How to Mince Meat & Grind Meat – Differences Between The Two

These two terms could be confusing right? If any of these is not common where you stay, chances are you will find it a tad bit confusing whenever you actually need any of these for a recipe. Quite frankly i must also add that for me, it could be a little bit challenging finding this in neighborhood stores where i stay. Back in the days, i’d find myself in different stores far from home (after spending so much on transportation) in search of minced meat even if what i actually needed for a recipe was 500g worth….Silly isn’t it? When i discovered i could make it at home, a 360 degree switch was flipped and the rest is history.

Even though they are both made from meat and are technically the same, there’s a slight difference in the end product….more like the final texture. Most minced or ground meat are usually made from inexpensive parts of meat which is ground up and sold for use in dishes and snacks like

meat balls

,

meat pie

,

shawarma

,

burger

e.t.c. The expensive parts of meat are usually sold whole instead of ground up

☺

. Although these days, the terms minced meat or ground meat may be used interchangeably, here are the differences between the two and how it’s made.

To mince meat means to cut up food, especially meat into very small bits typically by hand (with a sharp knife) or with the use of a machine. You’d need a very sharp knife or if you want to make it faster you could use a food processor. All you have to do is chop the meat finely giving it a gritty texture. Depending on how fine you chop it with a knife, the final texture would be different from that of ground meat and when used in recipes such as

burger

or

meatballs

without a binding agent like fat, it’s more likely to crumble like in

this minced meat stew

Grinding meat is quite easier than mincing with a knife. Ground meat is an emulsion of meat and fat. For this, you’ll need a machine such as food processor. All you’d have to do is to cut up the meat into smaller chunks and throw into a food processor then pulse the machine several times to grind into the size you want.

In conclusion, ground meat is more preferable for certain recipes because it holds together so most times, a binder or additional fat is usually not needed. Simply put, it’s a more homogenized product than minced meat.