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Meat Grinder
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Posted by gardenlad (My Page) on Mon, Jan 15, 07 at 12:08
| A thread over at the Harvest Forum got me to wondering about meat grinders.
I consider a meat grinder an essential kitchen utensil; one I'd be lost without. But how common are they?
Do y'all use meat grinders? If not, how come? If you do, do you prefer a manual or electric model?
We always had a manual meat grinder in the house, when I grew up. And for years afterwards that's all I used. Then, when I got heavily into sausage making, one year, I decided I needed a power unit. A wise decision, and I'd have trouble going back to a hand-cranked one.
What about everyone else? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Meat Grinder
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| I use the attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. Works fine for ground beef and bulk country sausage. I don't have any desire to stuff casings and make link sausage, but I love my homemade sausage patties for breakfast. Very lean too! Teresa |
RE: Meat Grinder
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| Gee, I think there's an electric meat grinder hiding somewhere in my basement. Might have used it once (it was a Christmas present from DH) about 30 years ago. No, as many kitchen gismos as I have and enjoy, that's not something I use. Not fond of watching the process or cleaning the equipment afterwards. |
RE: Meat Grinder
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| My mom used to use one to make ham salad. Haven't seen one used since then. Even my friends who hunt get the processor to do their sausage. |
RE: Meat Grinder
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| Teresa, how big is the mouth of the feed chute on the KA attachment? We used to have an Oster Kitchen Center, and I found its meat grinder the next best thing to useless, because I had to cut everything up so small to begin with. Took two days longer than forever to grind anything. |
RE: Meat Grinder
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| FWIW: I once heard a serious sausage maker (wurstmeister?) say he preferred a heavy manual grinder because it could be put in the fridge and chilled prior to grinding; it then didn't raise the temp of the meat as much when grinding. Check out the link for more meat grinders than any sane person could want. |
Here is a link that might be useful: lehmans meat grinders
RE: Meat Grinder
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| There's some truth to that, Arley. One of the reasons I object to using a food processor to grind meats is that it heats up so fast. This is an especial problem if you're making things like seafood sausages, becuase the food processor can actually start cooking the ingredients. The only time a manual machine isn't the best choice is when you're grinding a lot of food at one time. Turning that crank can get old, real fast. |
RE: Meat Grinder
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| Gardenlad, the opening of the feed chute is approximately 1 1/2" to 1 3/4". Although I cut my pork for sausage a small dice, I do that so the seasonings will get distributed well through the sausage. When I grind beef, I cut it up in larger cubes or strips. The directions that came with the grinder say to cut meat into long narrow strips. (Imagine that, me actually reading the directions manual - LOL.) |
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