You might have seen, or heard about, a front-page New York Times story about ground beef, one that definitely raises a few health and safety questions about your standard burger. One solution, then, is to grind your own beef.

NY Times food writer Mark Bittman has suggested that if you don't have your own grinder, either stand-alone or attached to a KitchenAid-type mixer, a standard food processor can do a fine job of meat grinding, if you watch what's happening:

Next, don't overprocess. You want the equivalent of chopped meat, not a meat purée. The finer you grind the meat, the more likely you are to pack it together too tightly, which will make the burger tough.

If you want to delve a bit deeper into the specifics of ground beef issues, a Grocery Guy blog post will indulge your curiosity—just don't read it right before lunch. That said, he brings up a nice halfway compromise to making a mess of your kitchen counter: Get to know your butcher, and have him or her grind your meat to order. That post also contains a few more nitty-gritty tips on cuts, seasoning, and patty preparation.