How to choose a meat grinder

For a housewife who loves to cook and often has guests in her home, a meat grinder is an indispensable assistant in the kitchen.

After all, it makes it easier to prepare a variety of dishes. With its help you can make homemade sausages, grate and cut vegetables and fruits, and even make juice.

Therefore, you should take the choice of such an irreplaceable item seriously, understand the variety of models and the technical characteristics of the device.

Criteria and characteristics important when choosing

There is now a huge variety of electric meat grinders on the market, but they all share common characteristics. Therefore, their parameters should be taken into account when buying an electric meat grinder.
What is the power of a meat grinder, how to choose the appropriate power

The most important characteristic of the unit is power

This is one of the main parameters that affects the cost of the device. Therefore, it becomes the basis of choice.

Manufacturers, as a rule, declare two indicators. These are the maximum data when the shaft is blocked (peak) and nominal.

• At peak power, the device is able to operate for a short time, literally a few seconds.
• The normal production capacity at which the meat grinder operates for a long time is nominal.

Important! How successfully veined meat will be processed is determined by the maximum power. And nominal indicates directly performance.

Powerful meat grinders process any meat. But less powerful units will function at the limit of their capabilities when chopping stringy or fatty meat. Therefore, they may jam.

Attention. If the motor does not have an overload protection mechanism, prolonged and intense operation may cause serious malfunction.

As you determine how much power you need, consider the advice of the professionals. It is recommended to choose meat grinders with a power reserve of 400 W at nominal and 1000 W at peak.

Now there are meat grinders on sale with the following parameters.

• Power 250–700 W. In 1 minute, grind from 2 to 3.5 kg of raw materials. Although tough meat is given to them with some difficulty, it is still an excellent option for the home.
• Meat grinders 700–800 W. They have decent power and productivity, processing up to 4 kg of meat per minute.
• Power over 800 W. These are already professional devices with wide functionality.

Productivity and its importance when choosing a meat grinder

Another important criterion when choosing a meat grinder is its performance. It determines the amount of meat that the device can process in a minute.

Advice. You should not chase high productivity if minced meat is not produced in large quantities.

Because, even with a parameter of 0.5 kg/min, the device is capable of grinding 5 kg of meat in 10 minutes. But not every dish requires so much minced meat.

For everyday use, a meat grinder output of 0.5–1.5 kg/min is sufficient.

Continuous operation time

An additional parameter that is inextricably linked to performance is the continuous operation time of the device.

As a rule, the manufacturer allows raw meat to be cranked for a quarter of an hour. But this time may vary depending on the product processing modes. Without exception, all manufacturers limit this parameter, however, such a limitation should not be considered as a serious drawback.

Reverse and its meaning

Most models of meat grinders are equipped with a useful reverse function. It creates additional ease of use. This function is activated by pressing a certain button on the body of the meat grinder.

The way the reverse works is that when the cores are wound onto the auger, when the reverse function is turned on, the auger will begin to rotate in the opposite direction. This will allow you to easily remove the stuck parts and return them to the loading hole. After which it will be possible to resume work. In such a situation, a meat grinder that is not equipped with a reverse will have to be completely disassembled.

Help: units with a power of 2000 W and above are usually not equipped with reverse.

Manufacturers rightly believe that such units are able to process everything, therefore, nothing gets stuck in them in principle.

Housing material

In modern models of meat grinders, there are options for making bodies from:

• of stainless steel;
• light alloys;
• plastics.

However, the material of the body and tray is not as fundamentally important as sales consultants sometimes try to convince buyers by recommending one or another option.

During operation, the body and tray itself do not receive serious loads; accordingly, plastic models can last as long as steel ones.

The materials of the body and tray, as a rule, comply with sanitary norms and standards and are resistant to food acids. At the same time, plastic is used in food production, so no harm can be caused to the processed products.

However, plastic still has some drawbacks - it scratches easily and dirt gets stuck in the scratches. Therefore, metal parts are more hygienic. In addition, the color of the plastic may change over time.

Nozzles

The presence of several disks with different perforations greatly simplifies meat processing and improves the quality of prepared dishes.

• Small holes result in homogeneous minced meat, which is ideal for making pates, for example.
• Large perforations produce minced meat in large pieces.

The functionality of meat grinders increases, approaching food processors, if additional attachments are available.

It is better to focus on this point immediately when choosing a meat grinder model. After all, although additional nozzles can be purchased separately, the connecting parameters may vary. Therefore, subsequently purchasing additional attachments for a specific model can be difficult.

Types of nozzles

Basic standard attachments included with most meat grinders.

• Kebbe – produces minced meat tubes that can be stuffed, fried or baked. Kebbe is an unusual dish for Russian cuisine, so if you put a little less filling and seal the edges, you get zrazy.
• For making sausages – makes stuffing homemade sausages faster and easier.The nozzle is made in the form of a tube connected to the outlet of the unit. A sheath is placed on the tube with the end tied. The minced meat coming out of the tube forms a sausage; all that remains is to bandage the casing through arbitrary sections.
• For cutting cookies - a metal plate with various holes in the frame, placed in place of a regular disk. The dough, squeezed through the holes, takes on specific shapes. Then the strip of dough is cut into portions and baked.
• For shredding and grating, they are a separate (usually made of plastic) tray with a working chamber. Replaceable rotating cups are installed in it, while the main tray and meat receiver are not used. There are usually 3-4 cups (one for shredding and 2-3 different graters).
• Juicer – used for making juices. It is an elongated metal body with perforation; inside there is a conical screw shaft. When rotating, it strongly compresses pieces of vegetables or fruits, squeezing out juice. The pressed residues are discharged through the top of the cone. This attachment is extremely easy to use. When preparing juice, all vitamins are preserved. The nozzle does not need to be cleaned of waste too often. However, it also has its drawbacks - a large amount of cake at the exit.

There are models of meat grinders equipped with rarer types of attachments - for grinding coffee beans and peppers, noodle cutters, citrus presses, etc.

However, the best meat grinder is not the one that is equipped with all possible types of attachments. And the one that has the components that are really necessary for the job.

Attention. Advanced equipment undoubtedly increases the price of the unit. Therefore, when purchasing, you should think about what attachments you really need in the kitchen.

If you want to perform maximum functions with one meat grinder, of course, you should purchase the maximum number of attachments.

In any case, it will be cheaper than buying the mechanisms separately - blender, juicer, coffee grinder, etc.

Brands and manufacturers of meat grinders

One of the important points when choosing a meat grinder model is the brand and brand.

Here you may encounter some difficulties - the choice is varied and rich. You can buy both a budget option and a more expensive one.

In principle, many companies produce good equipment, so any electric meat grinder can be of high quality. Therefore, which one to buy is a matter of taste.

Expensive units

Users who prefer expensive imported equipment traditionally choose the following brands:

• Moulinex (France);
• Kenwood (UK);
• Panasonic (Japan);
• Philips (Netherlands).

Products from the German manufacturer Bosch (Germany), which has an impeccable reputation, are invariably popular.

Budget models

Among budget products, products from Zelmer (Poland) received positive characteristics.

Traditionally, products from China also appear on budget lists:

• Redmond;
• Polaris;
• Supra.

Low-cost and high-quality units are offered by domestic brands:

• "Axion";
• "Wonderful";
• "Rotor".

Tips for choosing an electric meat grinder for your home

Before purchasing a household appliance, it is recommended to read customer reviews on the Internet; undoubtedly, you can glean a lot of information from them that the seller may be silent about.

It is worth focusing on the following characteristics of the unit.

• Number of speeds.Typically, a meat grinder has one speed, but if the unit is equipped with a function for making juices, then there can be two of them, like in a juicer.
• The collapsible auger chamber makes maintaining the meat grinder much easier. But unfortunately, only some models are equipped with it.
• Rubberized feet will increase the reliability and stability of the device. Now they are provided in almost all meat grinders.
• The compartment for placing attachments is usually located on the body of the meat grinder (not in all models). The presence of such a compartment allows you to compactly place the unit on the work surface.
• The height of the outlet above the table. Usually it is from 10 to 15 cm, so the housewife should not have any difficulties in using the dishes.

Now you know how to choose the right meat grinder. It will undoubtedly make your homework easier and help you save time and money.

The advantages of an electric meat grinder over a food processor are obvious and undeniable. These are power, performance, reliability, ease of use and low price.