>"Tank" writes:
>
>I had need of several pounds of ground beef
>for recipes the wife was making. I had none
>at hand, so I ground some cubed round steak.
>
>This cubed round steak was from a cow my
>father-in-law purchased from the Ottawa
>county fair last fall. Cut by local butcher,
>freezer wrapped. Decent meat. Been frozen
>since last September. I cut the steaks cross-ways
>into strips, and ground it, fat and all. I ended
>up with about 12lbs of ground beef. Very red,
>not particularly marbled, however. It was
>extremely lean ground round.
>
>Unfortunately, the taste of the cooked meat
>was not that great. She made some meatballs
>with it, and there was almost an "off" taste to
>them. The meat did not seem to have that
>savory flavor we generally associate with
>hamburger or ground beef. The chili she made
>was OK, as was a Mexican taco pie type dish,
>obviously the spices carried the day on those
>two items.
>
>So, I am wondering. Was there too little fat
>for decent flavor? Should I have added some
>fat, or other cuts of meat into the mix? What
>is the best way to achieve a decent tasting
>ground beef mixture that can be used for
>burgers, lightly spiced dishes and similar
>things? Is cubed round steak the wrong cut
>to use for that purpose?

Essentually you ground previously frozen meat (a no-no), that had been kept
frozen way too long (way long enough to be tossed). Next time grind beef
*prior* to freezing, and then mark with the date ground and use within 6
months. Many will tell you how they use all sorts of contraptions, like
vacuums, to extend the shelf life of frozen meat... they are fooling
themselves, those things are gimmicks... freezing does not kill microbes nor
does freezing prevent microbes from continuing from spoiling meat, freezing
only slows things down... and home freezers don't really get nearly cold enough
to slow things down all that much.


---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
Sheldon
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"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."