and the skin from the meat.

In most cases, the meat skin can take more time for the grinding process. Especially if you are making sausage, you will not want the skin in the recipe?

Removing the fat is also better when freezing meat. But if you want an amount of fat for the ground meat, you should consider the best texture of the meat.

Step 2: Prepare meat slices and put them on a foil separately.

Prepare meat slices and put them on a foil separately

It would help if you prepared meat slices to fit the size of the meat grinder. You need to slice the meat before freezing. It is terrible to cut the partially frozen as the texture of the meat is hard

When you have meat slices, make sure to put them on a foil separately while freezing.

Step 3: Partially freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes and grind the meat immediately.

Partially freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes

Remember to keep raw meat slices refrigerated for a minimum of 30-minutes. It does not have to become fully frozen meat. You will want semi-frozen meat for the best result.

Tips To Utilize The Meat Grinder Like Experts

It is not necessary to go to culinary school to get professional in utilizing the meat grinder. Following those tips will help you make the best of the meat grinder.

1. Freeze meat and equipment.

This action will decrease the heat while grinding meat very well. It also prevents the ground meat from clogging the tube of the meat grinder.

So you will need to prepare a cold meat grinder along with cold meat. It will make a perfect match like bread and cheese.

2. Get the correct meat and fat balance.

If you want to make hamburger meat, less fat is better, with a 70%-30% meat to fat ratio.

One of the most delicious meals you can get for tasty hamburger meat consists of chuck steak. It is the most popular meat for hamburgers. The boneless short rib with a high content of fat will make a delicious burger.

The right amount of fat is necessary for each recipe. A tasty burger often has the suitable amount of fat content the hamburger meat can retain. 

3. Grind meat at least twice.

The best texture of the meat will require grinding twice. If not, you may have to cook thicker meat with more time. In that case, you should use the medium grinder blade.

For hamburgers, it is vital to grind the meat twice to have the best result. The consistency of the texture is critical for hamburgers.

4. Season meat before you grind.

The best mixture will need you to season your meat. You can rub a few seasonings on two sides of the meat before putting it in the meat grinder. 

It is acceptable to season both periods – before and after you grind the meat.

5. Try new recipes by combining some different meat.

Do not just stick to the lamb meat or beef chunk. It would help if you tried combining lamb and ground beef to have a new good taste. 

Experts give a recommendation of lamb and beef chunk mixture for spaghetti Bolognese. You will want to try it now.

How Long To Freeze Meat Before Grinding – Final Words

You will need from 15 minutes to 20 minutes to freeze meat before grinding. A kitchen becomes complete only when it gets equipped with a freezer. It is the reason why you should get one freezer if you do not have any.

Freezing your own meat and meat grinders before all usages will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. We hope that all these steps and tips above will help you create the best ground meat or ground beef for your meals.

Here is a video that will help you make delicious ground meat.