Any good Meat grinders?

[Northslope Nimrod]

I made jerky this year. If possible I would just slice the meat but some had to be ground. I borrowed my mother-in-law's meat grinder but the thin "tendon looking" layer on much of the meat....especially the legs would gum it up quick...making it useless. I could have chewed it up in my mouth faster! My wife has a Kithen Aid and you can put grinders on them but it is not the big one and she fears it would burn up the motor. WHERE CAN I GET A GOOD...INEXPENSIVE MEAT GRINDER...THAT WON'T GUM UP?

 

[TrapperReady]

Do you have a food-processor? I'll often use ours to chop up chuck for burgers and such. You just pulse it quickly and don't let it run for long. It only takes a few times. I wouldn't have thought it would work so well until I saw Alton Brown use this method on his Food Network show.

 

[auschip]

I try and remove much of the "tendon looking" stuff using a small filet knife. As far as the grinders, I use the kitchenaid attachment, and haven't had a problem. I typically grind around 15 lbs at a time, and it does take a bit longer then commercial grinders, but was also much cheaper.

If SWMBO is adamant about not using the Kitchenaid, hand cranked grinders are readily available (although not the most convenient things).

Cabelas has a couple:

Cabelas grinders

 

[SLCDave]

You said you are in Northern Utah.
Call Orson Gygi 268-3316. They are a kitchen supply store, and you can buy anything from silverware to industrial mixers there. They are located at 3500 S 300 W in South Salt Lake.

 

[Kingcreek]

I butcher on average 7-8 deer per year and an occaisional elk. I make 100-120 pounds or more sausage, jerky, burger, etc. I use a 1/3hp #8 grinder from LEM products with no complaints, it also stuffs the sausage casings. http://lemproducts.com/
another good company with more pro equipment is "The Sausage Maker"

 

[Matt G]

I use my wife's 45 year old Kitchen Aid with the add-on attachment on it. It works like a charm on venison, hog, javelina, etc. We were worried about the strain that this old warhorse was taking from it, and when we saw another one at a garage sale for $5, we bought it to put in the garage for reserve. With an extra in reserve, we run the old one hard, and find... it runs like a champ! I'm extremely impressed at the good ol' Kitchen Aid mixer!!!

My wife's parents got inovative about grinding-- they hooked up a decent-sized fan motor to an old cast-iron handcrank mixer that they had removed the handcrank from. They mounted the assembly to a rolling table and put a light switch on it, and I swear, you could grind up a holstein in under an hour with it, if you had it cubed.

The main secret is to cube your meat before grinding, and to every once in awhile clear the grinding plates of any fascia and connective tissue that might have gotten caught on it. This is quick to do, and doesn't need to be done toooo often.

Make sure you've got a sausage stuffer, too!

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

We went together as a family several years ago and bought a used Hobart professional grinder. Best investment we ever made! We ground up 98 lbs of elk hamburger a few weeks ago in about an hour.

 

[RCL]

http://www.sausagemaker.com/