My favorite ground beef is a mix of boneless short rib and shoulder. To date I grind it, portion it into balls and freeze it.
I am thinking it might be better to portion the raw beef in grind-able sized chunks, and then partially defrost them for grinding on demand (after all I partially freeze them before grinding anyway).
Of course the downside of this is more time (and cleaning of the grinder) every time I want a portion or two of ground beef… so my question is will the results be noticeably better?
Will it make a difference if you partially freeze and grind it all vs partially thaw chunks and grind to order? Probably not, or not enough to justify cleaning the grinder that many more times.
You also lose a couple ounces of meat to the grinder each time - insignificant if you’re doing five pounds, but meaningful if youre doing just 8 oz or whatever.
Ground some brisket awhile back, seasoned it, and made 4 patties out of it for burgers. They were amazing! Having leftover ground brisket, I shaped it into 4 additional patties, wrapped well and froze. A month or so later, I grilled the formerly frozen burgers, and the difference in taste was shocking - simply like a pale imitation of the first four. Haven’t repeated that, and won’t. I would grind, and not season, and freeze in blocks moving forward.
