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MEAT PREPARATION
The temperature of the meat is
VERY IMPORTANT
. Your meat should
be as COLD AS POSSIBLE without being frozen solid. Most professional
butchers grind their meat at 34° Fahrenheit. The consistency should be
crunchy to the touch – NOT frozen solid. If your meat is not cold enough
when you grind, it may ball-up in the front of the grinding head and may
result in charring of the meat and meat by-products (fat, blood, etc.). The
resulting black char or sludge will need to be cleaned from the grinding
head, cutting blade, and grinding plate. This charring, while unsightly, is
harmless.
Before you begin grinding meat, we suggest that you strip your meat. To
strip your meat, cut it into pieces that are 1” x 1” and as long as you like.
If you strip your meat, you will not need to use the meat pusher as much.
GRINDING PLATES
There are 3 sizes of Tempered Steel Grinding Plates and a Sausage
Stuffing Plate. The one with the largest openings (3 large openings) is
the Sausage Stuffing Plate and it is used when stuffing sausages. The
second largest opening is the Wagon Wheel Plate (named because
of its similar appearance to a wagon wheel) and is used for a coarse
first grind. The remaining 2 grinding plates differ by hole diameter and
produce finer grinds of meat as the hole diameter decreases. These 2
grinding plates have hole diameters of 1/4” (6mm) and 5/32” (4mm),
respectively.
When grinding meat it is strongly recommended to do the first grind
with the Wagon Wheel Plate. Then use one of the smaller plates for the
second grind to get closer to a “store-bought” hamburger grind if desired.
This meat grinder comes with three different size grinding plates and
three cutting blades. For best results, you should match a cutting blade
with a grinding plate and keep them as a matched set for every time
you grind. This will keep the cutting blade sharp as it gets used to being
paired with the same grinding plate. The cutting blade is not used with
the sausage stuffing plate.
Note: Do NOT use the smallest grinding plate (4mm) for the first grind of
new/unprocessed meat.
