I've been using the bread machine, making sure it doesn't freeze up again, and its been fun to make a bunch of different kinds. My favorite recipe book is still Bread Machine Magic, the very first one I purchased, on the advice of friends Jim and Sue Gentry. They're the ones who encouraged us to buy this machine. We went to McCall to stay with them in their cabin and ski many long years ago (New Years '93 to be exact). They took their bread machine down with them and we enjoyed fresh bread all weekend long. We were hooked!
Our other kitchen "work" was new to us. The packing plant where we've taken our elk for the last humpty jillion years has changed hands and no longer takes game. What to do with the burger meat we had frozen? Several weeks ago I got an email from Amazon featuring Kitchenaid accessories and I realized they had a grinder attachment. Dan and I talked it over and decided to give one a try. We bought locally, however, and picked one up a week or so ago. Dan took out one of our meat packs (we freeze in long Seal-A-Meal bags) and put in the refrigerator to thaw. Yesterday was D-day. Or would that be G-day?
We used my old mixer and set it on the table as the grinder chute and platform are quite a bit above the top of the mixer. We ended up with about twenty pounds of burger and have bag two (of four) thawing now.
Hmmmmm. Your post opens along the same theme as my next one.
ReplyDeleteSo, let me get this straight. Are you grinding meat into burger? Then what do you do -- re-freeze the burger? Does that work?
The meat processor in Orofino closed, too, and that has us wondering where we'll go next time we have game . . . if there is a next time.
I went shopping this afternoon and bought a 4-qt crock pot. See what an influence you are?
Kathy, yes we are grinding meat into burger. As I reread my post I realized why you asked specifically. I knew what "burger meat" was, but it does sound as if it's already burger. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThe last years that the packing plant would take game, they wouldn't take just meat for burger until after the first of the year. That's when we began to freeze the meat for burger in long (24") Seal-a-meal bags. In January or February we'd take it all to them and they'd thaw, grind, and refreeze it for us. Worked great. Until now.
The Kitchenaid grinder worked great. As I said, we ended up with about twenty pounds from the first bag, so we should end up with about eighty pounds when we're all done. We did add about 1:8 suet to it. We made hamburgers that night to see how we liked it and they tasted great.
Congratulations on your new crock pot! What kind did you get?
Sounds like quite a process. Working with raw meat isn't one of my favorite things. So you can re-freeze the meat without danger of spoilage?
ReplyDeleteI bought a 4-qt Rival Crock Pot, all black, for $15.88 at Walmart. I've had such good luck with all my Rival Crock Pots.
Actually, the process isn't bad at all. By freezing the meat that will become burger, we don't have to deal with it when Dan's trying to get the rest of the meat cut up. When we turned the burger meat into actual burger, it was still very cold, and it wasn't out for very long--about an hour all told. The grinding process went very quickly.
ReplyDeleteRaw meat is not my favorite either, but it wasn't actually too bad.
Ooooooo! New wallpaper! Pretty!
ReplyDeleteYes, I can understand the reasons you defer the grinding to another time. Someone once told me any product could be refrozen if any part of it was still cold. I've always been a little skeptical, as you can tell.
At any rate, it's good that you can now grind the meat at home. I think I would prefer that.