Anyone make their own lunch meat?

[Carini]

I really like lunch meat (like the Whole Foods, $13/lb good stuff) for quick and easy lunches and snacks, and so does my DH and DD. But I don't like the price, or the fact that I have to go to Whole Foods each week to get it, or TJ's to get the Applegate Farm brand.

Does anyone make their own lunch meat at home with ham, turkey/chicken breast, roast beef? Does it freeze and thaw well? How do you slice thin? Any tips are appreciated!

[3boysforme]

I would love to know this too.

[charla]

[BlessedBlue]

[Carini]

[RiverRock]

You could buy a home slicer, if you had the meat. I'm not sure what the advantage would be to a smoked ham, and chicken or turkey wouldn't slice well unless you had the chef skills to debone poultry, and I'm not sure it is worth buying a fancy slicer for pot roast (which is the only meat that comes to mind being easy to cook and slice). I think an electric knife would suffice. I have seen recipes for homemade sausage for luncheon meat, but I have never been tempted to make my own.

Last week I roasted two chickens, and for lunches we had 3 days of wraps made with pieces of chicken, lettuce, cheese an a thin layer of ceasar salad dressing on the tortilla.

[SweetCaroline]

well..im pretty sure deli meat is a processed product. even if it *does come from WF's..like..you ever get a pound of sliced chicken breast? the thing they slice it off of is huge..its not really *just a chicken breast. its a conglomeration of chicken that has been ground and pressed together with water and salt and stuff..
i dont know how in the world you would do that at home

i usually just buy a nice free range turkey- roast it- and divee it up into gallon bags and freeze it for sandwiches

[RiverRock]

A chicken or turkey loaf could be made by deboning poultry. Once the bones are removed the meat can be tied with butcher's twine and roasted as a loaf of meat, and then sliced. You can add any seasonings or herbs you like. It might not be as hard as I initially thought. There are many tutorials such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unIH5...eature=related

[Carini]

Originally Posted by SweetCaroline

well..im pretty sure deli meat is a processed product. even if it *does come from WF's..like..you ever get a pound of sliced chicken breast? the thing they slice it off of is huge..its not really *just a chicken breast. its a conglomeration of chicken that has been ground and pressed together with water and salt and stuff..
i dont know how in the world you would do that at home

i usually just buy a nice free range turkey- roast it- and divee it up into gallon bags and freeze it for sandwiches

The Applegate stuff is definitely processed but the WH meat I buy is literally from a piece of roast beef, or a roasted whole turkey. No loafs. That's why it's so expensive I imagine. But they have the industrial meat slicer which makes the super thin slices that I like.

So you find that the turkey freezes and thaws nicely? Do you notice any change in texture?

[rjy9343]

Since moving to Germany, I have noticed that a lot of places have a roast beef, turkey breast or pork roast and slice on a deli slicer. You can either buy the meat at a counter like you do at home or you can cook the meat and slice it with a slicer at home. I have started looking at slicers and I think I saw one online at Walmart for $80.
I made chicken nuggets by grinding chicken in the food processor and adding a couple of eggs to bind it together. I noticed that it looked like lunch meat. I think you do that and cook it into a loaf and slice it on a meat slicer also.

[HadassahSukkot]

Yes and no.

I make my own southern sausage (Beef/lamb instead of pork - it's shaped like hamburgers), and corned beef. I got a recipe somewhere I saved for pepperoni. I've debated getting a deli slicer, but it's one more thing I have to find a place for in a place that has no storage!

I've been thinking about getting casings to make hotdogs and other sausages on my own in the basement or hanging outside in the winter months.

I have a meat grinder, so I've used it to grind my own chicken and turkey for chicken hamburgers. I've not thought to roll it to make chicken nuggets, so thanks rjy9343 for that idea!!!

The Pepperoni recipe I was given is this:

10 pounds lean 80% hamburger beef or turkey
5 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 Tablespoons sweet paprika
1 Tablespoons crushed anise seed
1 teaspoon garlic, very finely minced
1 cup dry red wine
Salt and pepper to taste

You can always mess with the seasoning to taste or to what it available. You can always do this in smaller batches. Take about one good handful size and roll the mixture on wax paper into sausage shape. Bake in oven over the 8-12 hour period at 175 or as low as your oven will go. Roll sausage every hour or so to keep it round and keep it even through out its drying out/cooking time.

The homemade sausage recipe I have varies each time I make it... but it's based on the one my grandfather wrote down as a note at his house and my grandma copied when I wrote to her asking for the recipe.

Pork Butts grind up the meat
Put the seasoning in it.....Mix with your hands. After you mixed it in well, fry up a small patty. After it is cooked, then taste the meat. Decide if you need to add more seasoning to the rest of the meat. If you add more, then do another test patty until you have the seasoning at the right taste.

salt
red pepper
sage
sugar (a little)
black pepper

You can make it with beef, chicken or turkey.

The Corned beef recipe I use is similar to this one, except you cure the meat in the fridge for an entire month.

I had a pastrami recipe, but it required smoking it, and I am not sure i can do that properly with our grill. It does have a smoking option, but DH is really not good with the grill yet.

I have not made the Italian sausage recipe I had on hand, but I know it can be made with lamb or beef. I hadn't figured out if I wanted to/could manage to do the casings myself without breaking them constantly or getting weirded out because I am using real casings iykwim. And for some weird reason I never thought to just make them as patties, press out with my hamburger press and freeze. crazy me!

[The Tickle Momster]