Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Where to buy, how to use. Stuffers, casings, spices, grinders, etc.

Buy a Stainless Meat Mixer or Just Use Your Hands?

Mixers are for sissies. Use your hands.
5
33%
I'll never mix by hand again now that I've used a meat mixer.
2
13%
It's great for 10kg+ but anything less isn't worth the effort to clean it.
4
27%
They have to be nearly full to function well and I normally make smaller batches.
1
7%
I'd take one if they were giving them away but I'd rather spend my money on a bigger grinder/stuffer, bowlcutter, smoker, ...
3
20%
 
Total votes : 15

Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby johngaltsmotor » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:36 pm

I've seen both good and bad opinions of them so I figured I'd start a poll to track opinions in case people are looking for feedback in the future. What say ye? Thumbs up or down on buying a mixer?
I've got a friend willing to loan me his to try but he admitted it is a pain to clean and works best when at least 75% full. I just know that once my fingers go numb I can't mix as well so my fourth 10lb batch this past weekend wasn't as well blended as the 1st.
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby NCPaul » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:57 pm

Only small batches here and I use the Kitchen Aid mixer.
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby johngaltsmotor » Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:24 pm

Which variety of KitchenAid? I've got a ?5.5qt? where the bowl screws onto the base. I tossed the bowl across the room once trying to slowly mix forcemeat in it. I could see the one with 2 pins on the sides to lock the bowl in place might be able to take more torque, but not mine.
How much could you mix in it at a time? I'd be afraid that in mixing a 5-10lb batch a few pounds at a time that I wouldn't get the spices even. Although splitting the spices 4 ways and getting each portion thoroughly mixed might be better than doing it all at once and not mixing as well.
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby Shuswap » Fri Nov 14, 2014 2:20 pm

I'm a small batch producer (<10lbs). When I am going to do 2 grinds, I use mixing paddles after the first grind and then back to cold holds for the 2nd mix before resting it in the fridge.
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby DiggingDogFarm » Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:22 pm

Those ~20 lb. mixers suck, IMHO.
Most aren't very well made, don't mix all that well, and the worst part is the cleaning!!!!!!!!

I use a stiff rubber spootula in a meat lug...no cold hands.


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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby johngaltsmotor » Fri Nov 14, 2014 5:15 pm

How long does it take with a spootula or paddles? It seems like it would take a lot longer than squishing with 2 hands. (Or do you end up adding water to every batch to make it easier to mix?)
I'd likely have to figure out a way to hold the meat lug to the counter top better. I currently use some of that tacky tool drawer liner for traction under the meat lug but I'm mostly squishing through my fingers, not lifting and folding or stirring like with a spootula.

Maybe I'll just have to experiment next time. I'm tempted to make a mixing insert for a 5gal bucket to try making it easier.
Pigs are magical creatures.... they turn vegetables into BACON!!
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby RodinBangkok » Fri Nov 14, 2014 11:13 pm

get a pair of insulated rubber gloves for long handling times, work with cold as well as hot:

http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Raichlen-B ... B0007ZGURK

Doing small batches in a commercial meat mixer is definitely a hassle, for reasons listed above.
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby johngaltsmotor » Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:29 pm

A buddy loaned me his 20lb mixer for a few months so we'll see.
I'm thinking that since people say they don't work well when partially full that I'll make a plug to separate 1/2 of the cavity when doing a 10lb test load. I'll just start with blending parsley into ground beef likely so I can judge how long it takes to get uniform.
He did warn me thought that you need to spray the corners with aerosol oil or non-stick or cleaning is as big of a pain as folks say.
Pigs are magical creatures.... they turn vegetables into BACON!!
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby Phil D » Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:16 pm

I use my Bosch Universal. Picked it up on eBay for about $150. Great for bread, big batches of cookies, and now sausage. I use the bread hook, not the wire whisks for sausage. Takes just a few minutes, and holds about 5 pounds at a time. Works for me!

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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby herjac » Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:34 pm

I made a 20 lb batch of dry cure sausage a few years ago that failed due to inadequate mixing. My wife and I have arthritis and the large quantity of cold meat was too much for us to handle. I use a KitchenAid stand mixer which works well with batches up to 2 Kg but when doing large amounts is too time consuming so I purchased a 20 lb manual mixer. We found that the mixer does a great job and we take turns on the handle for a total of 5 minutes and the job is done. LEM make a 20 lb mixer that can be driven by their grinder motors but are more expensive and we found that the manual type are not hard to use. Even for retired folks..... :wink:

The mixer is quickly broken down for cleaning which I do in a large sink in the laundry room. I have an assortment of brushes and scouring pads which can get into all areas of the mixer with no problem. All equipment used in this hobby requires a fair amount of cleaning time. Stuffers, grinders, slicers, each is a PITA to clean but each piece of equipment makes the job easier with better results. We did 2 x 15 lb batches of dry cure sausages one day in the fall, grinding, mixing and stuffing as the cleanup time for the equipment is the same regardless of the amount of sausage produced at that time. No problem...
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Re: Purchase a meat mixer or keep taunting frostbite?

Postby johngaltsmotor » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:09 pm

I finally used the LEM 20lb manual version that I have on loan. I will definitely be buying one once the loaner must be returned.
It was physically easy to use, and clean up was simpler than I expected. For smaller batches (<10lb) I don't think it would work well enough to be worth the cleanup time. But for 10lb+ batches it makes it easier to get a sufficient mix (without risking saying "that's good enough" simply because your hands are numb).
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