I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a food
processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat, dump in
the processor.

I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
That you needed a grinder specially made for it."

He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked like a
vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?

"Handy Gandy" > wrote in message
...
> I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a food
> processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat, dump in
> the processor.
>
> I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
> That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
>
> He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked like a
> vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?

Yes, I used to do it a long time ago, but the results are not so good. As
you have described, first you have to cut up the meat and then freeze it.
Not worth all the trouble! Oh and I didn't have a particularly high end
processor. Process it just a bit too long and you have mush.
>

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

In article >,
"Ophelia" > wrote:

> "Handy Gandy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a food
> > processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat, dump in
> > the processor.
> >
> > I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
> > That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
> >
> > He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked like a
> > vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?
>
> Yes, I used to do it a long time ago, but the results are not so good. As
> you have described, first you have to cut up the meat and then freeze it.
> Not worth all the trouble! Oh and I didn't have a particularly high end
> processor. Process it just a bit too long and you have mush.

A good, reasonably large, food processor does a good job on a smallish
(up to 1 pound) quantity of meat. Yes, it should be cut into cubes first
(say, 3/4" to 1"). And you need to pulse, watching to make sure you do
not create "mush" (as noted above). This is a quite reasonable way to
chop chicken or pork for Thai larb, for example. And I've done it for
hamburgers as well.

"Michael Siemon" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Ophelia" > wrote:
>
>> "Handy Gandy" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a
>> > food
>> > processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat, dump
>> > in
>> > the processor.
>> >
>> > I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
>> > That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
>> >
>> > He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked like
>> > a
>> > vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?
>>
>> Yes, I used to do it a long time ago, but the results are not so good.
>> As
>> you have described, first you have to cut up the meat and then freeze it.
>> Not worth all the trouble! Oh and I didn't have a particularly high end
>> processor. Process it just a bit too long and you have mush.
>
> A good, reasonably large, food processor does a good job on a smallish
> (up to 1 pound) quantity of meat. Yes, it should be cut into cubes first
> (say, 3/4" to 1"). And you need to pulse, watching to make sure you do
> not create "mush" (as noted above). This is a quite reasonable way to
> chop chicken or pork for Thai larb, for example. And I've done it for
> hamburgers as well.
>
>
Are you using the plastic blade? I've never been able to "grind" in the
processor. The pieces are "chopped". I haven't, however, used the plastic
blade, and I've only tried to do this with beef. Chopped meat is nice and
slightly different for some dishes, like sloppy joes.

Kent

Handy Gandy wrote:
> I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a
> food processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat,
> dump in the processor.
>
> I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
> That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
>
> He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked
> like a vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?

I saw Alton Brown use a food processor to grind meat once.
I think he gave it exactly 10 pulses to get the grind he wanted.
Maybe you could find his method online somewhere. Wait,
he

http://preview.tinyurl.com/b8b4aw

nancy

Steve Freides wrote:
> Nancy Young wrote:
>> Handy Gandy wrote:
>>> I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a
>>> food processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the
>>> meat, dump in the processor.
>>>
>>> I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do
>>> that. That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
>>>
>>> He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked
>>> like a vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?
>>
>> I saw Alton Brown use a food processor to grind meat once.
>> I think he gave it exactly 10 pulses to get the grind he wanted.
>> Maybe you could find his method online somewhere. Wait,
>> he
>>
>> http://preview.tinyurl.com/b8b4aw

> I saw a Good Eats episode in which he used a meat grinder and
> mentioned that a food processor wasn't the right tool for the job
> (was making hamburger)- wonder if it was filmed before or after the
> one you saw...

While I remember the episode and the 10 grinds, I don't remember
every detail he talked about. If I had to guess, he would have to
acknowledge that the great majority of people don't have a meat
grinder and have no plans to buy one, but that they do have a food
processor.

But he was careful not to turn the meat into mush.

nancy

On 2010-09-14, Nancy Young > wrote:

> I saw Alton Brown use a food processor to grind meat once.
> I think he gave it exactly 10 pulses to get the grind he wanted.
> Maybe you could find his method online somewhere. Wait,
> he
>
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/b8b4aw

Yes, I have used ABs technique for this exact recipe and it works jes
fine. The trick is to put the meat in the freezer, but not let it get
hard frozen. Jes real firm, to where it's jes beginning to freeze
solid. I used the cutting blade of a Cuisinart and it came out
perfectly fine, give or take a pulse. Great burgers, BTW.

nb

On Sep 14, 6:30*am, notbob > wrote:
> On 2010-09-14, Nancy Young > wrote:
>
> > I saw Alton Brown use a food processor to grind meat once.
> > I think he gave it exactly 10 pulses to get the grind he wanted.
> > Maybe you could find his method online somewhere. *Wait,
> > he
>
> >http://preview.tinyurl.com/b8b4aw
>
> Yes, I have used ABs technique for this exact recipe and it works jes
> fine. *The trick is to put the meat in the freezer, but not let it get
> hard frozen. *Jes real firm, to where it's jes beginning to freeze
> solid. *I used the cutting blade of a Cuisinart and it came out
> perfectly fine, give or take a pulse. *Great burgers, BTW.
>
> nb *

I also use the food processor. It works great. You just pulse
until you get the meat to the grind
you prefer for what you are using it for. I use chuck to make
hamburgers and it works like a charm.

In article >,
"Kent" > wrote:

> "Michael Siemon" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >,
> > "Ophelia" > wrote:
> >
> >> "Handy Gandy" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > I was watch America's Test Kitchen a few days, and they were using a
> >> > food
> >> > processor to grind meat. Cut into small pieces, freeze the meat, dump
> >> > in
> >> > the processor.
> >> >
> >> > I mentioned this to a friend saying " I thought you couldn't do that.
> >> > That you needed a grinder specially made for it."
> >> >
> >> > He told me that they were using a fancy high end processor. Looked like
> >> > a
> >> > vanilla processor ro me. Is it possible?
> >>
> >> Yes, I used to do it a long time ago, but the results are not so good.
> >> As
> >> you have described, first you have to cut up the meat and then freeze it.
> >> Not worth all the trouble! Oh and I didn't have a particularly high end
> >> processor. Process it just a bit too long and you have mush.
> >
> > A good, reasonably large, food processor does a good job on a smallish
> > (up to 1 pound) quantity of meat. Yes, it should be cut into cubes first
> > (say, 3/4" to 1"). And you need to pulse, watching to make sure you do
> > not create "mush" (as noted above). This is a quite reasonable way to
> > chop chicken or pork for Thai larb, for example. And I've done it for
> > hamburgers as well.
> >
> >
> Are you using the plastic blade? I've never been able to "grind" in the
> processor. The pieces are "chopped". I haven't, however, used the plastic
> blade, and I've only tried to do this with beef. Chopped meat is nice and
> slightly different for some dishes, like sloppy joes.
>
> Kent

Metal blade. And yes, the result is "chopped" -- so, slightly different
in texture. But it is fine for hamburgers, and noticeably _better_ for
larb or other ethnic dishes which traditionally _are_ chopped rather
than run through a european style grinder.