Kitchen Aid Meat Grinder and best mix
 

Thinking about getting this attachment for the mixer. Anybody have experience with it? Pros or cons??

Also, what is best mix for great beef burgers? I know some use brisket, some add bacon, some add fat, etc..

We like them medium rare so this will introduce a safety factor over packaged pre-ground IMO.

Comments, suggestions, etc. appreciated. TIA

I have one and have used it somewhat often. I like the consistency of the home ground chuck over store bought and I have the opportunity to add a few slices of bacon to the grind (mostly for flavor, I don't find it's necessary for the fat). The thing is, I've found that usually at Publix, ground chuck is cheaper than a chuck roast. Soooo, sometimes I'll buy the roast just for the difference in texture and to grind some bacon into the chuck.

I like it. I was torn on whether or not to get it from hearing a lot of bad reviews, but I got it as a gift so I wound up with it anyway.:lol:

The secret to using it it to cube up your meat small enough to fit with ease into the feed chute, and to not keep feeding it, and cube it up so you have separate lean and fatty pieces. Feed in a piece, then after it goes down the screws and is out of site feen in the next piece. This makes it kinda slow, but smooth. Also, make sure to feed in a lean piece after putting in a fatty piece. This attachment has the most trouble when it gets all bound up with fat, but lean will help clear it out.

I like mine given the technique above, but would not want to use it for grinding more than say 20 pounds of meat at a time, and only pull out 5 to 10 pounds of cubed meat at a time from the fridge so the rest stays cold while you grind. If you want to do more than that at a time, go for a faster grinder.

excellent advice bigabyte...it never occured to me to alternate fat and lean.

I made burgers for 30 friends on Sunday, used four, 5 lb chuck roasts, cut them up into 2" cubes and used a Cuisinart food processor with the metal blade. Worked like a dream, guests raved about the burgers, I was in way over my head cooking for that many people for the first time and didn't have time to grab any pictures.

But overall I was really impressed with the food processor for grinding up beef. If you have one, give it a try.

Also I thought of adding finely ground bacon, but chuck is supposed to be about 80% lean, isn't it? As long as the burgers were medium or under they were really juicy. First two out were accidentally well done and were a little dry, but I have to say that was still the juiciest well done burger I've ever had.

I'm never going back to store bought ground beef. :)

I have yet to try grinding a brisket, mainly because around here they are just to expensive. I just buy chuck's at sam's and grind those. seems to yield a good mix of lean/fat...close to 80/20. Sometimes , I will grind in 1lb of bacon to 4 or 5lbs of chuck for flavor.

And keep the meat COLD, COLD, COLD. Almost frozen for best results.

I have one and like it. It's worth the price if you already have the mixer. I think the best mix for burkers is 50/50 sirloin and chuck. I use all sirloin for chilli.

Gents...for what my family calls "Super Burgers", I save the trim and tail of the whole cryovac ribeye (15-18 pounds in total)...ends up being about 3 total pounds of trim with fat, and I get about 2 pounds of "Super Burger" after I sort it all out. Not a great solution to a larger burger-eating crowd, but a great solution on what to do with the fairly large tail portion that tastes better as a burger than a secondary part of the ribeye. Of course, as my Lipitor kicks in, I blend it about 80/20 or 85/15 with good clean fat. (Only on this site is that a politically correct statement...ha!)

Smokin' Teddy T

I have the Kitchen Aid and have used it numerous times to grind beef, chicken, pork and even salmon. It has always workedrealy good but agree with bigabyte that wouldn't want to do more than about 20lbs. at any one time.

I did a brisket a few weeks back as I can get it for $1.79/lb grind myself and control fat content. Where as 90/10 ground beef at the store here is over $4.00/lb. I got 10 pounds out of the 12+lb. briskie I ground...and I like the meat.

Wanna hear something freaky?

I was double grinding some fresh store bought sausage for a comp turn in and forgot to place the grinder blade on the auger and the sausage came out like Play-Dough! I couldn't figure out what was wrong (sleep deprived) but rolled with it anyway and made Dinosaur Eggs out of it. I noticed the blade in the box after I cleaned up, Next day I got a First Place award with them!

One of my brighter moments!

I've got one. It's nice to add stuff into the burgers and get a consistent texture. I've thrown in mushrooms, red peppers, etc. I just did chicken meatballs with carrots and mushrooms for spagetti, came out pretty good, and I snuck in the veggies for the kids and wife.

I have one and like it, works fine for small amounts. I can't imagine doing more than a few pounds on it, it isn't designed for heavy duty use. I also feed tomatoes down the chute to make a coarse meal for making sauce.

I love my grinder attachment. I buy chuck roasts at Costco and grind them twice. Once large then small. The meat needs to pretty cold and cut to the right sizes.
I get around 15 1/2 to 3/4 pounder burgers for 14.00 But the best part is the amazing taste and freshness.

ive never double ground, just single pass with the large bore. Usually chuck roast, sirloin, and some pork belly from the butcher...amazing