Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment
I have a 15 year old Kitchen Aid mixer. Long story short, I am contemplating buying a meat grinder attachment as it is no longer possible to buy fresh chopped liver near me. Any ideas about how well this unit works? where is best place to buy it? Any suggestions for used one? Not sure I can justify $50 for making chopped liver 6-8 times annually. The food processor, even with pulsing, just makes it too fine, more like pate. Any advice on solving this dilemma another way? Thanks!
Diane in Bexley
Apr 07, 2008 11:20AM
I have the grinder attachment, comes w/two plates, fine and coarse. It works well, though it doesn't stay as cold as an all-metal grinder (the housing is plastic). I like that the parts are dishwasher safe, as I trust the machine's "sanitize" setting far more than my handwashing. Try ebay, you might get lucky, or you could use one of the ubiquitous BB&B or LnT 20% coupons to purchase it.
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WOW...so funny I just read this and was preparing my own homemade chorizo and was about to make a post to ask how long I should chill the meat before I grind it and here is another post about the attachment. I haven't used it yet but I will tonight and report back to you, this is also my first attempt. I bought a Boston Butt Roast and cut it into 1x3 strips and seasoned to make the ground mixture, I will add a little cider vinegar tonight and let the flavors blend before shaping into patties and maybe if I feel lucky also try to stuff a few casing, since I bought the sausage stuffer attachment also. Anyways I will report back my findings.
As far as where to get it, I bought the Food Grinder Attachment at Target, I think it was $46 bucks, I also bought the Sausage Stuffing attachments on Ebay, believe it or not they were $2 and $5.95 shipping, they are cheap but it is only 2 plastic tubes.
I would say that it is worth the investment, I am looking forwards to making my own hamburger, sausage, breakfast sausage, chorizo, was thinking about making also the meat for Gyros, I am constantly thinking of the next project.
In my opinion, if it will make you happy, make you smile, and it is something you enjoy doing, go for it....life is too short to not try things.
Good Luck - Jim
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Don't freeze it solid--just until slightly firm. Poke it with your finger--it should feel slightly stiff but also yielding. I made chorizo on my grinder's inaugural whirl, too! It is a fun tool. I didn't bother with stuffing...just made patties. Please post re: the stuffing attachment; I haven't purchased it yet, but am considering it.
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Great to hear from you again Celeste, I am always reading your words, I will post about the attachment when I put it to use. Maybe shoot a few pics of my experience to help others learn from my mistakes ;-)
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Jim-- don't forget to chill your grinder & all its parts before you start your fun chorizo project-- it really helps
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got them in the chest freezer now thanks !!
Hungry Celeste - I noticed that your favorite comfort food is Chicken Gumbo, being that i am from the North I am mostly clueless about how to make it, could you share a recipe in the Home Cooking section for me ?
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Here is pic of the spiced meat before the cider vinegar was added. It will now sit overnight to blend the flavors and then I will shape it into some patties. It looks as if it has a nice fat content, but this is my first attempt, we will find out.
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How much did you blend it after you added the seasonings? In my first attempt, the thing that I neglected to do was give the mixture a thorough stirring with the mixer before shaping into patties. Thus, the patties were crumbly and the texture not so "sausagey" but too loose.
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I mixed it just a little by hand to incorperate the cider vineger. I understand that the more you mix the meat the tougher it will be. I will form them into patties tomorrow morning and I think they will hold together fine. I was wondering if Salt Pork is something that could be added to sausage to increase the fat content ?
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Too salty, IMHO. Fresh pork fat, on the other hand, is added all the time, esp to things like venison that are exceedingly lean. You can buy fat trimmings from a full-service butcher.
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I guess that was more of my question, what should I add if too lean, thanks. I guess I need to go beyond the local grocery store.
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FWIW, my Kitchen Aid grinder is a metal one that came attached to a mid-'30s KA mixer. Even though the mixer is not only old, but also a much smaller version that they offered for only two years, the grinder fits my '50s K5B perfectly, as do all the current attachments - just one more reason to be a Kitchen Aid fan! So if you would like to have the metal one, they're out there in the flea markets and antique malls, sometimes for very reasonable prices. I do have to say that the new plastic ones are a lot easier to clean - that metal one is really heavy!
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