Reddit mentions: The best meat grinders

ingredients (precisely)

for double crust :

3 cups flour

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter


-


for filling (imprecisely)

2 - 3lbs ground pork

1 cup meat broth, poultry preferred.

1/2 cup ale

1 cup potatoes diced

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced onion

cooking oil

seasonings and spices

1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs

-


This started with wanting to find something to do with a pork loin that had sat in the freezer for 3 months. It is the first attempt at my own variation of Pork Pie based on the recipe in the Game of Thrones cookbook - A Feast of Ice and Fire.


My first step of preparation as usual, occurred days before. On the Friday evening I took the ~4 lbs of pork loin from the freezer to the fridge adding lime salt, basil salt, and pepper. It probably would have been ready to go for Saturday's dinner, but worked fine for Sunday's.


This recipe would certainly work just as well with already ground pork, or sausage meat. But this pork in-particular was freshly ground by my prize $2 garage-sale-aquired meat-grinder (this style) that had been in my freezer for as long in the pork. A frozen meat-grinder (and even slightly frozen meat) supposedly makes for easier operation.


The loin was cut into long strips, and it retrospect it would've been well-advised to cut away the band of fatty connective tissue on the loin and only let the leanest meat through the grinder. This probably would have prevented the clogged grinder that was incurred. Once you have about a dinner plates worth of pork ground up, season it as you wish. I used salt, pepper, Italian breadcrumbs, Greek herb blend, a sprinkle of curry powder, and quite a lot of cayenne powder.


Set the pork aside. If possible, delegate the job of making the crust to a trusty assistant.


This crust is based on the Medieval Pastry Dough recipe from the Game of Thrones cookbook A Feast of Ice and Fire which calls for saffron, which I didn't have at my disposal.


Thank you to Brett, my sexy assistant, who was nice enough to mix, knead, and form the crust.


The recipe recommends first mixing the butter and flour by hand, then mixing the egg yolks and water, adding water as needed until dough is formed. The dough should then be split and rolled out to fit the shape of your pie cooking vessel, then pre-baked in a 325 degree oven for 10 minutes.


I used a circular glass casserole dish, but any ceramic dish would likely be fine. A cast iron pan might work well-enough, albeit at a lower temperature.


While the crust is pre-baking, cut and rinse your potatoes and carrots and boil them for 10 minutes. Bring a pan to medium-high heat, add a cooking oil (sunflower, grapeseed, peanut), add chopped onions and celery. Coat the onion and celery with additional seasonings, spices, rosemary, parsley, garlic, and/or breadcrumbs. Occasionally deglaze the pan with ale and broth.


Drain your boiled veggies, mix them with the contents of the pan. Add more broth and breadcrumbs to achieve desired consistency. My advice here is to place the veggie mixture back into the pot used to boil the potatoes and carrots, cover and put on a low heat.


Clean, reheat, and oil your pan. Brown the pork, stirring frequently. Deglaze. Add the veggies, mix, and
simmer for a few minutes. Transfer to a large bowl stirring occasionally to cool.


The rest is pretty straight-forward. Add the filling to the crusts, bake at 350 for an hour, carve it up, and enjoy.

looks great!

spices look fine though i'd probably grind up the mustard/caraway since they are annoying to chew through. also a little more meat/little less fat. I like 80/20 for smoked sausage. note that the cure in the recipe isnt "needed" but it does keep the sausages nice and pink when cooked, offers a slightly different texture, and makes them shelf stable for days.

try 1 tsp of salt or even better weigh the meat/salt and try to shoot for 8 grams of salt per pound of meat. include the cure in this since it's 90-94% salt already.

the kitchenaid stuffer is terrible try to get something like http://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products-Stainless-Vertical-Sausage/dp/B000SQDTRC it will last a long time and your end product will be 10x better

as for the actual stuffing it was a good first attempt! you likely had a blowout twisting that sausage in the middle because it was slightly overstuffed.. what you can do if you feel it happening again is try to squeeze the meat up through the casing like toothpaste so you can have enough room to safely twist. or don't and enjoy another meatball!

and try some hog casings! I find 32/34 casings work the best for the kitchen aid since the stuffing tube is a little big and likes to grip the casings.

good luck

I'm not sure about the one you mentioned but this one (with the foot pedal) works great for me. It handles chicken bones and rabbit bones very well (I wouldn't try anything bigger though, including turkey bones). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D1TN7XS/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_YvQSAb1M6WE7Y

I'm with u/caninetrovert_ though... I wouldn't have bought the grinder if I didn't have to (we have a dog with dental issue that developed long before we started raw, vet advised us to avoid her chewing hard items). Grinding up a while batch at once makes meal time easy to portion out for two different sized dogs (all the hard work is done once a week determining ratios and such, plus all those frozen little meals are a big space saver in the freezer).. but it's basically just a long extra step and the fact my rottie mix will never get to grind anything herself to clean her teeth will always be a concern (she will probably need another dental cleaning sooner than I would have liked, I can see the tartar build up that is exacerbated by the fact she is allowed to chew anything hard). If you are deadset on pre-grinding (for ease of meal time) /and/ your dog's teeth are fine, make sure you factor in leaving a few bones out now and again and giving them to your pup to afford them the chance to grind them naturally and clean their teeth (or commit yourself to brushing their teeth daily)... But yeah, I wouldn't pre-grind unless I absolutely had to.

"...a sausage patty made from the ground sausage she bought..."

Buying ground sausage? Who do you think I am--Lorenzo de Medici?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLpl897UOkE

Seriously, though--making sausage yourself can be a lot of fun, super cheap, and is something you can make a lot of and freeze for later use. Even better if you don't have to go through the additional step of putting it into links.

The two main ingredients are pork shoulder and fat (which you'll probably want to get from the belly). Shoulder is currently $1.29/lb at the supermarket near me, and you can find great deals on belly at an Asian (super)market.

If you don't have the attachment for the stand mixer (or a stand mixer itself), you can still get a quality meat grinder for just over $20 (many of the parts are even dishwasher safe): http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Grinder-Mincer-Pasta-Maker/dp/B0002I5QHW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374167109&sr=8-1&keywords=meat+grinder

(sidenote: having a meat grinder on hand is a great way to avoid meat spoilage--take that chuck roast and turn it into top-quality hamburger meat in a flash)

Plus, you'll be able to try all sorts of interesting herb and spice combinations, which is always Good Eats... err, Frugal living.

If you want to take your shit to the next level, buy a metal hand crank or power meat grinder and start doing your own blends.

Here is a decent one that costs 22 bucks.

Here is the one I use; it can do a lot more than just grind meat - i make sausages with it as well.

My blend: whole chuck, shortrib (or oxtail if you can find it, i like it better, but it's harder to find in quantity), and point brisket, (i do equal parts of each - remember to account for bone weight when buying) and get your grind on. Freeze all metal parts for at least an hour prior to grinding and all meat should be WELL chilled beforehand too. Do a coarse grind. Also get yourself some beef bones. Roast the bones to get marrow out, chill it and mix the marrow in with your ground meat. Finally I include a little red miso paste. Only a little.

This mixture makes the best burgers I or anyone who has eaten them has ever had. Best of all, it makes both smash burgers and big burgers.

Use ice cream scoops to measure your burger patties, and buy 3x3 parchment squares to separate them.

You can make as many as you want, and they freeze well.

Best choice is to get a meat grinder. You can get them pretty cheap, or pretty expensive, but the main differences between the prices are if it is electric/manual, the quality of the build (metal hand grinders will almost always beat cheap electric grinders), and amount of meat you can grind at a time.

By the way, the one I marked as expensive is by no means the upper limit of grinders. I use a grinder that came out of the meat section in a grocery store and it would have cost me $700+. But I grind a lot of meat during deer season and it can take anything I throw at it.

You can grind meat by hand or using a food processor/blender, but I haven't tried it so I can't recommend it.
Here's an article on how to do it by hand: http://www.steakeat.com/grind-beef.html

Edit: What's the recipe? I love offal and am always interested in new ways to make it.

I like this idea, and had this idea myself a while ago, but haven't tried it yet. I actually like the taste of liver, but I don't like the texture of un-breaded liver.

I have a meat grinder that I bought for pretty cheap. It's just plastic, but it does well. Looks like Amazon no longer carries it.

Another idea for people like me who just dislike the slippery texture, crunchy ground-up bacon might make a good breading. Whether that would actually work, I don't know, but it's worth trying.

Thank you for the video!

Yeah we were considering getting a KA since you can get the attachments, but getting them together is quite expensive, which is why I opted for this, it works pretty great and it's really easy to clean and store, the mixer weren't a priority for us anyways so it worked out.

yeah I would definitely try it if nothing works. It's a pain in the butt to prep the food a bit because you have to make sure he/she gets all of the nutrients.

what I do is have a staple of chicken and some veggies (celery/carrots/squash) and then tues/thurs/sat I add gizzards, necks, hearts etc and mon/wed/fri/sun I add tripe and/or other things.

if you try it don't be surprised if their stool gets a bit weird for a week or two, but then it goes away.

just read up on different raw food diets and make sure you get a mix of enough things so he/she doesn't suffer from any sort of deficiency.

To make it really simple, I recommend a meat grinder like this and then just toss all of the stuff in there and make patties to toss in the fridge.

also, look up your local butcher shop and swing by on thursday/friday. Typically they prep the meat for sale on weekends on Thursday/Friday so they have tons of leftovers that they don't typically sell and they toss out. I used to get bags and bags (3-5lbs each time) of meat that you can just grind up and it works great.

Also - I had a quick look on Amazon and this seems to be your best deal! Best reviews for cheapest price! XD I like helping...

Sure, all the time. You don't need an electric grinder at all, just an old fashioned hand-crank one will work fine. We do 15-20# at a time and still use a manual grinder after 20+ years...we'll usually run the meat through twice with different plates to get the grind we want. They are often found at thrifts but are also available new. A stuffer of some kind makes it much easier, but you can also get stuffing tubes for the grinder.

Once you have the gear you just need a recipe. We generally use a mix of pork (ground from whole loins, cheap at about $1.75/lb) and wild game, but you can mix whatever you want. We've made dozens of different kinds of links, brats, and hotdogs over the years. It's a fun family activity we often do during the holidays, then freeze the results for use all spring/summer.

If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer - the meat grinder attachment is AMAZING if you are starting out (I doubt you are going to make 25lb batches, seriously). Others here I read disagree with the kitchenaid, but I make usually 10lb batches and have had no issues. My husband has killed 2 dedicated meat grinders, his friends have killed theirs, but the kitchenaid still going strong and we all use it for our meat grinding. The stuffer sucks though, you'll want something else.

Stuffer - get something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SQDTRC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 it is really easy to use, can be used solo, very little effort needed to make sausage.

Our last stuffer was a bent fat tube you pressed a lever down on and it took 1 person to hold the machine, another to push (and use all their weight on) and another to feed the sausage. It was horrible.

1 big tip I gotta say is sous vide cooking sausage is the best. That is the only way I'll cook sausage now as the flavor comes out great. edit: clarity

Happy Zambambo!

How fun!! I hope you have an incredible birthday!

I would love this because I'd be able to make my own pasta and sausage!!

Thanks for the contest!

frankfurters are usually sheep, yes.

That westin will be way better than stuffing with the kitchen aid, and I have one but no longer use it because I upgraded to this which super awesome but not lower in price.

Recipe appears to have worked out great! Mixed the sausage well so the texture is far better than the last batch, and I used a new stuffer that was way better than a kitchenaid attachment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000SQDTRC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1381381881&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

Ruhlman's Charcuterie is indispensible.

I'd also recommend Fatted Calf's In the Charcuterie.

Prague Powder. Basic pink curing salt.

Sausage stuffers can run $100-200, but the old fashioned type still works great for $35. Same goes for meat grinders. There are expensive electric grinders, but a decent manual grinder works just fine for $25. Of course, if he owns a Kitchenaid mixer, you can just get the grinding and stuffing attachments for that.

Although it's a bit of an initial investment, if you're looking into saving a lot in the long run on ground meats, a meat grinder has saved me and my husband literally hundreds of dollars. We buy whole turkeys, chickens, pork shoulders, etc. when they are on sale (we only buy when they are <$1/lb), chop off the pieces we want to cook whole, and then grind the rest of it up. The bones and tendons go to our cats (free cat food!) and the rest goes towards sauces, nachos, taco meat, whatever. here is a link to an electric one with good reviews on amazon that costs $58. They have plenty more on there for cheaper if you want to hand grind. We just use the kitchenaid stand mixer attachment though.

http://www.amazon.com/Sportsman-Meat-Grinder-with-Pulley/dp/B005ZHUYVI

You're going to want something like that. The big flywheel makes hand grinding a lot easier, and you can rig it up to any sort of power source that you can bolt a pulley onto.

I have one, it's fine. You might look into a hopper for the top if you're going to be using it a lot. Sausage tubes were included with mine even though they aren't pictured.

For your purpose it is easy to find a grinder below $100. #8 or #5 (size of the tube) should be fine e.g.. You can get a good stuffer for $150. It will make your life much easier.

I've been meaning to get a pasta maker/meat grinder thing.

Making the dough is easy time, but I can't roll it or do anything with it that looks good (tastes good, though).

Thanks. I got the Norpro one a while ago and while it works well enough for small batches of meat, its an ass-ache for anything more than a pound or two.

This is the one that I have, just with Norpro branding. I tried to stick to this one for a few years, but honestly, it sucks. The other issue with the norpro is that to do veggies like carrots or beets (which I've seen the Krups handle effortlessly), the hand grinder requires them to be cut up into tiny chunks, which again is very tedious.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JX0ENHE?psc=1

Does he have one of those Kitchen Aid mixers? They have attachments for meat grinding that are pretty good (just time consuming).

If you want a big one my stepdads got this one and it’s solid.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074F8PWVX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_B0z.BbGXBSN1N

I got this one and it is a beast. Expensive for sure, but it's pretty amazing.

If you're just making a burger here and there, get a manual one. If you want versatility, get a kitchen aide. If you want something that will smite your enemies, then get a LEM.

This is a basic one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0046AKIA2/ref=s9_zwish_hm_bFgBL_g79_i8
You want to find something heavier, not plastic as a rule. Cast iron is usually a good bet to last longer.
Here is a higher end hand cranked model:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002L84GJU/ref=s9_zwish_hm_bFgBL_g200_i2

Here is a nice looking counter top electric grinder:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00PG4VGFS/ref=s9_newr_hm_bFgBL_g79_i7

Just for a place to start. Basicly avoid plastic stuff when it comes to kitchen appliances. Just my opinion but it is an educated one. Hope this helps.

I've done some research, and most of the better grinders over 1hp can do turkey, like Weston's 22. It's expensive, but I'm prepared to saddle the cost if necessary. It'll pay for itself down the road if my oldest gets to the point that his teeth can't take it anymore. I hope it won't come to that.

If you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, then the Smokehouse Chef grinder attachment is what you want.

If you dont have a stand mixer already, then the [LEM Big Bite grinder](LEM Products 17801 Big Bite #12 .75HP Stainless Steel Electric Meat Grinder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FBH56N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8yCADb35Y6PSE) is the one for you.

They're both pricey. Like, well outside of your fifty buck range. But, that's the cost of a beefy motor and full stainless steel mechanisms. Given the cost savings of homemade raw, they should pay for themselves pretty quick: about $2 saved per day, per 11lb/5kg cat.

Mechanically it should work but it depends on how much of a food-safe-plastics-only purist you want to be. If you want to go the food-safe route, I recommend a meat lug like this one: https://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products-360-Heavy-Duty/dp/B002L7UU1Y

You won't go wrong with something like these: http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Heavy-Manual-Tinned-Grinder/dp/B000BQSW44/ref=sr_1_4?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1346344075&sr=1-4

Probably best place to search is in an old auction house or something.

Getting a dedicated stuffer makes a world of difference in the quality of your product, and the ease of making the product.

This meat grinder is on sale right now, and while it runs a bit loud, it is a quality product.

Lem 5lb stuffer is a little on sale as well.

Get both, and you're sitting around the 300$ budget mark!

You don't really give much information to go on. What will you be grinding? How much use will it get? What is important to you, speed, size, ease of cleaning? Price point?

I will assume this will be for your personal, household use.

Here is a well reviewed cheaper one: http://www.amazon.com/Sunmile-SM-G31-Grinder-Stainless-Attachments/dp/B005EPJAY8

and a higher end home grinder: http://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products-W780A-Stainless-Electric/dp/B00E8MADPS/

It really depends on what you want to spend and how you will be using it.

We have this grinder and it works great! Granted we grind only a pound at a time (85% red meat + 15% fat), and we've never used it to grind nuts or make pasta so can't comment on that. For $25, I recommend it.

I use the LEM hand grinder - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002L84GJU/

Cased 20 lbs of sausage over the last week, and another 20 lbs of plain ground venison. Trimming meat takes longer than grinding, though stuffing sausages with a small inlet hand crank is a two person job.

LEM makes a great 5 lb stuffer. I use it for relatively small runs, and it cleans up really easily. Some people use it without mounting it to the counter, but I like the extra stability, so I mounted mine to an extra cutting board so I can still move it around.

> Excalibur

Probably this one.

Currently $92, but camelcamelcamel shows it's been as low as $50. So I've added it to a wish list and will watch its pricing over the coming shopping season. If I find good reviews/videos and the price drops near that $50 mark I may snag one.

It will help to make sure the sausage mix is as cold as possible. However, I consider the Kitchenaid grinder/stuffer to be a lesson in frustration.

I'd say the LEM 5 lb. is the gold standard for an entry level stuffer. It's worth waiting and putting it on a wish list.

The biggest factor for me when buying a meat grinder was how hard is it to clean? Followed by price since I only use it once a month or so.
I bought this oneoff Amazon and it has been awesome, hardly any mess or wasted meat and it disassembles for easy storage. It's mostly made of plastic but is built well and gives a very consistent mince. If you're planning to use the thing every day or multiple times per week I'd consider going to something more durable though.

I also use the Grizzly 5 lb. stuffer. It's my second stuffer. My first one was the 3 lb "elbow" stuffer from The Sausage Maker, similar to this one:
http://www.amazon.ca/Sportsman-MHSS5-Pound-Sausage-Stuffer/dp/B000GTH45E/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1405981183&sr=8-16&keywords=sausage+stuffer

Avoid the elbow-style stuffer like the plague! The vertical stuffer is infinitely superior.

I love meatballs. I'm actually thinking about picking up one of these guys to make the process a little quicker. I hate having meat-hands after rolling lol

The plastic gear and screw and suction base would be my concern.

I'd recommend something with a metal screw, a couple of plates (coarse and fine), and a clamp for a sturdy base. Something like this:http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Heavy-Manual-Tinned-Grinder/dp/B000BQSW44/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_4?ie=UTF8 , or this http://www.amazon.com/CucinaPro-265-08-Healthy-Meat-Grinder/dp/B0000DE4LW/ref=pd_sbs_k_4?ie=UTF8.

There are several similar items available at various prices.

Edit; link #2

Ruhlman's Italian Sausage recipe is very good, and if you have a KitchenAid, a sausage stuffing kit is cheap and it is easy to do.

It doesn't justify her not getting you what you paid for but you can salvage all that meat!

Edit: Typo

Which meatballs? I want to make all of them. Have you seen this meatball maker? I think it's quirky and can't decide if it'd be worth it in trade-off of the cleaning. I should just get a scoop. I need meatballs.

Why not go manual? Grinders like these:

https://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products-Stainless-Clamp--Grinder/dp/B002L84GJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1473069945&sr=1-1&keywords=manual+meat+grinder

https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Realtree-Grinder-Sausage-Stuffer/dp/B005OSF4HM/ref=sr_1_4?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1473069945&sr=1-4&keywords=manual+meat+grinder

worked for my mom.

I have one of these Weston grinders and it's garbage. Just poorly manufactured. The cast parts are just inexcusably shoddy. The frame has two 1/8" voids, and the auger's stem is squashed. And on top of that, they just took the raw casting, rough from the sand and tinned it. Those parts are supposed to be ground smooth.

VERY inexpensive. $39.99 for the grinder and $9.99 on Amazon for the sausage attachment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SGFQ/ref=s9_simh_gw_g79_i1_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=01FS2D3P68CTY2X5N174&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

I use this one. Inexpensive, seems well built, and quick. I ground ten pounds of strip cut meat in about 6 minutes.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002I5QHW/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_vuO7tb1SYSQ1D

Do you mean these?
https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Manual-Grinder-Sausage-Stuffer/dp/B000BQSW44

Those were the exact ones I was thinking of when I mentioned the reviews ripping into it. At this point there seems to be just as many 1 star reviews as 5 star.

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Grinder-Mincer-Pasta-Maker/dp/B0002I5QHW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318434285&sr=8-2 this is the one 4 stars with 91 reviews...i think that's decent enough

How about this one?

I have one of these for grinding meat but it kind of sucks: http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Grinder-Mincer-Pasta-Maker/dp/B0002I5QHW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373646013&sr=8-1&keywords=meat+grinder but it extrudes pasta and costs 27 dollars