Ultimate Meat Grinder Buying Guide
Meat grinders are not the most common machine you may find in a kitchen, although they are useful for a large variety of everyday food-making tasks. Most people have no idea what to look for in a reliable meat grinder or even tell one unit apart from another. So, this piece of content is going to cope the meat grinder buying guide for beginners and for experts. In this way you will not only able to buy a new meat grinder but also know a lot about them to suggest others.
A meat grinder is a kitchen appliance for fine chopping and mixing cooked meat, fish, vegetables, etc. It replaces tools like the mincing knife, which is also used in the preparation of mincing.
I will recommend if you to pick the best meat grinder for yourself, consider three critical factors. The power source you try to plan to use, the versatility of a grinder, and the quantity of meat you will be grinding.
How to Buy the Best Meat Grinder for your Kitchen
My opinion does not worth in so, I have interviewed multiple chefs and kitchen experts before sharing the list of content commonly highlighted by all of them. So let’s head to the factors to consider before buying a meat grinder for your kitchen.
The Power Source
Finding the best home meat grinder is not very difficult. There are many models of meat mincers, or you can say grinder, in the market, and you can choose between the professional ones or the domestic ones. Meat mincers depending on your need and your budget.
Although electric meat grinders are the most popular ones, if you are on a tight budget and do not need a massive meat grinder, you may want to invest in a manual meat grinder. Home meat grinder that is manual (you have to use your hands to start a machine) or electric meat grinder (where all you have to do is create a switch to get a device in a running position), with each having its distinct mints and pluses. Without running too much for a machine, choosing between the two to decide whether you want to save money and space or you want to save time and effort.
Manual Meat Grinder
Manual grinders are less in price and smaller but need you to do all the work. A manual meat grinder is used for smaller and softer meat. There is a round rotating cutting plate and a metal handle which is called a lever. In the process of choosing a manual grinder, durability is the most critical factor.
As in some cases, one of the most significant benefits of a manual meat grinder is its biggest drawback. If you want to use it more commonly or frequently, then select the ones with sturdy material. Plastic ones are lighter in weight, but stainless-steel ones are a lot stronger. Without a motor option, make these appliances cheaper and smaller; it also means that they can be a little hard to use, especially when you have to grind a lot of meat for a big feast.
Most manual meat grinders have a high yield. Try to choose the one that can be used to create the fineness you want. A manual grinder is suitable for grinding small batches of meat at once. People grinding meat once in a while can be well suited with a manual meat grinder.
When you grind your meat for the burger, you know where the beef is coming from, plus you can control the fat content and can customise the cuts of beef you used. Because, it is a lot cheaper to grind your meat instead of buying prepackaged grounded beef or beef patties. Ideally select the one that can be assembled or disassembled without any difficulty.
Electric Meat Grinder
On the other hand, electric grinders are larger and expensive as compared to the manual one, but make grinding effortless. Unlike manual meat grinders, they have a motor that takes charge of mincing a lump of meat, so there is no need to turn any crank as the meat comes out from the holes of the plate and shape, we have chosen.
They are straightforward to use, more suitable for all those who need to mince meat frequently. However, they are comparatively expensive than the manual ones, but they have a fairly large loading station, they are also larger and take up more space than the traditional meat mincers of a lifetime.
Electric meat grinders don’t rely on manual power, so they are good and reliable when you need to grind a lot of meat in a small amount of time. If you try to plan on making your sausages, then an electric grinder can let you start and stop the process easily.
A higher number means that it can work with more power, which means that a machine can grind faster and work through tougher cuts of meat with bones in it. Most businesses will want a grinder with at least a 1000-watt motor, with some heavy-duty products feature 2000 watt or 3000-watt motors. Once you select between the two, you can start searching at each model’s specific details and specifications.
Durability as Priority
As with any other kitchen machinery, you always want to make sure that you select a model that will last as long as possible and stand with the amount of usage you plan to put it through.
You will usually see molded plastic bodies compared to a manual meat grinder, as they are not too expensive to produce but still durable, long-lasting, and able to keep the body together. The models of electric meat grinders may also include plastic bodies, though there will be some others with metal frames that are usually going to be stronger.
For a better level of strength, always look for a grinder with an aluminium body, some of a meat grinder is made for commercial use. The commercial-grade metal is manufacture to withstand lots of heavy usages.
Consider the Parts–The Blades
The essential part of any meat grinder is its cutting blade and different grinding disc or plates. This is an important part and is responsible for actually cutting up all the meat and creating your meats and vegetables into mince.
Different grinding discs available in a market are cut-off grinding disc, stand disc, grinding plate etc. All you have to do is put a large piece of meat, and after few minutes, it will be minced into smaller homogeneous pieces and can be used for cooking or storage for later use. The main advantage of a meat mincers machine is the size of meat pieces obtained, something complicated to get with old traditional glass knife mincers with which it is relatively easy to do the mincing part.
Always search for a model with stainless steel cutting blades, as these blades will be very reliable and robust, as well as maintain a solid level of sharpness for a long time. Stainless steel is also rust-resistant, which is very important in cleanliness since rust can be tough to clean or possibly contaminate your food.
The blade should be durable, rust-resistant, and should be very easy to clean. The cross-shaped design of a sharp blade can grind and mince the meat, vegetables, and other meat quickly and effectively.
How easy the Machine to Use
You must select a meat grinder that is very easy for you to use and operate, especially if you plan to use it with a specific frequency. So think more about your comfort level than the grinder’s performance.
Yet, it’s something that most people tend to forget about or overlook. Ease of use becomes even more critical when you start looking at manual meat grinders since they require vastly more effort to operate than electric models.
Think about how you can use a machine. Instead, you need a device with a handle so that you can use your hand for grinding or need an electric power meat grinder to use a switch for on-off.
Before buying, always look at the size and location of the feed tube. The size of the holes, the thickness of the mince. That is why the meat mincers include different types of plates with different hole shapes, sizes, and thicknesses so you can adapt the mince to each dish and can get all kinds of textures and preparations.
Since these will impact how easy or difficult it is to use the grinder. If you find difficulties in use or position in your kitchen, then you’re less likely to use and are going to end up wasting your time and money.
The Cleaning Phase
If you are work with raw meat or vegetables, you should be very careful. Leaving your food inside a grinder can lead to a buildup of bacteria that could be transferred to your food during the next use will make you potentially sick.
No one likes to clean up after a few hours or days in the kitchen, but proper sanitation and cleanliness are vital when you’re working with any machine extensively. Stainless steel is a good choice because it’s straightforward to clean, especially when the blades and their plates are removable.
Mostly, the blades and plates can be removed, clean with tap water, and dried with a towel or kitchen paper. Feeding bread slices to your meat grinder are the best way to prepare your machine for cleaning. This process helps you remove oily and greasy residue that may carry germs.
However, you should do this task before disassembling the tool, but some models may be dishwasher safe, so you don’t need to do hard work and make cleanup even more effortless. Unless the parts are marked “dishwasher safe”, don’t put your meat grinder in the dishwasher as it would spoil your grinder by rendering the cutting surface blunt, strips off the shiny aluminium finish until they become dull grey and, in the end, you may pick up some grey bits on your ground meat.
Make sure that you disassemble all the parts properly. If you have an oxidized meat grinder, use baking soda with dish liquid or soap for cleaning. The holes of a grinding plate can be washed by using the hot water dawn soap after taking the parts to form a box, always clean before use.
Wipe the rinsed parts with a clean, dry towel, then place them into a wire rack to air dry. To prevent rust, ensure you dry the parts completely before keeping your unit parts in their storage. It would help if you even placed them in sunlight for a short period to dry correctly. Meat grinders are one of the machines that require the most care and attention when cleaning the parts.
Check for Accessories
Everyone loves having free or extra goodies with a purchase, and kitchen appliances often have some of the most attractive and valuable accessories around. A stainless-steel grinder will ensure a long-lasting usage capacity than other materials. Moreover, an aluminium-based or steel-based processor will also serve the same durability.
Try to check overall about the material by which a meat grinder is made off. However, the stainless-steel appliances also look stylish in appearance and more long-lasting than other materials such as plastic and metals. When you’re looking for a meat grinder or any related machinery, the first accessories you will want are additional grinding plates with different sizes, as these will allow you to adjust the style and size of the meat you grind.
Some of the models only allow two feature plates (for coarse or fine grains), so anything more than that is going the extra points.
Sausage Making Attachment
Meat grinders commonly come with sausage-making attachments; this particular attachment of a meat grinder that looks like a thin funnel allows you to make sausages at home. It would be best to buy casings that are pushed directly to the attachment, even being wet allows them to slip without any problems. You can have a happy meal of dozens of sausages by just smoking them on a good smoker afterwards.
You can grind the meat, feed it into a casing of your choice, and twist or tie it to the desired length. Some models may give you attachments with different diameters for different sized sausages, so check the number and sizes of these tools when buying a meat grinder.
Kibbeh Atatchment
Other accessories may include a kibbe attachment. This is also translated as kibbeh; it is used to make a casing (for lamb), then it is stuffed with spiced filling to form a kibbe. It allows creating hollow tubes of mince with wheat flour in a meat grinder.
Pasta Maker Attachment and a Pusher
It also comes with a pasta maker attachment that will enable you to make fresh and good quality pasta at home without going to the market or spending too much money, as well as an auger food pusher that allow food to be pushed when meat get stuck into a machine, or additional cutting blades.
Kitchen Space
It is always essential to think first about the free space you have in your home kitchen to make sure that you can allow a new meat grinder to come in with comfort. But in common words, the larger the size of the meat grinder, the stronger the motor is.
Therefore, a person who wants to grind bones to prepare pet food or raw meat needs an extensive and robust meat grinder.
For some people, this may be, about the available space of a counter, as you can easily store or save a grinder out in the open if you plan on using it commonly.
If you do not want to use a machinery frequently, then you’ll need to make sure you have room in your kitchen cabinets or pantry for it. Such machinery is usually expensive because they belong to first-class appliances, they can process a large amount of meat per minute if a machine has a large try.
Manual grinders will be smaller than electric meat grinder models, so they make a great choice if you have a smaller amount of space in your kitchen.
Final Call
Choosing a strong and best meat grinder should be about finding a tool that will make your life easy and fast. Whether you want a simple, small machine to help you make a few hamburgers and a perfect pasta, or a powerful appliance that will give you an advantage for your considerable food preparation, it is entirely up to you.
In the end, the choice should be easier if you follow the steps and guidelines listed above. It should also be seen that some food processors also mince and grind boil vegetables and hard nuts.
These machines usually have specific accessories that allow them to mincemeat and other kinds of food items. These appliances are a good option when you need a versatile option that can be performing different tasks; however, always keep in mind that not all food processors have this type of function, so you should closely look at the specifications to avoid getting a surprise later.
