How to Choose a Meat Grinder

Yesterday, we talked about the advantages to grinding your own meat in the restaurant.  Today, we’re going to talk more about the safety of your meat grinder and choosing the best one for your purposes.

How to Choose a Meat Grinder

The smaller the number, the smaller the diameter of the blade/plate assembly.  The blade / plate assembly determines the number of pounds that the grinder can adequately handle within an hour.  As your number grows higher, so does your production.

The size of you restaurant equipment increases with the amount of firepower that you’re bringing to the table.  Make sure that you have the room to fit the meat grinder in the back of your house – else, it won’t get used at all.

How easy is it to clean your meat grinder?  Are there special screws that you have to mess with, ones that only come with that particular brand?  Do you have to do a song and dance to get any spare bits out of the blades?  Take a look at the meat grinder’s specification sheet to see if there are any potential issues.

We understand that money is tight in every kitchen.  It’s often faster to replace a few parts in the grinder than it is to simply buy a new one.  Are the replacement parts for your grinder candidates easy to get, or not?

If you’re only making a couple hundred burgers a week, you might not need the super-high-powered meat grinder that grinds meat like a jet engine.  Then again, you don’t want to grow a full beard while you’re waiting for a single pound to be done.  The spec sheets of each grinder will give you an idea of how many pounds that it can complete in an hour.

After viewing the meat grinder selections, talk with your butcher about the ones that he or she recommends.  You might not be grinding as much as your butcher, but they can turn you on to the quality that’s available.

See what other people think about their meat grinders.  There might be little quirks and bonuses which make one of them quite a lot more valuable than the other.  Finding that workhorse should be no trouble at all after you see what’s out there.

There’s nothing that can beat grinding your own meat in the restaurant.  When you’re looking around, you want to choose the one that’s right for you.  If you have any questions about which meat grinder to choose, give us a call.  We’d be more than happy to help you out.