Anybody use the meat grinder attachment for a Kitchen Aid ?

pantsypants

Just wondering if its worth it ?

thanks

jerryb78

I have one and it works fine for small quantities.  If you're going to be doing multiple pounds of meat at a time, you may want to invest in something beefier.  (pardon the pun!)

RRP

I do! It serves my purposes of grinding meat for chili and some occasional brisket burgers. I don't think it would be up to heavy use on a daily basis, but for most households I believe it is fine. BTW I received mine as a $50 purchase incentive so free is free! I have learned that you are better off if you cube the meat and then partially freeze it.

NDG

I use mine about once a month.  I have heard its not the best if you are grinding large volumes or if you are stuffing sausage, but I only grind up about 5 lbs max, so it works great for me  I have been exploring different blends of beef for burgers.  My most recent was 3 parts chuck, 1 part short rib, 1 part sirloin . . good stuff!

Carolina Q

Which KA? I have the grinder and use it on my Artisan, but have no illusions about its stamina. More because of the mixer than the grinder. I'm fine with that because I rarely use the grinder anyway. Ron has the KA Pro model with a more heavy duty motor.

And yes, partially freezing the meat helps. Also, find a home in your freezer for the grinder itself. Just store it there. Or at least put it in there a couple of hours before grinding. The colder the better.

pantsypants

hmm , I think i will just hold out for something that is dedicated to grinding and sausage making ,

Thanks guys

Tjcoley

I've used mine a couple times for grinding the pork and making Kielbasi. Works fine.

Cymbaline65

Mine works great. +1 on the partial freezing of the meat beforehand. I probably use it one a month.

laserdoc85

Hmmmm been making sausage for a few years now. This is first I have seen about freezing the grinder,,,

I love this idea.!!!!!  I bought a real grinder for northern tool a few years back.

Lit

I ground up a 13 pound brisket this last weekend. I have the 600 model which is what I would recommend. Normally I cut it into strips and feed it through and they clean the blade and run it through again but I cubed the meat this time and it ran through much better. I didn't have to run it a second time because it never started to clog since there were no long pieces to get wrapped up. My KA grinder has probably ground up around 500 pounds of various meats in the last 3 years and still works great. If you do get it only use the coarse grind plate.

Aviator

I am with Lit, use it frequently, grind up some ribeyes that are on sale and make a quick taco. I have the pro model as well and it eats up the slightly frozen strips of meat.

bodski

I have the 600 Professional too and haven't had any problems. The most I've ground at one time was probably 10 lbs. I'm sure it could have handled more. Hard to beat the price if you already have the mixer.

pantsypants

I think I am sold

fishlessman

theres 2 plates, one with small holes that you will never use, there is also larger plate sets on ebay for it with larger chili plates and coarse sausage plates. the ka is fine for 10 to 20 pounds but you will notice the motor does gets warm during grinding

Skiddymarker

600 Pro here. Used the grinder last week, meatloaf was 50/50 mix beef and pork. Good advice to keep the meat and the grinder cold, does a much better job. 

I like to separate fat and lean (within reason of course) and weigh the final grind - get a 80/20 mix every time. 

I keep the trimmings from pork loins, ribs, beef rib roasts and all other bulk meats. One pass with the large plate, then hand mix. 

Only use the small plate to make ground turkey. When turkey is on sale after Thanksgiving/Easter I buy a couple and we are set with ground turkey for five or six months. 

Mattman3969

I bought the Chefs Choice for my KA and it works great. All metal parts with no plastic. I think it was about $100 or so

Aviator

Pastic works just fine, is dishwasher safe (except the blade and plates) and you can knock down the price with a 20% coupon from B3.

nolaegghead

I wash the whole thing in the dishwasher.  Guess I didn't read the instructions....

You can sharpen the blade on a flat surface with some wet-n-dry sandpaper.  Use a little water to hold the paper to the surface.

I must have run at least 150 pounds through mine and it still looks like new.  Biggest problem I had was loosing the poker tool for a few months.

Another tip, you don't need the ring nut that holds the die on tight.  You should be able to turn by hand.  If it's too tight, you warm up the blade and die.

Carolina Q

nolaegghead said:

You can sharpen the blade on a flat surface with some wet-n-dry sandpaper.  

Scary Sharp, eh? Works for chisels and plane irons. Why not for grinders?

Botch

nolaegghead said:

 If it's too tight, you warm up the blade and die.

 

Wow, that's scary!  

:-O       

 

I have the Artisan model too, used it to make sausages and haven't used it that much.  

A tip:  I lost the small nylon retainer "knuckle" that you use to hold the blade in when using the sausage stuffer tubes; think it may have slipped down the garbage disposal during cleaning.  KitchenAid's website had the part available, for a princely $45!!  @-)  Santa didn't bring me a 3D printer to make my own.  I searched Amazon, and found a kit that you could buy to convert the grinder to a sausage maker (I'd originally bought it all in a single kit).  It included the large and small stuffing tubes, and that nylon knuckle, for less than $12!!  Done!

I then sold the extra stuffing tubes on eBay as "Rare, Scandinavian Butt Trumpets" for $70 apiece, and came out way ahead!  

bud812

My butt don't need no trumpet !!!!   :-&

nolaegghead

I took the blade out when using the rare, Scandinavian butt trumpets.  Now I have a piston stuffer, also known as a contemporary Swedish gerbil launcher, but I just use it for casing sausages.

Bustersdad

We have the 600 series as well, use the grinder all the time.  Typically grind less than 10 lbs at a time.

RRP

While we are still hot on this topic does anybody else have a problem with their grinder getting plugged up with sinew? In spite of trimming around it I still find about 3 pounds into my grinding the plate is clogged and I have to do a full clean out. I suppose it's my fault in that I like to mix in the trimmed fat but not the hard fat. Guess some of the sinew gets in that way, huh? And when I say clogged I mean badly clogged with sinew wrapped around the auger tighter than a weed-whacker string! LOL

Botch

RRP, I've had that very issue.  Two things that may help:

1)  Someone here in an earlier thread suggested tightening the plastic nut using the wrench, ie get it tight.  That's helped me.

2)  I bought some different cutting plates/blades from a place called The Sausage Maker, they're supposed to help the sinew situation.  I haven't tried them yet, my bad.  

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nolaegghead

Sharpen the blade, partially freeze the meat.

Lit

@RRP I always had that issue when I cut into strips but last weekend I cut into cubes and I didn't have the problem.

westernbbq

I had one a year ago- $55 from Williams-Sonoma store.  Be sure that whatever you're grinding that the meat is VERY cold- borderline frozen.  you'll also spend a fair amount of time trimming sinew off of whatever your're grinding.  For small batches it's OK.  IF you get into making your own hamburger, sausage from pork shoulder, turkey and chicken and doing larger (over 10 lbs) at a time, invest in a purpose built grinder.  I gave my kitchen aid attachment after I got a LEM  #12 meat grinder and piston-driven hand crank sausage stuffer- look around as there are good deals online and at places like Cabela's.  If you're going to spend $50 or so bucks for Kitchen Aid grinder i'd add another $50 to that and go get a decent meat grinder that can save you tons of time

 

with KA meat grinder attachment, it seemed as though I had to stop every two minutes to unwind stuff bunched up around the blade.  i'd recommend going with something with a little more power behind it