d4v3 wrote:Actually, It would save Geo $35 on the black model. That would be worth making a call for. Thanks for the info. I didn't know Amazon would do that.

Indeed! Yeah, up to 30 days after your purchase. Overstock.com (and I'm sure many other online retailers) will do the same, you just have to ask for it.

Anybody else less than thrilled with their Kitchenaid meat grinder attachment?

Does your meat come out filling the whole hole - or just thin and stringy.

I'm having problems with thin and stringy. I admit, I've just been hand tightening.

Even ground some beef the other day at my Mom's house with her unit, the results were very similar. We couldn't find the wrench.

I wouldn't mind running another grinding experiment today if you guys think wrench tightening would solve my problem.

Reading this thread and looking at Cabela's products, well, I'm tempted. The steel housing looks really nice. But do I really want another machine???

Nancy

Nancy S wrote:But do I really want another machine???

Do you even have to ask??

Geo

I'm not satisfied with the KA, either. I'm thinking of buying this, which is on sale for $99; I also note that it's the same as Kotula's, but a lot cheaper.

Geo

I was thinking of buying this.

Well, I bank with Chase and can get a $100 Cabela's gift card from my rewards, so....

I looked at that, too. My only concern is the power: there ain't much. The Northern is 1000 watts, the Cabella only 400. More power = better grinding, less tearing, etc. But your $100 is sweet, admittedly...

Geo

Well, I had other ideas for the $100 anyway, like amazon.com.

Yes, I'd admit more power looks better.

Are you aware of anyone who has used the Northern?

I admit, part of my concern is - I work in the meat department of a grocery store - those industrial Hobart grinders are really nice. I know what the grind should look like, and my Kitchenaid isn't doing it.

Let me know if you get the Northern. Any chance of posting a pic of the ground meat? So we can see how it looked coming out the holes?

Nancy

If I get the Northern (and I'm seriously thinking about it), I'll let you know and take pix.

I know what you mean about the Hobart. Sigh. But if I went that way, The Other Dr. Gale would skin me alive and then grind me up, for a properly Ironic Conclusion.

Geo

Actually, if you grind less than around 8 lbs of meat, even our smaller Hobart (we use for poultry) kind of sucks, it seriously is designed for high volume.

I wish we had a smaller grinder at work - when we "grind up a 3 lb roast" for someone, they might get three pounds back, but probably not much better than 80% was the actual roast. Well, our beef grinder is best grinding at least 20 lbs of meat.

So, don't overdo it!

Nancy

"I understand" he said, ruefully, having once asked the butcher to grind up his 1.8lbs of lamb shoulder chops, receiving less than a pound back in return.

Big capacity means big initial loss...

Geo

I had very good success yesterday grinding a piece of chuck meat ($1.99/lb, as opposed to buying it ground for $2.79/lb). I cut it into cubes of about 2 inches, put the cutting board with cubed meat on it in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and the ground meat came out beautiful and beautifully.

Katie -

What machinery did you use?

Nancy

Oh, sorry I didn't say. It's the meat grinder attachment to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

So you think the chill helps it not come out stringy?

Also, did you use the wrench to tighten it?

Nancy

Geo wrote:I'm not satisfied with the KA, either. I'm thinking of buying this, which is on sale for $99; I also note that it's the same as Kotula's, but a lot cheaper.

Geo

Geo,

I have that machine (upgraded from the KA attachment) and I really love it. It's durable, quick and comes with 3 dies. The only negative is that it's somewhat large and is a 1-job device. But I never had the issues with the KA that Nancy describes above. I upgraded because the KA was slow and because I wanted more than 2 die-sizes but I never had problems with the quality of the meat-cutting.

Nancy, I suggest working out the issues you have with the KA before moving on because the mechanics of how it works are almost identical to those in the the Cabela's and Northern Tool units. If you're having problems now, they may persist, even with another machine. Fwiw, I only hand-tightened my KA, so I doubt that's the issue. Maybe the auger piece is cracked or not cranking properly. Maybe the die and cutter are not coming in contact properly. Maybe your meat is too sinewy. I'm sorry I don't know what else to suggest. But yeah, of course you need a new one!

=R=

Thanks Ronnie,

I should mention - on both mine and my mother's KA grinder attachment - there is a crack in the plastic on the side where it attaches to the stand mixer.

I wouldn't think that would be important for having the blades tight since it's the other side.

Geo - since you aren't happy with the KA - does yours look in bad shape in any way?

Nancy

Nancy S wrote:Thanks Ronnie,

I should mention - on both mine and my mother's KA grinder attachment - there is a crack in the plastic on the side where it attaches to the stand mixer.

I wouldn't think that would be important for having the blades tight since it's the other side.

Geo - since you aren't happy with the KA - does yours look in bad shape in any way?

Nancy

Yeah, if it's cracked, that could definitely lead to shmear with what you're grinding. If the crack is preventing all meat from going through the dye rather than around it, that can lead to a lot of problems. The nice thing about the Northern Tool machine is that all its grinding parts are whole pieces of metal -- no welds, no plastic components -- so the durability in those particular areas seems to be very high (although, after owning mine for only 1.5 years, I cannot say for sure. Ask me again in a couple more years).

=R=

A few more things I like about the Northern Tools unit:

1) Lots of power.

2) You can wash all the parts that come in contact with the meat in the dishwasher (true also of the KA but not true with some other kinds of grinders).

3) The tray and collar are quite large capacity-wise but not so large that they are inconvenient to store in the freezer.

=R=

Geo wrote:I'm not satisfied with the KA, either. I'm thinking of buying this, which is on sale for $99; I also note that it's the same as Kotula's, but a lot cheaper.

Geo

That is the one we have. I bought it for my mother-in-law several years ago. Not sure how much we use it, but she uses it, I use it, and until a couple years ago, her sister also used it. We usually grind about 10-25 pounds at a time.

It's not as nice as some, but I can honestly say it's worth the price. Knowing how much we do use it, I might go up a model next time, but I wouldn't bother as long as this one keeps working.

Nancy, I don't think I have any pictures of the grind....if I do, I'll upload them.

Some notes on the Kitchen Aid attachment.

Sorry my pictures are a little blurry - but I think it shows it well enough.

Don't OVER tighten it with the wrench - tighten it just a bit, I guess. I had a crack and it got worse when I tightened it - trying to go really tight. Maybe that's how I cracked it in the first place. Here's the crack:



OK, I ground all kinds of meat yesterday, here's some pics of the results on the beef (ground chuck):

This is how I prepared it - I also got it super chilly in the freezer, around 20 minutes.



Here's how it looks hanging from the grinder. My results were better this time, but still not as nice as the Hobart at work.



Here's the ground beef sitting in a bowl:



It's not really that bad. I think that either the chill, or the tighter fasten might have helped. It's been stringier in the past, but this still is a tad stringy.

However, it cooked up and ate beautifully. Nice to chew. I only ground once - we always grind twice at work, because the final product just LOOKS so much better. But I was afraid of making mush, and think my results were good.

So maybe I'm being nitpicky about the grind. But I'm glad I found this thread, I hadn't been chilling or using my wrench in the past, and I learned something.

Nancy