Interesting post. I have a meat grinder - but it is a "stand-alone" type, that I purchased a few years ago. Can't recall the name, but only paid $99 for it. I do use mine quite a bit, as I buy large sizes of pork and beef for grinding into 1 lb. size packs, then freeze in styrofoam cartons. No freezer burn so far.

However, my reason for posting is that I recently noted that some grinders can be used for grinding pulp - such as whole apples, in making apple juice. Something that I haven't tried as yet, but in case I get a windfall of apples this year, I intend to give it a whirl.

The only use now is as I mentioned, mainly for making pork and beef sausage. After grinding the pork, I add lots of garlic, salt, pepper and fennel - for some nice Italian-type sausage. Great for breakfast or in spaghetti sauce.

Can't comment on attachments tho -

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Thanks Bejay, your Italian sausages sound great.

i guess it's mostly good for grinding meat, and the occasional banana ; ) Sometimes you don't know until you ask.

We have one and I think it's fine for small jobs. It's much too slow for larger grinds. By the time my husband finished grinding 9 lbs of pork for sausage, the finished the mixer was HOT.

We've only used it on meat but I like the frozen banana idea...

Btw, the sausage stuffer attachment is a joke.

I've had a Kitchenaid food grinder since 1980 and use it a couple times a year to make 10-25 Lb of sausage. I cut the meat into strips, roughly 3/4"x3/4", put it on cookie sheets and into the freezer for 15-30 minutes. It grinds much easier when it is 'slighly' frozen. The same with stuffing...room temp or even slightly cooler does not stuff well so I form the meat into wiener sized chunks & into the freezer so it is slightly frozen (experiment with this) and it stuffs much easier. Room temp ground meat does not stuff well !!

Charlie

I have the puree attachment, which uses the meat grinder as its base. I use it to rice potatoes for mashed potatoes; make apple sauce and other fruit sauces; grind apples to juice them; puree cooked pumpkin for pies, cakes, etc. And every now and then (when beef roasts are on sale) I use the meat grinder to actually grind beef. Much safer than buying hamburger at the store!

I also have the kitchenaid grain mill. That's a fun one!

Catherine

Catherine,
I also have the grain mill...another attachment I bought in 1980 when I bought the mixer. Use it mainly for grinding corn into meal.
Glad I have the older model Kitchenaid built by Hobart corp. We got our son & daughter each a Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas last year. They work fine but are noisier than my old one.

Charlie, I know several people on the cooking forum have mentioned that their new Kitchenaid mixers are extremely loud. I also have one of the old ones, thankfully.

We do have the meat grinder attachment and we used it to do 25 pounds of Italian sausage, which we then put through the sausage stuffer without too much trouble for the mixer.

The real problem for me is that I'm short, about 5'2" and I have to stand on a chair to push the meat through the grinder or else set the mixer on the floor!

I have to tell you, though, I also have a KitchenAid food processor and when I want to do 5 pounds of breakfast sausage or something similar, I chop the meat in the food processor and it's faster and easier and comes out like this:

Like Charlie, I think the meat goes through the grinder better when it's still partially frozen.

Annie

i wonder if anyone who has a meat grinder would mind passing a frozen banana through it and reporting back? After reading Catherine's post and looking at Annie's picture i suspect the puree attachment may be the key to getting a product that is like soft serve banana ice cream.

i like the sound of the grain mill attachment.

We use ours to grind the ingredients for salsa before we can it. The wife likes the consistency of the finished product, No Chunks! I slice jalapenos to add when cooking the salsa. I also use it to grind some meat for sausage, not the most ideal grinder for that use though. Too slow and the mixer motor gets pretty warm.

I use mine (I also have an old Hobart-KA) a lot during canning season for grinding relish. I prefer the texture to what I achieve in the FP, especially for relishes being used in sandwiches. It's much more consistent.

Yesterday I used it to grind fresh clams.

Then there's mincemeat. It can work well for grinding dried fruits, etc. as long as you don't overload the hopper.

Carol