83 replies to this topic

[slkinsey]

I have been using the KitchenAid meat grinder attachment for a few years now, and am hoping to step up to something a little more powerful and serious. Since I am grinding meat on a more-or-less weekly basis, it seems like a reasonable investment to sink some money into a stand-alone electric powered meat grinder.

The reason I am grinding so much meat these days, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future, is that I grind whole chickens (bones, skin, organs, etc.) for my ferrets. Since they are primary carnivores they are evolved to eat whole prey, which includes the bones, etc. Unfortunately, my KA mixer (I have the most "heavy duty" model) frequently locks up when attempting this task, and I have to stop frequently to clear the grinder of whatever it is that is clogging it up. What I would like is something with the power to keep on grinding through the bones without breaking a sweat.

So... any recommendations? What's the best/most powerful powered meat grinder for home use?

[Andrew Fenton]

Oh, sure: I get excited because my KA grinder arrives, then fifteen minutes later I find out it's not gonna be enough... Good thing I'm not planning on grinding any whole animals. Yet.

[Hest88]

I grind rabbit (bone and all) for my cats and have been using a Moulinex for well over 5 years to grind both rabbit and whole chicken. Another good one is the Maverick Meat Grinder.

Whatever you get, make sure it has a reverse function. It's really helpful for the times you stuff too much down the tube.

[dano1]

It's gonna cost you ;). See Allied Kenco sales and/or Pleasant Hill Grain. Both are online.
hth, danny

[slkinsey]

Anyone have any experience with or information about the Northern Industrial tools grinders like this one or this other one?

[col klink]

I wouldn't go with the $100 one, but I just don't trust plastic meat grinders. If you're going to large amount of sausage on a regular basis (like 50lbs) then a small one won't cut it for very long.

You want something like this dinosaur:


Unfortunately I have no idea what the manufacturer is let alone the model. I just know the history of it. A friend got it for free from a nursing home that no longer needed it. The grinder went through 25 lbs of venison and pork in less than five minutes. It took longer to feed the bastard than to grind the meat. It makes making sausage very easy.

[Jensen]

Anyone have any experience with or information about the Northern Industrial tools grinders like this one or this other one?

I have the first one. It was initially purchased for making dog food so it had to be able to handle bones and all (chicken and turkey though, not rabbit as in Hest88's cat food).

I'm very happy with its performance, both for the dog food and for human food. It is very heavy though so it's not too "portable".

[Neitsdelf]

This place (http://www.butcher-packer.com/), local here in Detroit, has some grinders and lots and LOTS of grinding stuff (like replacement knives and disks). About $500+ for electric.

I love going down there if I'm at the Eastern Market during the week.

[slkinsey]

Anyone have any experience with or information about the Northern Industrial tools grinders like this one or this other one?

I have the first one. It was initially purchased for making dog food so it had to be able to handle bones and all (chicken and turkey though, not rabbit as in Hest88's cat food).

I'm very happy with its performance, both for the dog food and for human food. It is very heavy though so it's not too "portable".

Does it have a reverse function?

[Jensen]

Anyone have any experience with or information about the Northern Industrial tools grinders like this one or this other one?

I have the first one. It was initially purchased for making dog food so it had to be able to handle bones and all (chicken and turkey though, not rabbit as in Hest88's cat food).

I'm very happy with its performance, both for the dog food and for human food. It is very heavy though so it's not too "portable".

Does it have a reverse function?

No but it also has never jammed...not even while feeding chicken quarters (bones and all) through it. I can't imagine that just meat would cause it to jam up.

[Mabelline]

You might try the Cabela's catalogue. I just received the newest big one the other day. They've a cool variety of grinders--the Cabela's version of that second one is $99.99. They've also got something I am very interested in--for $29.99, you can buy a Pulley wheel that screws on to the handle place on a no. 22 or 32 grinder. Then you add your own belt and motor. So if you have an old-fashioned meat grinder you already like, you can convert it. They are good people to deal with, and if you go to there site, see if you can look up the Simpson's Fishing Lures. I kid you not-there's Homer, Bart, Marge, Crusty's Imitation Gruel, and Blinky the 3-eyed fish that grew up in the power plant water.Just cabelas.com

[slkinsey]

Anyone have any experience with or information about the Northern Industrial tools grinders like this one or this other one?

I have the first one. It was initially purchased for making dog food so it had to be able to handle bones and all (chicken and turkey though, not rabbit as in Hest88's cat food).

I'm very happy with its performance, both for the dog food and for human food. It is very heavy though so it's not too "portable".

Does it have a reverse function?

No but it also has never jammed...not even while feeding chicken quarters (bones and all) through it. I can't imagine that just meat would cause it to jam up.

Okay, good to know. As detailed in my first post above, I want a grinder specifically for grinding up poultry, etc. including the bones. What you describe is exactly what I would like to be able to do: quarter a chicken and feed the quarters right through, bones and all.

It's interesting that the lower priced grinder has a reverse function while the stainless model does not.

[Mayhaw Man]

Sam,

Here is some interesting discussion about meat grinding equipment and sizing.

Here is some meat equipment in the Cabela's catalog. My father in law has the first grinder that you see and it has worked well for him in processing all kinds of game. I thought I would throw it in the mix as game processing equipment could be an alternative source in your search, as I am sure that you are pretty much only looking at kitchen supply resources.

[Jensen]

Okay, good to know. As detailed in my first post above, I want a grinder specifically for grinding up poultry, etc. including the bones. What you describe is exactly what I would like to be able to do: quarter a chicken and feed the quarters right through, bones and all.

It's interesting that the lower priced grinder has a reverse function while the stainless model does not.

You know, now that I search my memory, I have a couple of friends who have the same grinder and one of them did jam up theirs. They were feeding whole pigs' feet through it and it jammed.

For the chicken quarters, we'd buy a case or two, hack them into "chunks" with a cleaver, and then feed the chunks through. It didn't matter how long the chunks were but they were generally about the same width as the feed tube.

We've also done one of those cheapo turkeys from Safeway (you know, $6.00 for a 15-lb. bird) in this grinder and it worked just fine. Again, there is some prep involved.

[Hest88]

You know, now that I search my memory, I have a couple of friends who have the same grinder and one of them did jam up theirs. They were feeding whole pigs' feet through it and it jammed.

Makes sense, since pork bone is much denser and harder. I would think Slkinsey would have no problems at all if it's just confined to poultry.

With all this talk I'm tempted to buy a new electric grinder. Mine is about 7 years old and there are better ones out there. It's still going strong, though, so I guess it would be a needless waste of money. I also just found a woman who sells whole ground rabbit to pet owners up and down the West Coast so I'm tempted to try her in order to save myself some work!

[trillium]

Not that I'm trying to talk any of you out of buying a new kitchen toy, but the guys behind the meat counter at my grocery store grind up whole chickens for people's pets. They recently started charging a little more / lb for the service, it was free before.

regards,
trillium

[slkinsey]

Grinder ordered. Will report back on results.

[Mayhaw Man]

Grinder ordered. Will report back on results.

Oh like we're gonna be satisfied with that.

What Kind, How Much, Why

Don't you understand how this all works

[slkinsey]

Getting this bad boy. Fully stainless. Grinds 260 lbs. per hour. Weighs 70 lbs. 1 HP/650 watts. 300 bucks.

Seems plenty powerful for what I need to do, without having to worry that it will choke on poultry and small game bones. The more expensive/powerful ones just seemed like overkill, since I don't have plans to grind up up 400 pounds of elk sausage in my Manhattan apartment any time soon.

[JosephB]

Getting this bad boy. Fully stainless. Grinds 260 lbs. per hour. Weighs 70 lbs. 1 HP/650 watts. 300 bucks.

Seems plenty powerful for what I need to do, without having to worry that it will choke on poultry and small game bones. The more expensive/powerful ones just seemed like overkill, since I don't have plans to grind up up 400 pounds of elk sausage in my Manhattan apartment any time soon.

Perfect. 260 lbs/hr. You can service the entire UWS of Manhattan.

[bergerka]

Perfect. 260 lbs/hr. You can service the entire UWS of Manhattan.

The entire UWS eats ground up whole chickens? The things you learn about your neighbors....

K

[slkinsey]

Oh, hell yea! This grinder kicks ass!

Here it is from the side:



More:



A better look at the business end:



The grinding parts:




Tried it out for the first time last night... it blew through a whole chicken, bones and all, like it was a piece of Wonder Bread. So worth the money. To give an idea of how the experience differs from using the KA grinder attachment:

Before

• 8:00 - Cut up chicken. Take all meat off bones. Chop bones into small pieces. Set up KA with grinder attachment.
• 9:00 - Start grinding bones and move on to the meat. Stop every so often to clear grinder when it jams up. Stop several times to allow the KA to cool down. The bones must be double-ground. Sounds like this: grrrr grrrr grrrr grrrr grlrl grlrl grlrl grlrl... grlrl... rlrl... rl... <gonk> (then I have to clear the stuck grinder and start over).
• 10:30 - Start cooking the chicken and cleaning the grinder.
• 11:00 Get in argument with bergerka about how there are tiny bits of raw chicken strewn all over every surface of the kitchen. Put cooked chicken in metal refrigerator container.
• 11:30 Kitchen is now clean.
• 12:00 Go to sleep alone on couch in living room.

After

• 8:00 - Cut up chicken into large chunks. Whack pieces with heavy knife to break up bones. Set up grinder.
• 8:10 - Fire up grinder and start feeding through large pieces of chicken. Sounds like this: hummmmmmmmmmgerzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoooooooooooooorchhummmmmmmmmm.
• 8:20 - Start cooking chicken. Take apart grinder and wash parts in sink.
• 8:40 - Put cooked chicken in metal refrigerator container. Wash Le Creuset cooking pot.
• 8:50 - Play with ferrets, etc.

[Random Alias]

Oh, hell yea!  This grinder kicks ass!

Here it is from the side:

Looks like quite the grinder. I know what you mean about the Kitchen Aid being messy too. Everytime I use that thing I'm finding little bits of whatever I'm griding in a nice 1 ft. radius of the grinder, but for now it's all I need.

One day I'd like to replace the Kitchen Aid grinder with something a bit nicer. I can't help notice though that that model you have won't grind hands and, unfortunetly, that's a deal breaker for me.

[Jensen]

Oh, hell yea! This grinder kicks ass!

Hey, I thought you were getting the one with the reverse switch???? That one is just like mine. Cool, innit?

[slkinsey]

Oh, hell yea!  This grinder kicks ass!

Hey, I thought you were getting the one with the reverse switch???? That one is just like mine. Cool, innit?

Nope. Decided on raw power. Your description of how it handles chicken bones tipped the balance. Serious piece of machinery. I am already casting about for other things to grind. Ground up some chuck steak with some pancetta and made killer hamburgers the other night.

[Jensen]

Nope. Decided on raw power. Your description of how it handles chicken bones tipped the balance. Serious piece of machinery. I am already casting about for other things to grind. Ground up some chuck steak with some pancetta and made killer hamburgers the other night.

Right on! Now you'll be on the Northern Tools mailing list too and you get the catalogue in the mail. Ahhhhh. Tool catalogues ... they almost make me wish I was a guy ...

[slkinsey]

Nope.  Decided on raw power.  Your description of how it handles chicken bones tipped the balance.  Serious piece of machinery.  I am already casting about for other things to grind.   Ground up some chuck steak with some pancetta and made killer hamburgers the other night.

Right on! Now you'll be on the Northern Tools mailing list too and you get the catalogue in the mail. Ahhhhh. Tool catalogues ... they almost make me wish I was a guy ...

Actually, I doubt I'll ever be buying from them again. When I submitted my order I had them ship to my day-job work address, because I don't have anyone at home in the afternoon to sign for packages. So... when I finally get an email confirmation from them, the address is wrong. It had the correct street address, but did not include the name of the business. As I work in a large office tower with dozens of businesses and thousands of employees, this is a problem. So, I emailed them saying that I didn't understand why they had omitted that part of the address and asking that they correcthe delivery address immediately. I even attached a saved html file of the web page confirmation I got upon completing my order, which displayed the correct full delivery address. Some 4 days later, they sent me a reply email saying "we shipped it to the address you submitted" -- arguing with me about the address rather than just making the change. I had to get the tracking number off their web site and call UPS myself to have the address modified after the first delivery attempt failed. Then, the meat receiving tray was seriously dented (who cares, of course, but I paid for it) and the sausage stuffer attachments were cracked. I plan to have both replaced, but I dread dealing with their crappy customer service people again.

[picaman]

Unfortunately I have no idea what the manufacturer is let alone the model.

From the handle, I'd say it's a Hobart. Do you care?



Jamie

P.S. I could be wrong.

[tryska]

so here's a question on grinders.....how difficult is it to wash these bad boys after the deed?


(the reason i ask - i have a double stainless VERY shallow sink.)

[Hest88]

I don't find it hard at all. Thick dishwashing gloves, hot water at full heat, and lots of detergent shaken through the tubes. I figure that the water is at a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria and the detergent cleans the rest. There isn't usually a problem with sticking, except with the grinder holes, and a sharp smack on the side of the sink usually releases the rest of the stuck-on meat.