I am going to start making some sausage and wanted to know if I should purchase a meat mixer or some type of food processor to mix the meat? I will be making small five pound batches.
A six quart KithchenAid Stand mixer will make easy work of 5 pounds; just don't use a speed higher then 2. The five quart will do the job also, but you have to make sure the meat stays in the bowl. A food processor is good if you start making emulsified sausages, but a 11 cup processor will only handle about one pound at a time.
FYI you have 2 meat mixers located at the end of your arms!! They work exceptionally well with 5-10 pound batches.
My wife's got a kitchenaid but she frowns on my using it. Go figure. I also have a Bosch unit that belonged to my mother. It's got attachments galour, included a blender that attaches to the unit. I use the paddles for mixing dough. It does about 5lbs. I also have a large meat mixer that holds about 30 lbs. It came with a hand crank but has since been altered and now has an electric motor with a gear reducer. It does a fair job of mixing bigger batches but clean up is a pain and I prefer to use the bosch. Even with larger batches. All I do is adjust the seasonings for 5 lbs.
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on October 13, 2010, 01:19:50 PM
A six quart Kitchen Aid Stand mixer will make easy work of 5 pounds; just don't use a speed higher then 2. The five quart will do the job also, but you have to make sure the meat stays in the bowl. A food processor is good if you start making emulsified sausages, but a 11 cup processor will only handle about one pound at a time.
I just got a new 600 series Kitchen Aid, which attachment do you use for mixing meat?
i originally bought it because i want to learn to do breads and have not used it yet.....but soon.
I'm not a baker but I think it's called the dough hook.
I would think the paddle would work well.
The dough hook works better for mixing meat on the KA
Like Chris said
Your hands are better.
I use the paddle. When I'm mixing that works better then the dough hook. Also the paddle will help develop the primary bind, which I don't believe the dough hook would. Just don't use a speed greater then 2. I mix it until it gets sticky, that is usually a couple of minutes.
I usually mix 5-10 lbs in a large food tub. Works real well. I did buy a5lb Lem stuffer that works great. I used to us my grinder/stuffer and it took forever. A stuffer is well worth the money.
I picked up a hand turning mixing container from Princes Auto that holds about 10 lbs comfortably. I make all my sausage mix out it. I think it suppose to hold about 15 lbs. I then put it into my sausage stuffer etc. It was around the 100 dollar mark, but worth it. I normally put 10 lbs of sausage in my BS so it works perfeckly.