Grinding meat too soon was my mistake

I used to grind my meat right after cutting it, thinking freshness was key. After a batch came out gummy, I tried letting it chill for an hour first, and the texture was way better. Do you find a rest period makes a difference for your ground meat?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_henry1mo ago

You learned that the hard way too huh? I made the same mistake years ago... thought I was being all chef-like grinding it straight away. All you're doing is smearing the warm fat around instead of cutting it clean. That's why it turns into a pasty, weird mess. Letting it get cold again firms everything up so the grinder actually chops it. So much for "fresher" being better right there.

xenaf511mo ago

Chilling the grinder parts in the freezer first really did the trick for me too.

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the_grace1mo ago

Okay, so @the_henry talks about smearing warm fat, and I see the logic. But I've ground meat right after cutting plenty of times without it turning gummy. Maybe it's because I keep everything really cold from the start, like my grinder parts in the freezer. The rest period can help, but it feels like an extra step that isn't always needed. For me, the big thing is not overworking the meat after it's ground, chill or no chill.

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