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ground pork


Gabriel Lewis

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I'd like to grind my own pork at home but I'm unsure about a few things. I understand that any part of the animal could be used to make ground pork but are certain parts more suitable than others? I don't need great amounts so I'm thinking that just grinding at home in my food processor will be acceptable..

Any thoughts or comments?

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I think pork shoulder is probably the best cut to grind up, it has best proportion of fat and meat. If you're going to use your food processor, make sure your meat is well trimmed of connective tissue, silverskin etc... The blades generally won't cut through these very well. Oh, and don't overprocess! Do small batches at a time.

Martin Mallet

<i>Poor but not starving student</i>

www.malletoyster.com

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It also depends on what you wanna make... ground pork butt is often used for sausages - it provides a real nice blend of fat to lean meat ratio. For a more lean gind, use a shoulder cut.

Brian Misko

House of Q - Competition BBQ

www.houseofq.com

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I agree that shoulder or butt is the best for grinding. You need that extra fat to keep it tender. I prefer to grind it in my KitchenAid grinder because of the silver and such. I have used the processor a few times and you do have to be careful about over processing. If you use the processor, I suggest you go through the ground meat and pull out any stringy stuff.

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Pork shoulder (=butt in USA) is the usual cut for grinding, but these days shoulder is only about 18% fat. If you're grinding for sausage or most forcemeat, you'll need extra fat.

I wouldn't grind in a food processor unless you're just doing a very small quantity. For any grinding, trim all connective tissue first. Cube and chill everything (some people par-freeze to stiffen the meat), then grind.

Hong Kong Dave

O que nao mata engorda.

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Lots of good tips here. I'll add that keeping things very cold is crucial, below 40F at the very most. In addition, any recipe that refers to using ground butt or shoulder may assume that you've got the thick layer of fat on it -- an erroneous assumption for most pork produced in the 21st century. You may want to add additional fat (back fat, in particular) if so.

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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Hello everyone, thanks a lot for the the helpful advice, much appreciated. I will be using the pork for many different miscellaneous dishes such as stirfries, stuffed pastries, stuffed omelettes etc so I don't think I need a high fat content such as several people have recommmened for sausages although I wouldn't want the pork to be overly lean. I said I would be grinding in my food processor as that seemed my only viable option at this point as I have no money atm for any new purchases and am not sure I really want to invest in a grinder at any rate. Perhaps I am missing something though? I would really have no qualms about mincing finely with my chef's knife or perhaps I'll just get one of my butchers to grind for me day of if a food processor is that undesireable.

At any rate while we're on topic can anyone weigh in on producing ground chicken at home?

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