miab87•2d ago

Took me 5 years to realize I was chilling my beef before grinding it wrong

Honestly, I used to toss whole chunks of beef straight from the walk-in into the grinder. Thought I was being efficient. Last month at a shop in Detroit I watched a guy cube his trimmings and spread them on a sheet tray in the freezer for 20 minutes before grinding. I asked him why and he said it keeps the fat from smearing. Tried it myself that weekend and my burgers went from mushy to actually holding together. All those years of greasy, dense patties when it was that simple. You see more butchers doing the partial freeze trick or is it just the old school guys?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby1892d ago

And yeah @nelson.cameron that first time trying it is wild because you realize how much you were fighting the fat the whole time. I do the same thing now with a sheet tray and it's basically free improvement with zero extra effort. The crust difference alone sold me on it for good.

nelson.cameron2d ago

First time I tried the partial freeze trick I used a baking sheet with cubed brisket trimmings and threw em in my home freezer for exactly 15 minutes. The difference was night and day. My patties actually had that nice crust on the outside instead of steaming in the pan because the fat was melting before the meat even hit the heat. I do it with all my ground meat now, even if I'm just doing a quick batch for tacos.