Making own ground beef from butchers "trim"

I wanted to grind my own beef for a few reasons and instead of buying pre-cut pieces (steaks) at the store, most of which are pretty lean lacking the fat content needed for some ground products, I asked for what butchers call "trim". This stuff is the exact stuff that my stores use to make ground beef, it comes from the same lot, etc. Well what I found in the trim made be feel sick thinking if I had eaten this and I think I understood why the meat can vary in taste and texture so much.

Inside the trim was something that looked like tanned leather, it was brown (very strong contrast to the strong red meat color), had a very odd texture, it was smooth and about 1/4" thick and EXTREMELY tough, like leather. I thought it was skin at first, it looks like brown pig skin kin kind or maybe cow skin w/o hair. It was very difficult to cut with an extremely sharp knife, so I can only assume it would be tough to eat.

IDK what this piece of meat is, maybe it is the inside cavity of the lungs, abdominal cavity or something. Maybe the diaphragm? It didn't seem to have any "muscle" unless it was one long thin muscle. The piece was folded over and about 12" long by 24".

What is scary is I was told that everything I got would have been made into ground beef, they said they use everything they get, unless they get too much then they might waste some, or some fat if it is already too fatty.

So if anyone knows what this might be, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. I'm not to happy thinking that I might have been eating that in past burgers. My first thoughts were that it was a piece of blood soaked cardboard box, that's the exact color and texture of the meat. Any thoughts on what it might be/

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All depends what are you planning to do with the ground beef. You need the fat blend to make juicy hamburgers but if you can't ID a piece of the "trim", better don't use it.

For lasagna, a mix of 75% beef and 25% pork makes the difference.

Without a picture it's hard to say, sides and primals don't have things like 'the inside cavity of the lungs', the offal is removed at the time of processing.

I think I can get some pictures of it, the rest of the meat may have turned the same color by now after being in the trash. I definately didn't use it. It also had the look and texture of wet suede.

As for the fat comment, yes, that was exactly why I got what I did, I specifically said that in the first paragraph - the pre-cut steaks are too lean...

a reply to: DigginFoTroof


Ummm...good idea...I bought the meat grinder for the kitchen aide...though I havn’t Tried it yet...I’d been using one of the table clamp manual grinders...thought I’d modernize...

I also bought the sausage stuffer and made me some hot Italian sausage...god...was that tasty...it’s time to make some more...

I buy beef and pork roasts when they’re on sale...time to thaw a few and make some chili grind...some burger...and some sausages...


Thanks for the reminder man...

(Oops...hope I’m not going to be arrested because I may have used the wrong gender classification)







YouSir

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Sounds it was a piece of cardboard. From what I've seen in some meat departments, the cutters will use an old box to throw the trim into. That isn't an acceptable practice but it happens and their tends to be pieces of boxes in the bigger ones. If that is the case, good thing you didn't use it, odds are it was a chicken box.

originally posted by: YouSir
a reply to: DigginFoTroof


Ummm...good idea...I bought the meat grinder for the kitchen aide...though I havn’t Tried it yet...I’d been using one of the table clamp manual grinders...thought I’d modernize...

I also bought the sausage stuffer and made me some hot Italian sausage...god...was that tasty...it’s time to make some more...

I buy beef and pork roasts when they’re on sale...time to thaw a few and make some chili grind...some burger...and some sausages...


Thanks for the reminder man...

(Oops...hope I’m not going to be arrested because I may have used the wrong gender classification)

YouSir

You're safe, lol . We have the Kitchen Aide attachment as well, I haven't used it by others have. It seems that once gound meat has a better texture than stuff that is ground 2-3x. IDK what the stuff in the store is, IIRC a lot of it is 2x and the cheap stuff might be 3x (maybe with some byproduct in it - pink slime??).

I think I'm going to find a farmer's market butcher and get some nice cuts there an make my own from that, not from trim, unless I pick where it came from. I suspect trim from things like ribeyes and roasts (prime rib) might be a good choice of trim to use for ground meat. IDK how much there is from that area, but I suspect it would have a nice meat/fat ratio and be a fairly nice quality of meat.

originally posted by: Purpapengus
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Sounds it was a piece of cardboard. From what I've seen in some meat departments, the cutters will use an old box to throw the trim into. That isn't an acceptable practice but it happens and their tends to be pieces of boxes in the bigger ones. If that is the case, good thing you didn't use it, odds are it was a chicken box.

Yeah I thought it was cardboard too for a little, I checked again after you said this and it certainly isn't. It has the texture of a dog's tongue, kind of rough with little hairs or something. I cut a good bit of it up b/c under part of it was about 1/4-1/3" of fat and I rendered the meat. I have some I can take a picture of, now if I can only figure out how to post them on here. The only site I've had a problem with that to date..

Just a side note to those contemplating making their own ground beef...

The Kitchen Aid meat grinding attachment is really only good for small grinding jobs and is not up to the task of making any quantities of ground meats. They will burn out the motor brushes and windings in short order on any heavy grinding. These devices are not made for continuous duty meat grinding, and are mainly just small task oriented.

In order to process ground meats at home you need a commercial grade dedicated meat grinder with minimally a 1 HP motor.

Anything less will just result in wasted money. Trust me, I know.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The material you are referring to is carcass fat. When the hide is separated from the from the carcass the outermost layer of fat left on the carcass is a transitional layer which isn't really hide and it is not really fat, but rather a kind of combination of both. It is usually cut away during the final trimming process for a certain cut of meat, hence the name "trim".

Above this layer you have hide (or skin), and below it you have fat, but as you skin the animal this is the point where the hide separates from the carcass with the skinning knife or at the peeling point.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

Just a side note to those contemplating making their own ground beef...

The Kitchen Aid meat grinding attachment is really only good for small grinding jobs and is not up to the task of making any quantities of ground meats. They will burn out the motor brushes and windings in short order on any heavy grinding. These devices are not made for continuous duty meat grinding, and are mainly just small task oriented.

I'll second that as well. If I'm making a small batch of burgers or sausage I'll break out the Kitchen Aid. Otherwise I use a commercial grinder, I'm the Steve Buscemi of ground meat.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The material you are referring to is carcass fat. When the hide is separated from the from the carcass the outermost layer of fat left on the carcass is a transitional layer which isn't really hide and it is not really fat, but rather a kind of combination of both. It is usually cut away during the final trimming process for a certain cut of meat, hence the name "trim".

Above this layer you have hide (or skin), and below it you have fat, but as you skin the animal this is the point where the hide separates from the carcass with the skinning knife or at the peeling point.

That makes sense about where the weird meat is located. I'm guessing that this part isn't usually used for ground meat, I'd hope not.

As far as "trim", I'm sure there is some that includes this, but the stuff that my butcher gets is "trim" from other cuts of meat, like if you have a ribeye and you trim fat or meat from around the sides, that is what this trim is supposed to be. It's the meat cut off of prime cuts that have been cleaned up to be ready to cook. I don't think that outer part is supposed to be included in that stuff. I'm going to ask them next time I go in b/c it doesn't look palatable IMO. Have you ever eaten that part?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

This is a good idea, and you could possibly end up with higher quality ground beef.

Id recommend isolating the pure fat trims (or almost pure fat), salt them, and leave them in the fridge for a day or two to form a pellicle before grinding.