This instructable comes about from the prodding of caitlinsdad, so feeling challenged I decided to find out how hard it was to grind my own meat.

Step 1: First, of Course

You need a grinder. Grinders are generally made from cast iron covered in zinc or tin, which means, being sturdy, there are thousands available at thrift stores and church rummage sales for just 3-4 dollars. Personally I own four, but I'd never used any of them. I have two Universal No.2's an Enterprise No.10 and an attachment to my kitchenaid mixer.

I choose to use one of the Universals as the Enterprise has Tin Disease"* and the kitchenaid would just be no fun.

*If anyone knows an easy method to strip Tin plate from cast iron it would be appreciated.

Step 2: Clean

Start by cleaning your grinder, you have no idea who or what was last ground up with this thing.

You can see that they disassemble into just a few parts, now wash with soap and water.

Step 3: Meat Prep

Here I've cubed about 2.5 Lbs of pork cut from some "assorted chops" that we accidentally acquired. I've mixed the meat with some salt, pepper and coriander for seasoning. Now I'll stick the meat into the freezer until it's almost frozen about 45 minutes, the colder the meat the better the grind I've gathered from scouring the internet.
Don't trim the fat, your ground meat will end up dry and mealy without sufficient fat.

Step 4: Reassemble

The grinder and clamp it to something sturdy. Fill the hopper with meat cubes and start grinding. It is very important not to stick your fingers into the hopper, the screw will happily crush your finger before you can stop cranking. I simply over filled the hopper and laid my palm on top gently, don't squish.

Step 5: It Took About 5 Minutes

to grind the 2.5 Lbs of pork, it went much faster than I expected.

Step 6: Finally

I packaged up two one Lb packages for the freezer. The 1/2 Lb I wanted to mix with cilantro and chopped red onion to make a Cubanesque Pork Burger. But alas the cilanto was wilted and the red onion was eaten, so I just made a patty and fried it up.

So how did it taste? Like Pork Chops with coriander salt and pepper but with a burger consistency. Not bad, but it needed the cilantro and onion. Oh and a chipolte mayonnaise would have been excellent.