In the Nov-Dec 2017 issue of Ontario OUT of DOORS Food Editor Andrew Rochon puts four top-selling meat grinders to the test. Tell us if you have a favourite meat grinder you use, feel free to share any helpful tips, or thoughts on Andrew's reviews.
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In the Nov-Dec 2017 issue of Ontario OUT of DOORS Food Editor Andrew Rochon puts four top-selling meat grinders to the test. Tell us if you have a favourite meat grinder you use, feel free to share any helpful tips, or thoughts on Andrew's reviews.
I picked one up from princess auto a few years back on sale for like $50.... does a okay job grinding up 10-20 lbs of meat....
Meat grinders work best when the meat is slightly frozen.
I have the Kitchen Aid attachment and have been using that for many years (30 years). It works good for the 1 deer a year I usually harvest and the occasional Bear. However you do need to sharpen the cutters once in a while and I find if you use the coarse or "large hole" die to first grind the meat and then use the "small holed" die to regrind it goes through the meat a lot faster with minimal bogging down of the motor. I do like the idea of the more powerful units though with two additional tags in the family, I just might do that.
Grinders fall into that category you get what you pay for...if you aren't paying a lot for one your getting one that has nylon gears that will strip if you over load it. Andrew's review cover some of the more expensive models so they work great.
Not to say the cheaper ones you buy aren't any good, I had a $50 one from eBay that lasted yrs. I was pushing some meat that was a bit to frozen thru it and it was working too hard and stripped the gears. The average guy doing up one or two deer a year (maybe 100 lbs of ground meat) and taking it easy would have no problems with the lower priced lines.
Similar to Droptine, I've got the Kitchen Aid attachment and have been using it almost 20 years. Annually it will process 30-50# of ground venison (I harvest several deer annually) and has been doing so without a hitch (or sharpening) in all that time. However, my kids and I spend ALOT of time deboning & butchering the venison with *zero* silverskin remaining. Meat which comes out of the fine die is 100% red with no white chunks in it. I believe that silverskin is a big contributor to blade & die wear.
Second the opinion on slightly frozen leading to better results. Once I see ice crystals forming on the top layer of meat (in the Pyrex glass casserole pan covered by saran wrap), it's ready to grind!
Unless you process over 100# annually, you will never regret getting a high quality Kitchen Aid mixer and buying the grinder attachment.
I have always been the guy with the old Porkert manual grinder, this year I got sick of that idea so I drilled it to accept a standard hex bit. It's was a fair amount of work for my drill but it worked better than any electric grinder I have tried.
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This year I purchased a STX Turboforce 11 4000 with the Foot Pedal. Ground about 60Lbs Moose Meat with some of the silver skin on and no issues. was impressed with the performance.
I second the kitchen aid attachment for about 15 years now,usualy only do one deer a year,but one year had a bunch of geese and 4 deer over the season,had a couple hundred pounds over a 2 month period and it worked flawlessly,only had to clean the silver skin off the cutter every 10lbs or so of deer meat.
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For meat grinder is important to sharpen the blade and the plate ...
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Originally Posted by Emily-OODMag
I had the same one, it worked but it was cheap. I did a whole whack of Goose Sausages and then took it back and got my money back.
I found the meat to properly grind had to be very cold and stiff
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Originally Posted by fratri
I use a LEM #12, 3/4hp, its not cheap, I believe about $800 now, but its the best one I've had.....