Electric Meat Grinder Recommendations

[woodburner]

I'm seriously considering a home type, but near commercial grade meat grinder. I've just about heard and seen enough, regarding irridation, and e-coli, meat recalls, and the list goes on and on. I could grind beef to my own specifications, and possibly use it for sausage, (ground pork) making also.

A couple hundred bucks sounds reasonable to me.

Any thoughts.

woodburner

[gus_tatory]

it doesn't have to anywhere _near_ that expensive. i have a "Porkert" (i'm not joking) model from Czechoslovakia with a sausage attachment. you buy the casings, soak them, and it's perfect.

but as you say, clean, clean, clean. every time i use it, i boil the whole apparatus for 30 mins, and clean it with mineral oil and q-tips. but it only set me back about 40 bucks, and it makes great "paysanne' sausages. (rustic, i mean.)

[GSBravo]

I've got a #10 meat grinder, paid about twenty bucks for it. I bought it earlier this year, way before the angry cow in Washington incident.

It's nowhere near as big as some of the commercial quality grinders you can buy for home use. It is sufficient for my uses, which is generally feeding four people (7 when my son’s friends come down for the weekend.

I use it to make fresh ground beef for hamburgers, beef-a-roni, meatloaf, ground beef for tacos and nachos, Salisbury steak...whatever I need ground beef for. Sausage is on the list of things to do, but so far I've only used it for ground beef. I bought one because I like hamburgers, and I figured fresh ground beef would help bring up the quality. And there is a difference.

I've noticed that fresh ground beef patties, versus store packaged ground beef, don't shrink as much. As for the taste I can only tell you that it is better, but I can't give you any more specifics.

Depending on the quantity you are looking for, I don't see that you'd need to go beyond a #10 grinder for home use. I use mine once or twice a month, and think it would be sufficient if I wanted to use it on a weekly basis.

Also, let's talk cleaning. Despite their appearance, they are very easy to clean. Once you are done running your meat thru the grinder, grab 4-5 slices of old bread and run them through it. That'll help get the grease and meat trappings out, which when followed by a quick wash in warm water will have you good to go. And storing the smaller parts in a Ziploc bag with rice keeps rust away (this I learned from Alton Brown.)

[Random Alias]

I have the attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer.

We got it just so we could have medium rare burgers without worry, the whole Mad Cow thing is just a bonus --if you can call it that.

Made a nice carrot cake with it one as well.

[woodburner]

Probably should have mentioned that I already own a, pokert manual grinder. I have done some previous grinding with it and find it does an adequate job for small amounts at one time. One tip I could pass along regarding it's use is to put the entire grinder in the ice box just prior to grinding any meat. It helps prevent "smear", which is caused by the meat not being cold enough. I'm looking for something motorized, maybe 3/4 hp, including various grinding discs, with steel internal parts.

woodburner

[marie-louise]

Another KitchenAid atttachment fan. I've had it for eight years; it is rare that I buy ground meat anymore. I bought it because I wanted to control the quality and the fat content of the meats I was eating. It comes w/ a fine and coarse attachment. The coarse one makes nice chili.

[woodburner]

Another KitchenAid atttachment fan. I've had it for eight years; it is rare that I buy ground meat anymore. I bought it because I wanted to control the quality and the fat content of the meats I was eating. It comes w/ a fine and coarse attachment. The coarse one makes nice chili.

I've put some thought into the kitchen aid package, and the jury is still out. Meatloaf mix, is getting harder to find around my neck of the woods. I like to use ground pork, veal, and beef. Finding a fresh ground packaged mix is difficult enough, let alone finding all three seperately in the same market on any given day.

woodburner

[bleachboy]

I own and use a Rival "Model 303" that looks like it was probably manufactured in about 1955. My parents used it for about 50 years to grind chicken (only) to make chicken salad. I use it to grind beef (only) to make burgers. It's a great grinder, just a small countertop model suitable only for small grinding tasks.

GSBravo's cleaning suggestion was also the suggestion handed down to me by my parents, who said "run some stale bread through it, then coat all the metal parts with vegetable oil to prevent rust."

[elyse]

I have three very old grinders my grandparents used to use in their restaurants. I can't wait to move!

[hwilson41]

For those who like to make their own hamburger, if you own one, try using the Cuisinart with the sharpest metal blade. Cut the beef into 1" to 2" chunks and chop only as much as will fit loosely in the bottom of the bowl, then remove that and repeat until all the meat is chopped. As long as you don't over-process the meat, it comes out more like chopped sirloin - little bits of chopped steak - as opposed to "crushed" steak. Very nice texture, and it makes great chopped sirloin, as well as cheeseburgers, or so we think in our house.

Also have the KitchenAid grinder and suasage stuffer. Indispensible for making various kinds of sausage, but the Cuisinart makes better "hamburger". JMHO.

THW

[woodburner]

I have three very old grinders my grandparents used to use in their restaurants. I can't wait to move!

Buying a used commercial grinder is my favorite option at this point. A coworker picked up a nice stainless globe meat slicer, from a butcher shop sale this past year for under $300 dollars. I'll bet it was less than 3 years old. It's so heavy, one person can not possibly pick it up by themselves.

woodburner

[ExtraMSG]

hwilson, I think your opinion is inline with Alton Brown's episode on ground meat.

I like my KA attachment, but I can see that someone who is really into grinding meat being disappointed with it. I often send my sausages through twice. It doesn't have a very big capacity, either.

[uberleet]

I've put some thought into the kitchen aid package, and the jury is still out.  Meatloaf mix, is getting harder to find around my neck of the woods. I like to use ground pork, veal, and beef. Finding a fresh ground packaged mix is difficult enough, let alone finding all three seperately in the same market on any given day.

Whoa...I'd never seen meatloaf mix before; I just saw it on New Years Eve (steeply discounted, since they were closed for New Years Day). I guess it is getting hard to find.

I've got the KA attachment, and I like it - but I don't grind that much meat. If I needed to grind 20 pounds of meat I don't think I'd like it as much.

[dano1]

Woodburner, try Allied Kenco Sales-www.alliedkenco.com or

Pleasant Hill Grain-http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/meat_grinders_food.html.

Either of these places should be able to help you out in the grinder dept, grinder plates, supplies, etc..

hth, danny

[Jensen]

I'm seriously considering a home type, but near commercial grade meat grinder. I've just about heard and seen enough, regarding irridation, and e-coli, meat recalls, and the list goes on and on. I could grind beef to my own specifications, and possibly use it for sausage, (ground pork) making also.

A couple hundred bucks sounds reasonable to me.

I have this one:

Meat Grinder at Northern Tool

I love it.

[jsolomon]

Jensen,

That's a serious grinder you have there! How much grinding do you do? My parents have an old hand-crank grinder that works great for any job less than about 10 lbs.

[hjshorter]

We have the KitchenAid attachment and it does a fine job.

What I would really like is a slicer (for sandwiches, etc.), but haven't done any research yet.

[Jensen]

Jensen,

That's a serious grinder you have there! How much grinding do you do? My parents have an old hand-crank grinder that works great for any job less than about 10 lbs.

Not as much as we used to. We actually bought it to grind chicken (with bone) and vegetables for the dogs. It comes apart easily and all the pieces go through the dishwasher; so there's no worries about cleaning them.

I also use it to grind beef (for dogs and humans). Generally speaking, I can find the cheaper cuts of beef for less money than I'd have to pay for hamburger.

[woodburner]

I'm seriously considering a home type, but near commercial grade meat grinder. I've just about heard and seen enough, regarding irridation, and e-coli, meat recalls, and  the list goes on and on. I could grind beef to my own specifications, and possibly use it for sausage, (ground pork) making also.

A couple hundred bucks sounds reasonable to me.

I have this one:

Meat Grinder at Northern Tool

I love it.

Looks like something of interest to me. Does it have a reverse motor switch, or do you find no need for it, considering the 1hp motor?

woodburner

[Jensen]

Looks like something of interest to me. Does it have a reverse motor switch, or do you find no need for it, considering the 1hp motor?

There is no reverse switch; it's just on or off. We've never had need of a reverse (and that's grinding bone-in chicken quarters!). A woman I know also has one and did have hers jam up once but she was grinding bone-in pork chunks (hocks? shanks? something with way too much bone in it).

For just meat, it is a dream.

[Anna N]

Don't want to throw this off-topic but could use some help. I have a tiny grinder that looks very much like this. It was acquired a long time ago at a garage sale or charity shop or something similar. I have managed to "grind" some meat in it and for two of us it had enough capacity BUT it is hard going - am I not sure if I have all the pieces! A bit of research suggests that these manual grinders have one blade that is designated as a "knife". Anyone know what it should look like? (OK so I feel pretty stupid even asking - don't make fun of me

[chefrodrigo]

Jensen

I'm a bit lost here. Why do you grind meat with the bone? Stocks and sauces?

Rodney

[Ruth]

I have the attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer.

Me too. I love that attachment for the Kitchen Aid. It works well and is very very easy to clean. I confess that I do not use it very often as ground meat does not figure on my menu every day or every week but I can grind my meat course or fine - even tuna for tartar for that matter. You can also buy a sausage-making attachment for it.

I used to have a dedicated meat grinder but it was such a pain to use and to clean that I abandoned it long ago.

[Jensen]

Jensen

I'm a bit lost here. Why do you grind meat with the bone? Stocks and sauces?

Dog food

[jsolomon]

Anna, I think the grinder knife you are interested in would look something like this. Clickety clack clack