There are various things a meat grinder can be used for. How much do you know about this? We are going to get into the major details in this post.
Buying a meat grinder is a great investment in Kitchen tools and appliances. This is not only because they will help in grinding meat into fine, medium, and coarse textures but also because they can serve multiple purposes in food preparation.
There are many reasons why you should own a meat grinder and most of the reasons have nothing to do with meat grinding.
In this article, we are going to look at the various ways you can use meat grinders in the kitchen apart from just grinding meat. It is a very helpful tool that can advance your technique in some basic cooking operation.
There are types of meat grinders which include manual and electric meat grinders. When it comes to versatility, electric meat grinders are at the centre stage.
So, when discussing the other things meat grinders can be used for, our main focus should be on electric meat grinders. Manual meat grinders, that is, the hand-cranked ones still serve other cooking functions apart from meat grinding as well.
In a hurry? Let’s quickly get into other things you can use a meat grinder for
- Meat grinders can be used for grinding vegetables
- A meat grinder can be used for juicing
- A meat grinder for making excellent cookie dough
- Meat grinders for making burgers
- Meat grinders for making sausages
Let’s get into the details of other things you can use a meat grinder for.
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What other things can meat grinders be used for?
There are many things you can use a meat grinder for apart from grinding meat. It is really not healthy to buy already ground meat, hence, there is a need to have a meat grinder in your kitchen especially when you are a non-vegetarian.
Let’s explore the other uses of meat grinders and how they can be helpful in saving time and money, and promoting our health too.
Meat grinders for grinding raw bones
In a recent article, I wrote on how you can grind bones in a KitchenAid meat grinder. A meat grinder designed for heavy-duty tasks can be used to ground raw bones.
If you really want to feed your pet with nourishing meals, then you must have thought of adding nourish ground bones to their meals.
A meat grinder can be used to grind the raw bones of chicken, duck, rabbit, rodents, and turkey. However, I do not recommend that you grinder hard bones such as that of goat, sheep, or cow in an electric meat grinder.
If you want to grind bones in a meat grinder, you want to make sure you don’t put in cooked bones as they will be really difficult to grind. Only a heavy-duty electric meat grinder can grind bones effectively.
Unfortunately, this type of electric meat grinders is relatively expensive compared to basic ones.
Meat grinders for grinding vegetables
You probably bought your meat grinder for the sole reason of grinding meat, and maybe soft bones for your pet too.
But do you know that a meat grinder is perfect for grinding various types of vegetables? Yeah!
With a meat grinder, you can grind a wide range of vegetables to make pickles and sauce. Your meat grinder may be the perfect substitute or replacement of your faulty vegetable mixer grinder as it serves a similar function.
The best time to use a meat grinder for grinding vegetables is when you are preparing recipes like veggie patties and the middle eastern Falafel.
Most chefs cut the vegetables into quarters to avoid losing the juice of the vegetables. It is something I also advise you to do when grinding vegetables in a meat grinder.
Using a meat grinder for vegetables will even help greatly especially when you have a large portion of chopped vegetables as you can just toss them into the grinder and set the level of the coarseness of your choice.
Meat grinder for juice
You don’t have to be bothered when you don’t have enough money to afford juicers as they can be really expensive. The blades in meat grinders also work well for making juice.
However, be aware that the juice made from grinders will come with more plant pieces and pulps. So you may need to strain the juice if you don’t like it.
There may be no need to purchase a new juicer when you have a spoilt one since grinders can equally get the job done.
Meat grinder for making excellent cookie dough
Just so you know, there some chefs who use heavy-duty meat grinders for grinding cookie dough. It is truly effective and not every bakery will disclose this hint to you.
A heavy-duty meat grinder is ideal for giving perfect touch to your cookie dough and you don’t even need to use any extra effort. It is best for mixing heavy cookie dough for easy kneading.
In my opinion, you should choose a heavy-duty meat grinder over those basic dough mixers that only offer one purpose in the kitchen. A meat grinder is a lifesaver when nuts need to be ground to a paste.
Meat grinders for making Burgers
A meat grinder is really helpful when it comes to making freshly ground meat for burgers. This will allow it to have a nourishing taste as the process is hygienic compared to pre-ground which has high contamination levels.
Since meat grinders can grind chopped pieces of chicken, pork, and beef, you can make excellent burgers from this. You can also determine the coarseness and the amount of fat you want in the burger.
Using a meat grinder to prepare tasty burgers also gives you the opportunity to create your meat combinations. You can add special spices to the burger using a meat grinder as well.
Meat grinders for making sausages
With a meat grinder, making sumptuous sausages becomes very easy. I bet you don’t know about this before. To do this, you will have to buy a sausage filling attachment.
You can as well use your hand to stuff the sausages. But a sausage filling attachment makes it easier to stuff the sausage into pork casings which helps the meat inside to marinate with the spices
Using a meat grinder for sausage allows you to prepare a custom-made sausage right from the meat processing. You can also season and set the coarseness easily.
I seldom make sausage, so it was a heck for me at my first trial. However, I found this article really helpful in using a meat grinder for making sausage. And I think it would be helpful to you as well.
Meat grinders for grinding meat
Lastly, we all know that the fundamental use of a meat grinder is to effectively and conveniently grind the meat into smaller quantities for special recipes.
It is worthy to consider this as prominent use of a meat grinder because with the kitchen appliance you can achieve fresh, juicy, and tender meats for your dishes anytime you want.
A meat grinder gives you the opportunity to easily create any type of dish that requires freshly ground meat. They feature cutting blades of various sizes which determines meat of various coarseness.
To crown it all, there are various ways a meat grinder can be helpful in the kitchen or cooking area. If you are one who spends more time with your kitchen appliance, you may be able to discover other new uses of meat grinders in preparing various dishes.
The best option is to buy a heavy-duty meat grinder that is designed for multiple tasks to enjoy it to the fullest. In addition, a very important responsibility you should not disregard as a meat grinder owner is proper cleaning and maintenance after each use.
What Is An Electric Meat Grinder?
A meat grinder is a kitchen tool that is powered by a motor and designed to grind up meat. An electric meat grinder will require less effort compared to the traditional method.
Electrical meat grinder comes more costly than manual ones, but it is worth every cent as manual ones take a longer time to process a large amount of meat.
If you want to use a meat grinder for the various cooking options provided in this article, you should opt for an electric meat grinder as they are designed to perform heavy-duty and multiple tasks.
Electric Meat grinders can be used to grind small bones and chicken bones too. Meat grinders that are not designed for this task will require extra effort to cut through the bone adequately.
Components of a meat grinder that makes it multipurpose
So here are the few parts of an electric meat grinder that makes it serve multi-purpose functions. These features are usually found in an electric meat grinder.
Powerful motor
There are some kitchen tools that are powered by a durable motor to serve their function. An ideal electric meat grinder features a durable motor where power is generated.
Most reputable meat grinder manufacturers place a warranty on their product motor in case it wears out. The meat grinder will operate faster and effectively when the horsepower is high.
For example, only a meat grinder with a very powerful motor will be able to grind chicken bones. Grinding bones is among the other things you can do with a meat grinder.
Sharp stainless steel cutting blades
Electric meat grinders feature a star shape cutting blade that is usually made with stainless steel material. The blades practically cut and churn out meat. Meat grinder with durable cutting blades will work well for grinding vegetables too.
Meat Pusher
Modern electric meat grinders come with metal pusher. It is used to push or pressure down meat through the feeding tube so that the auger can pass it on to the cutting blades.
This metal pusher can also be useful when making cookie dough. Yeah, you can use a meat grinder for cookie dough, and we shall look into that as we progress in this article.
Auger
The screw that grabs the meat and position it for the cutting blade to work on the meat is called the Auger. After the meat is pushed into the feed tube with the metal pusher, the auger places the meat towards the grinding plates
Feeding Tube
Every meat grinder comes with a feeding tube where the food item goes into the machine to be ground. A meat grinder with a larger diameter of the feeding tube will be able to accommodate a larger amount of meat/food items.