Grinder Success

I use a lot of ground meat when I cook. We get five kinds of ground pork from our processor—chorizo, Italian, hot Italian, maple, and plain—and after the bacon, it’s the next stuff to get used up. We have quite a few chops left in the freezer, though, and one of the reasons I bought this grinder was to see if I could grind them up and use them that way.

I took out a couple of packages of chops on Sunday evening and put them in the fridge to defrost. The husband has been asking for meat loaf for dinner. I usually make mine with half ground pork and half ground beef, but I didn’t have any pork.

The meat has to be chilled—”crunchy,” as the instructions say—to grind properly. The chops in the fridge had defrosted just enough and seemed to grind easily:

But holy cow! That grinder is LOUD. The instructions say that it will take 5-10 hours of operation for the motor and gears to break in and get quieter. I only used it for about 20 minutes and it sounded like a wood chipper, even on low.

I ground enough pork for meat loaf and made that for dinner. I would change two things next time: I would use one of the smaller grinding plates and I might cut off some of the fat. I used what was on the chops, which did not seem excessive to me. (And the fat is tasty.) For meat loaf, though, it would be better to have it a bit leaner. Also, I need to play around with the seasonings. I’ll often use hot Italian ground pork in meat loaf for a little extra kick. This time, I used regular Italian seasoning when I mixed up the pork and beef. I prefer the extra kick.

I consider this experiment to be a success, enough that I am wishing I had bought this grinder earlier. I’ll pick up casings next time I am at the grocery store and try making some sausage links.

Speaking of seasonings, the little grocery store down in Bigfork has their own house brand of herbs and spices:

They started this a couple of years ago and the list of offerings keeps expanding. I like that they come in these large containers because I use a LOT of seasonings when I cook. I also like that they don’t contain any additives. (McCormick taco seasoning has something in it that makes me ill.) I don’t get to that grocery store very often, but when I do, I try to pick up a few of these containers. I bought cinnamon Sunday night when I went to get frozen pizzas because I’ve used almost all of what I had making zucchini bread.

I plan to make another batch of zucchini bread today and then I’m going to sew. My Martelli rotating cutting mat arrived yesterday and I want to try it out. I need to stay close to home today anyway. A dry cold front with wind is supposed to come through this afternoon. Fire season isn’t over just because we had a little bit of rain.