I used to have, esp. in retirement villages, elderly come and ask me to grind a cube steak for them. 1 cube steak. I at first would try to convince them that once I put it in the grinder it would not come out; what was left from the last grind would come out and arguements would ensue. It didn't take me long to realize "give the customer what they want", show them several packages and have them pick out the perfect cube steak for their dinner; take it from the package, carrying it tenderly back to the meat room, lay it on the table, go into the cooler (always where the grinder was kept), snag a handful of extra lean tough old bull beef, grind it twice, weigh out the equivalent amount of the cube steak, wrap and price it cube steak price and take out to the customer and hand it to them, telling them "no charge for grinding! Have a great day and stop back and let me know how your burger was!". Then i'd go back and retray the cube steak, wrap and price it and put it back out in the case. They'd come back and rave about the flavor! If I had actually ground the cube steak, it would have tasted bland and mushy, lol! The old, tough bull beef tasted so much better for burger!
Craig, I was typing that while you answered it, lol...
Unless you actually saw him grind those, chances are he did the same thing. On a professional stand up grinder, there's a pound to pound and a half of meat left in the head. He gives you as good if not better fresh grind from lean trim and saves having to cut more chuck to replace the two you took out of the case, then when you leave he just puts them back out. Easier and faster to do that instead of yanking out another 2 or 3 pc box chuck and process it for a few chuck roasts.
