I think i depends on how much you will be grinding. I made 30lbs of sausage yesterday with my chefs choice grinder that attaches to the kitchen aid. I like that it is quiet and the speed is adjustable with the mixers controls. I usually just use it for burgers a few times in the summer season. I used a hand grinder for years but such a slow go, though fine for a random 2lbs for a burger here and there.
My other grinder is used once a month for dog food. It handles soft bones and a workhorse. BUT, extremely loud. Today is our dog grind day and not looking forward but we plug ahead and get it done pretty quickly. It is this one...
http://www.onestopjerkyshop.com/tasin-ts-108-electric-meat-grinder-1/
Inexpensive and seems like it may break any minute. Not that well made but does the job. 4 years now and still handles 30-40 lbs a month, once a month grinding session.
Takes about an hour with clean-up. I stupidly tried to put chicken feet through and nearly burned the motor. Stopped it in time. Any long fibers will twist and clog any grinder so i have learned that lesson. I do recommend it on my dog forum with trepidations. Fine when on a budget and does have a decent warranty.
If you have a kitchen aid, i highly recommend the chefs choice model rather than the kitchen aid plastic one. I made five varieties of sausage including a Louisiana boudin with ease...
(sort-of) haha. The grinder was an A+ star, my patience was tested as i tried too many things in one afternoon. Fortunately i ran out of casings that was a tangled mess, grrr.
Now i have remaining grind mix that will become meat balls today. (toasting bread for crumbs now)

Here is a link that might be useful: chefs choice grinder

RysRys,
Glad you posted this. My mixer is not a Kitchen Aide, but it serves me very well. I have considered buying a separate grinder since the food processor results are slow and only barely acceptable. I will follow responses here with interest.

The same attachment, you can get a sausage stuffer attachment.

dcarch

As sleevendog said, it really depends on how much will you use it. If you only do a couple of pounds once in a blue moon, don't bother investing in a grinder. I'm food processor challenged, so I don't even touch the silly thing. My karma (apparently) turns everything to mush.

Take a look at (for example) lemproducts.com to get an idea and relative costs of what a separate grinder (they have both electric and manual) will cost and what its capabilities are. Then shop the price AND the capabilities for the price based on your requirements.

Start there and feel free to ask more questions. We did a lot of research before we bought ours.

FWIW the book 'Charcuterie' (Ruhlman & Polcyn) likes the meat grinder/sausage attachment of the KitchenAid mixers, but that Chef's Choice model sleevendog linked to looks really nice.

Food processors can easily turn meat into paste; not what you usually are after.

One slight advantage of manual grinders: you can chill them in the freezer so they don't heat up the meat much when grinding. If the meat gets heated up, the fat may melt and 'smear', and that can screw up the mix.

If you want to get into this big time, check out the Sausage Maker. I've ordered a few things from them; very good folks to deal with.

Here is a link that might be useful: sausage maker web site

I've used the food processorbut as mentioned, the results are not always optimal. The meat can turn to paste or it can be too coarse, I've experienced both. When I'm doing just a little, it works pretty well as I can take my time and be somewhat picky. It's time consuming for large amounts.

I use the grinder attachment for the KitchenAid and we've done several batches of ground chicken for breakfast sausage (I season as we use it, so I have ground chicken for other applications), a beef and pork Italian sausage that got stuffed into casings, ground beef for family parties, etc.

I've done quite large batches with the KitchenAid, but I have a separate sausage stuffer, which means things can go a bit faster with both devices working and no switching from one to the other.

Annie

Check out this grinder. Look at the ones under the "2 new from $219" link.

If you have Amazon Prime, that is a really great price.

I am really tempted, but it is a heavy dude--32 lbs!

Here is a link that might be useful: LEM grinder

Annie, that looks amazing! Mine came out great but not worthy of a photograph. A bit rustic. I did get lucky with good casings. No splits.

Hi, I've got a meat grinder. I have tried grinding pork for sausage but I'm getting this black goo in my ground pork. Our best guess is that it's some sort of industrial oil.

Unfortunately it was bought some time ago and we've lost the box and receipt and all.

On the side it says "Universal" and then above that there is the number "3."

Has anyone ever heard anything like this? Is the grinder defective? Does it need to be cleaned? We've soaked it in hot water with dishwashing liquid for several days; that didn't help.

This is a manual grinder.

If it has never been used it has a factory oil coating. Needs a good cleaning with a degreaser. Most good dish soap should work. Hot, hot, water. My manual i run through the dishwasher but it is stainless. The grinding plate is not and needs oiling for storage.

I always run something cheap through mine before every use...collard stems or a big carrot. The end of celery or an onion root end, a potato. I've even run leftover rice through. (Also a good way to start the cleaning process after grinding.)

The time it sat may have reacted with the pot metal if it is not stainless. (?)

If you have a KitchenAid the Chef'sChoice grinder works really well. We just use that one for burgers and small projects.

If you are just grinding once a year it may take some time needing to cut up your meat so small but it does work really well. And no creepy oil residue.

We just upgraded to good elec, a #22. It was expensive but it handles larger cuts and we use it about once a month. (we make our own dog food)

For about 5 yrs we had a cheap one and it did ok and surprised it lasted so long but that puppy was loud and took a long time having a smaller feed tube. We had to cut up everything to smaller bits. I also hated that it was China made and finally died. The stem stripped out and would no longer hold in the gear box.

Our manual is also a #22 and works really well but it is a bit of a work out. I do like that it can go in the dishwasher. It was an emergency purchase when our other one pissed out but will have a good home at our vacation home where we have many manual appliances. (power outages are common).

I've ordered supplies from a few sites but not often enough to recommend. I can get casings for sausage in my neighborhood grocery meat butchers. My grinders from Amazon.

Another great site for homesteady/farmy equipment is Lehman's, which has a lot of non-electric items for the Amish communities. I've ordered several items from them; good stuff, great service.

I always ask for extra catalogs. I have an office in a semirural area, and whenever I put one of the Lehman's catalogs in my waiting room, it rarely lasts a few days before someone takes it home.