Introduction
A meat grinder is a vital kitchen appliance used often in the preparation of delicious food items. However, many people do not have the know-how on how a meat grinder works. You can equally use the meat grinder in grinding other different types of meat, vegetables, herbs, nuts, among many other tasks.
In this article, we are going to discuss step by step on how a meat grinder works to enable you to make the best use of it for ground meat in your kitchen. But first, let’s first understand the essential components of the meat grinder for a better understanding of its working principle so you can pick the best Grinder for Venison and other meat types.
Essential components of a meat grinder
Below are some of the vital parts of a meat grinder.
- Extruder
An extruder is found just closer to the motor and put into the feeding tube. It plays a vital role in pushing the meat to the external direction.
- Feeding tube
It is found just below the meat tray. Its upper portion of the feeding tube is firmly attached to the meat tray, while the lower portion consists of a small part put close to it.
- Meat tray
It is the topmost portion of a meat grinder. The grinder has an aluminum alloy construction with an input feed put on the hopper.
- Cutting blade
Found at the end of the extruder and helps in the cutting of the meat into the required pieces.
- Screw ring
It is one of the small outer portions of the feeding tube.
- Grinder plate
The grinder consists of a small hole that helps to allow coarse meat to exit out of the grinder after being cut by the cutter blade. The hole comes with distinct sizes that give varying output sizes.
- Motor
A motor is one of the essential parts of a meat grinder that plays a crucial role in determining the sturdiness of the meat grinder. Most of the domestic grinders consist of a motor that supports 300-500W.
- Sausage stuffer
This is the additional accessory attached to the screw ring where the user connects the sausage stuffer with his meat grinder.
How a meat grinder work
There are two different types of meat grinders, namely manual and electric grinders. Their operation usually differs in the powering way of their blades. For manual meat grinder, the arm of the grinder is rotated for proper grinding of the meat, while for an electric meat grinder, you only press the button when grinding.
Below is the working principle of the meat grinder.
1. Preparation of meat
Grinding of the meat does not require keeping it in the open air for a long time. Therefore, it is recommendable to cut the meat into small pieces while refrigerating it and then blade of the meat grinder for about 30 minutes. It is simple to grind semi-frozen meat since it does not stick on the walls of the grinder and does not form clogs on the walls of the meat grinder.
2. Place the meat to the feeding tube
After meat preparation, it is good to sanitize the surface of the kitchen and ensure that the grinder is clean before adding the meat to the feeding tube. Therefore, add some small portions of the prepared meat to the feeding tube as you grind them into small batches for you to avoid any risk of overloading or clogging of the meat grinder.
3. Spin the blade
Blades in a meat grinder are useful, especially for pushing the meat forward via the attached plates for it to come out as required form. When you need significant ground or finely minced juicy meat, you can obtain it quickly. In addition to the meat, it is possible to add attachments in filling the sausage up with the meat grinder.
4. Clean the meat grinder
When you are through with the meat grinder, ultimately, ensure to clean it properly to avoid sticking of meat residue to the walls of the grinder. Alternatively, you can use some pieces of bread and pass them around the meat grinder where they can soak up the excess meat for easy cleaning of the grinder.
For the case of manual grinders, you can comfortably clean its parts using soapy and warm water. On the other hand, the cleaning of electric meat grinders involves the use of the manual guide instructions from the manufacturer.
However, for the adequate workability and usability of the grinder, you must take into consideration the following precautions before and after use.
1.Keep hands away from the blade
Avoid completely touching the blade in any way because it is very sharp. Therefore, when storing or cleaning the grinder, be keen on handling its blade carefully.
2. keep a spatula handy
You might find yourself pushing the meat to the feeding tube using your hands while grinding the meat. Since the blades are very sharp, you may injure yourself. Therefore it is good always to use a spatula given when pushing the meat through the feeding tube.
3. Ensure to keep it dry
Store your meat grinder in a dry place to prevent it from rusting as a result of moisture once you are through with it. Besides, you can spray vegetable oil on the grinder to prevent rusting for manual grinders.
4. Keep the grinder clean
Before and after the grounding of the meat, you must clean the meat grinder. Apart from the meat grinder, ensure the meat is clean and use the clean dish to store the final product.
5. Keep it cold
When operating the grinder, it is good to keep the temperature cold for better working of the blades and frozen meat. Besides the blades working effectively, cold meat does not get contaminated easily because of the bacteria that thrive in the hot surrounding.
Conclusion
It is not too complicated in operating the grinder, as you can see from the above steps. Therefore, if you intend to grind your meat at home, avoid using ground meat from the supermarkets and other malls but try to get your meat grinder. We hope that this article has provided you with insight on how the meat grinder works. Enjoy it to your fullest!