Gastroback or Northern Tool?

[Padureni]

Hi All

Does anyone have experience of Gastroback 41400 or NT 230v, both look good and price wise not much in it or is the Orbit at cheaper price as good?
I make gluten free sausages for myself and a small client base, have been using a manual grinder/filler until now, but want to speed up the process. If anyone can recommend another alternative available in UK I would be grateful

[wheels]

If you're talking about this one from Northern Tool:

http://www.northerntooluk.com/food-prep ... 8620E.html

It's had many good reports on here.

HTH

Phil

[poundofslingers]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago. It works OK but if you are going to put a lot of meat through on a regular basis I would recommend you buy a more powerful machine with a larger plate size. This one is a size 12 but is OK for 5 to 10 lb (2.5 to 5kg) batches.
Hope this helps.
Mike

If you're talking about this one from Northern Tool:

http://www.northerntooluk.com/food-prep ... 8620E.html

It's had many good reports on here.

HTH

Phil

[ChickenTurtle]

Hi there!

I've got a similar thread running on this forum entitled something like "which grinder for £300" and a more recent one "What mincer/grinder do you use?" which both are worth a read (OP).

Since I've not bought yet, I'm still in the 24/7 research stage, to the point where I've come to know more about a lot of machines than the wallies that sell them!

Basically, I can save you a few lost weeks goggle-eyed reading forums and reviews and tell you these few facts:

1) I'd avoid all the cheap tat on eBay for up to £150.

The £40 things are more like toys (from what I've read) and overheat, warm the meat and struggle, eventually making you glad when they eventually go pop on the second or third use). This rule seems to apply to Gastroback, which from what I've read should be re-named Can'tAffordToSendItBack, since one owner had binned his as the RTB warranty meant he'd have to post it back to Germany for repairs (WHAT!!)

2) The cheapy Chinese things.

These seem to sell for not inconsiderable money of FleaBay and other websites. They are basically a generic metal box containing motor, and all the nice cutty-mincey bits generally made of alleged Stainless Steel.

WHile the reviews (eBay feedback) all report these items to be "surprisingly sturdy" or "very rugged" I suspect that weight can sometimes be mistaken for quality. Let's face it, the bikes you buy in Tesco weigh an absolute tonne, but are pretty much piles of s***e.

I think you might get lucky going this route, end up with a .32 machine for the price of a decent .12 machine from a 'known brand' and end up happy as Larry. Or you might end up hiring a skip to get rid of your 'sturdy machine'.

3) Kenwood Chef with a mincer attachment.

I started seriously looking at these, as for the price of a good quality mincer you can buy a 'kitchen machine' plus all the toys to make it a mincer and many other things. I started imagining making burgers & hot dogs where I'd be making the bread rolls as well, I was in heaven!

Then I read some reviews that said the miner attachment was a waste of time, the motor struggled, and any sinews in the meat meant game over & a complete strip down & clean. Suddenly I was buying the bread rolls again, in my head at least.

4) Heavy duty mincers.

This is where I've set my sights. Yes I'm a wannabe amateur sausageist, yes I'm also a noobie, and no I don't have a contract to supply Waitrose yet, but there's just that tiny part of my brain that always thinks I'll end up wishing I'd gone for 'The Daddy' of machines, instead of something out of a cracker.

Now although some are prohibitively expensive, and as far as I can make out, some just ridiculously overpriced (Santos No.12 anyone?) I think there's a lot of choice in this market, and if you8're buying the sort of kit the catering/butchery trade use, then you're probably buying kit that when the caterers/butchers go bust (as they will since we don't buy anything anymore, apart from what Supermarkets offer us) will end up fetching silly money at some auction. If you look at the websites of people selling used (or refurbished) kitchen equipment you'll see things that look like they were salvaged from the titanic selling for the price of a small hatchback!

I think I'm going to go for gold and get something totally awesome.

That way I'll know I've got the best I could afford, and when I don't use it anymore in 6 months, one of you lucky beggars can buy it off me for a song!

[Padureni]

Hi All

Thanks for the tips and suggestions. I went for the NT 230, and have produced 2 sorts of sausage. We are very pleased with the results and think for our needs it is suitable.