I want to be able to mince a small amount of meat for steak tartar to eat right away. I want the mince to be fresh each time, so mincing more in advance and storing is not an option, no matter what you do, the meat will never be as fresh as stored in a large piece and minced just before eating.
I bought a meat mincing machine, and I tried mincing 500 grams of meat (about one pound for you non-metric USAnians). The amount of meat stuck in the machine after finishing was substantial, and the amount of cleaning afterwards makes the whole exercise pointless. 15 seconds of mincing, and then 15 minutes of getting meat remains out of the machine, chopping it and cleaning the machine.
So I chop it by hand with a knife, but that is also quite time-taking although faster then using the machine and cleaning it later. The machine is something like this:
Does anyone know a meat mincing machine which would be suitable for mincing 500 grams of meat at a time, or a technique to do it efficiently, faster then chopping it by hand with a knife? The meats in question are tender, lean meats like beef tenderloin or roe deer haunch.
Best Answer
There are a few workarounds to mince your meat, but the results may be not what you are looking for:
This is based on the fact that meat grinders are based on a totally different principle - they push the meat towards the holes and cut off tiny pieces from the larger chunks while the rotating knives puree the food.
If you are ok with that, they can be an alternative to dragging out the large meat grinder (and cleaning it afterwards). Note that both substitutes require prepping the meat carefully - remove all sinews and similar. Also, chill your meat well. Cold meat will keep its consistency better than slightly warmer meat.
I personally would use a large chopping board and a sharp large knife and chop up the few servings before bothering with tools. But YMMV - it depends on how comfortable and skilled you are with your knife.