Grinders

Time for a grinder at CU's house. I finally put on the big boy pants and processed my own deer again last year after a huge lay off and I'm going to need to do something with the two pigs we are raising in October. I'll be making probably 30+ lbs. of pork sausage each year, more if I like it, and grinding 20-40lbs. of venison. So, what do you use? How often and in what quantities do you use it? Would you recommend it to a friend(or HBTer)? How important are metal internals if you're patient with grinding? I'm a cheapskate and have been looking on CL for someone's cast-off but am willing to pony up if it's "essential".

anything has to better than my kitchenaid!

northern tool sells a cast iron grinder that comes with a v-belt pulley, it's very heavy-duty and is about $80 new. pair it up with a small motor and it will grind anything and last forever. no plastic parts anywhere.

CHefJohnboyardee said:

anything has to better than my kitchenaid!

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Actually, I think the meat grinder attachment for a Kitchenaid mixer works pretty darned well for grinding meat, just not stuffing the sausage. I've been making sausage for almost 25 years; I usually make 30-50 lbs at a time, and have always used the same Kitchenaid mixer attachment. Yes, the casing is plastic, and has discolored some over the many years, but It has not failed me yet. If you already have a Kitchenaid mixer (If you don't, you don't know what your missing) then this is a good, cheap, grinder option.

Well, we have a mixer but it's a Cuisinart and the grinder attachment approaches the price of a stand alone unit.

The Kitchenaid is a nice mixer that has the ability to do light multi-tasking. I use mine for meat grinding but only a couple pounds at a time. Small hopper and low throughput are kind of limiting. I'd hoped it would have made for a decent grain mill but that doesn't appear to be the case either. Great mixer but I wish I'd just gotten a stand alone meat grinder for a little more money.