We recently took delivery of an exciting new addition to our homestead: a 1-horsepower LEM #22 BIG BITE Meat Grinder. This machine is a beast and we put it to the test making homemade Wisconsin style brats.
So why grind our own meat on our homestead? Here are a few reasons:
Cost. Grinding our own meat is less expensive and a superior quality when compared to store bought.
Health. By grinding our own meat, we are in control. If we prefer hormone-free, organic, grass fed beef, we can have just that! We are also in control of the preparation & cleanliness of the process.
Taste. This is the big one. We’ve only made one batch of brats so far, but by far the taste was superior to store bought. We can control the spiciness and adjust the flavor and texture to suit what we prefer.
Fun. I thought grinding our own meat would be a chore, in actuality it was really fun. Alyssa (my future-chef-daughter) and I had a great time customizing the recipe and preparing our brats from scratch. We are looking forward to doing a huge batch of burgers next!
We made a really fun video showing the process for making the World’s Best Brats! Alyssa and I think you will really enjoy it.
Here is the recipe we used:
Ingredients
• 8 lbs pork butt (or shoulder), untrimmed
• 10 ft of hog casings
• 6 PBR Beer
• Large white onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
Spices
• 5 teaspoons non-iodized salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon all spice
Watch the entire process here.
Kerry W. Mann, Jr. moved to a 20-acre homestead in 2015, where he and his family use modern technology, including YouTube and Instructables.com, to learn new skills and teach homestead projects. Connect with Kerry on his Homestead How YouTube page, Instructables, Pinterest, Facebook, and at My Evergreen Homestead. Read all of Kerry’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.
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