Kitchen aid grinder?

[dmichaelm]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not interested in a large format grinder. Pops has an old 2.5hp Hobart he picked up from a butcher supply that was closing. Access to something that can pump out 50lbs of sausage is not what I'm looking for. Mainly, because the old man knows his stuff and we do a truckload of 3 and 5 lbers every fall.

That said, I am looking at doing some smaller scale countertop sausage making this fall. Interested in fresh goose sausage, a couple links at a time. We have the kitchen aid countertop mixer. Wondering who owns and has used the grinder attachment? What's the verdict?

[reinhard1]

i dont own one but we have had this topic before and as i recall the people that own one are happy with it. it should work fine with what you are going to use it for. dont remember the comments about the stuffing ability. but for the small amounts you are going to do that should work also. i have a 5 pound vertical stuffer that i use.

i dont make anything over 25 pounds at a time myself. good luck.

[jentz]

I have the grinder attachment,works great,I also have a counter top model.They are comparable.The kitchenaid has more clearance for a bowl under it,The countertop has to be over the sink to fit a decent bowl under it.

[LightningBG]

I've never used mine for stuffing, but I've been very pleased with its grinding ability.

[PurpleFloyd]

They are fine for small runs.

[TonkaBass]

I have the grinder attachment and just do my venison with it and it works really well.

[dmichaelm]

Great. Thanks all. I'll be looking to pick one up shortly.

[Coach Dog]

Yes, works great for small batches. It is real handy to use the big mixing bowl for the ground meat to fall in, then add your seasonings and mix

[Ebiz]

Have been doing a deer or two a year with mine and it works great, have done a decent amount of sausage with the stuffer as well. If I was going to grind/stuff more than 10 lbs at a time I would probably upgrade though

[hockeybc69]

Ebiz hit it... small batches... Works good. Larger projects...Not so good.

[thirdeye]

I've had a KA grinder attachment for many years, in fact Mrs ~t~'s mixer is 20 years+, and a low watt model compared to what's available today. I prep my meat into strips and get them icy in the freezer..... and I can grind at a rate of 1 pound per minute. I think the setting I use is 4, you don't want the mixer going too fast or the texture of the meat will not be right. I only do a single grind with the large plate. The pattie below is typical.

As far as amounts go, You can be set up to grind in less than 5 minutes, and clean-up is easy. So if you want to grind 5 pounds it will take no time at all. I usually do 10 or 15 pounds, and I think the largest batch of ground pork I've done was 50 or 60 pounds. It was no big deal at all. I'm very picky about seasoning and getting the ground meat back into the spare fridge, so I usually work the grinder for 10 minutes, then mix and get that meat into the fridge, then get set-up with the next batch. So I'm not working it continuously.

Regarding the stuffer attachment, it's not a good tool at all. I have two of the upright barrel models, each 5 pounds.