Meat Grinders

[Bugs]

Meat grinders are like chain saws, pretty hard to have too much horsepower.

 

[Syncrowave]

Got a big IIRC ¾ or 1½-hp jobbie made in Mexico by TorRey back around 2005, something like this, it's got a big induction motor and reduction gear and weighs a ton ... paid a LOT for it, but that was before Bass Pro and Cabela's and everybody else started selling meat grinders, and there wasn't a lot to choose from back then. Before that we used my Mom's old Kitchenaid mixer/grinder thing until about the 20th deer finally burned it up.

One purpose I bought the TorRey for was grinding whole menhaden (the whole fish, bones and all, up to ~15" long) for cobia chum, and it has powered through anything I could throw at it. Not sure it wouldn't choke on a beef pelvis, but short of that...

 

[Kcbullets]

I have used Cabelas largest, #32 and also Bass Pro’s which I believe is a LEM. The Cabelas grinds better. Even though BP owns Cabelas hopefully they continue to sale the actual Cabelas model. Bigger is better, but consider the weight and setting it up. Bigger is also much heavier. If you are young it doesn’t matter. If old, it starts to matter. Food for thought.

 

[Sniper338]

Old thread, but I put the #32 LEM duel grind on my list to get because of yall. And and LEM 50lb meat mixer.

 

[Lefty2506]

I have used Cabelas largest, #32 and also Bass Pro’s which I believe is a LEM. The Cabelas grinds better. Even though BP owns Cabelas hopefully they continue to sale the actual Cabelas model. Bigger is better, but consider the weight and setting it up. Bigger is also much heavier. If you are young it doesn’t matter. If old, it starts to matter. Food for thought.

My dad's grinder is an old Hobart #32 that he bought new in 1969. The tin plated head alone ways more than my entire 1-1/2hp grinder. It's motor is a 2 man lift. When I was in HS, he made a small dolly for it so that he could just wheel it around on the garage floor. Even though my modern grinder is a little heavy, its a kids toy by comparison. Oh, and it would be really easy to feed your entire arm through the feed throat on that old Hobart. Dad made it VERY clear from a very early age that we do NOT reach down into the feed throat....

I looked at the double grind heads, but I don't see the benefit. One of the reasons I double grind is to get a more consistent fat distribution between the various tubs of meat that I'm working out of. The double grind head doesn't do that. It takes me longer to clean up the grinder head than it does to grind 100 lb of meat so I'm not terribly worried about it.

Sad to hear that the support for the Cablela's grinders has gone to crap. I quit doing business with Basspro back in the 90s because I always felt like their support and customer service sucked. They always had a very Corporate America vibe to me. Cabela's always treated me very well and felt like I was dealing with the family run hardware store down the street, except with a MUCH larger selection. Any time I called customer service, or about my Cabela's credit card it was nice to have someone on the other end with a midwestern accent instead of a middle eastern one. That has changed too. I assumed BP would essentially destroy the business when they bought it. Sucks to be right sometimes.

 

[WSnyder]

I looked at the double grind heads, but I don't see the benefit. One of the reasons I double grind is to get a more consistent fat distribution between the various tubs of meat that I'm working out of. The double grind head doesn't do that.

Well if you’ve never used one then you don’t really know. I have two dual grind LEM’s, an #8 and a #22. You cube your meat and fat, mix it up evenly in a lugger/luggers then grind. It all comes out great mixed perfectly fine all in one shot. I do the same making sausage, adding the seasoning in with the cubed meat and fat. Mix the meat, fat, seasoning, water until the seasoning starts to gel a bit then grind. Done in one shot. Processed 120 lbs of elk burger Monday through the #22 and as usual it came out perfect

 

[Lefty2506]

Well if you’ve never used one then you don’t really know. I have two dual grind LEM’s, an #8 and a #22. You cube your meat and fat, mix it up evenly in a lugger/luggers then grind. It all comes out great mixed perfectly fine all in one shot. I do the same making sausage, adding the seasoning in with the cubed meat and fat. Mix the meat, fat, seasoning, water until the seasoning starts to gel a bit then grind. Done in one shot. Processed 120 lbs of elk burger Monday through the #22 and as usual it came out perfect

That means I need a container big enough to mix +100 lbs of meat in, and I need a place to wash it out when I'm done, and I need a place to store it when I'm not using it. I can see where this would work well for some folks, but I just don't have the space for it. For the 2 or 3 days a year that I use it, I'd rather grind twice than deal with a great big container.

As far as sausage goes, I do use my grinder (with a foot pedal) to stuff my summer sausage and snack sticks. I generally make my sausage in 15 lb batches, and my snack sticks in 10 pound batches because those are sizes that fit well in our oven (can fit two 15 lb batches of summer sausage). Those also fit well into the cheap 12 qt sterilite containers that I use. Yes, there's a sizeable chunk of mix left over in the funnel and head that doesn't get stuffed. I just roll that meat into a couple of logs about 1" to 1-1/2" in diameter and bake them with the rest of it. When done, those don't get packaged and frozen. They go in a Ziplock in the fridge and get eaten first. I used to go through over 50 lb of it per year, but I ate so much for so long that now I can only eat a slice or two every once in a while. Its one of those things where thinking of it makes my mouth water, and that first couple of bites tastes great, but by the time I've finished the 2nd slice, I can't tolerate the thought of another bite. I end up making it and taking it to family and work events for others to enjoy. I can stuff the entire years worth in one afternoon by myself. If I were still doing 50 lb of summer sausage, I'd want something that cleaned up a lot quicker/easier. With that said, most of it cleans u by simply soaking in hot soapy water. The smaller funnels for the snack sticks are the only things that can be a pain in the rear sometimes.

 

[WSnyder]

100lbs of meat is 4 luggers to mix in. As I said I just did it on Monday. Lined 5 of them them up on the kitchen island and weighed it out evenly. Once that’s done and each lugger is mixed up we grind working out of one lugger at a time. No need for one giant mixing container.

 

[timeout]

100lbs of meat is 4 luggers to mix in. As I said I just did it on Monday. Lined 5 of them them up on the kitchen island and weighed it out evenly. Once that’s done and each lugger is mixed up we grind working out of one lugger at a time. No need for one giant mixing container.

An abundant number of lugs is key to making the job easier. One cannot have too many of them. They clean up easily when the job is finished and they are stackable.

 

[WSnyder]

An abundant number of lugs is key to making the job easier. One cannot have too many of them. They clean up easily when the job is finished and they are stackable.

Exactly and exactly why they are what they are