Customer Reviews

CucinaPro 265-08 Healthy Meat Grinder - #8

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

April 5, 2011: I've decided to correct and completely update this ancient review from June 29, 2008. This is a rather obscure product and I don't review extensively but when I do I try to add value in return for all the excellent information I've received over the years from others.

After some digital forensics research I think I know what happened:

The original product listing said this was a Czech-made Porkert meat grinder. If I remember right, it was even using a Porkert photo with the raised cast iron "PORKERT" brand. I believe the vendor at the time was VillaWare and it was listed as "V265-08 PORKERT Meat Grinder #8" (the original listing is immortalized in another reviewer's post).

However, their meat grinder was clearly not a Porkert and---without hesitation---I commented on their false advertising and gave the product 1 star. Theirs was not an honest hawker's exaggeration. It was a lie. I went away and bought a real Porkert somewhere else.

When I checked my old "counterfeit Porkert" review recently I found it attached to a "CucinaPro 265-08 Healthy Meat Grinder - #8" listing with no reference to Porkert (CucinaPro seems to be a brand od VillaWare or vice versa). I did not know how long it sat there but my review no longer made sense and it understandably caused some irritated comments (see below).

I deleted the original text of my review and relocated it to the comments (for posterity). I replaced it with the text you are reading right now.

I left the original 1 star rating unchanged but I encourage potential buyers to put my rating and the comments below in their proper historical context.

The actual product as advertised and sold today is not a Porkert but it may very well deserve more than 1 star. It no longer seems to be misrepresented. It is cheap and that is a virtue---ceteris paribus. Concerning quality I would defer to other reviewers. I have a Porkert, just as durable as they used to cast them since 1800s. Double hot-tinned in good, food-grade metal. I am not a health nut but when it comes to metallurgy I like to know what we are putting in our food.

But enough about our brave new world. Back to cookery.

I was looking for a hand meat grinder. I read the reviews ands bought the cucinapro piece. I called their office and was directed how to use my new grinder perfectly. The lady there said to wash the unit well, run some bread through the grinder to remove any more grease from manufacturing and spray the unit with Pam or something like that. So far this piece is perfect. we ground up chicken breast perfectly. We love it.

The meat grinder came without any sort of instructions. Compared to other meat grinders I have seen quality seemed below what one should expect. As I assembled the grinder it appeared that the parts did not fit. I ended up returning it.

Meat grinder was a gift for my father. He said it was easy to use and works great for making ham salad. For simple grinding it gets the job done. Its seems well made for the price and was fairly easy to clean.

I never even used this grinder - a first look at it out of the box told me that this product was not good. The grinder itself had a rough shape most likely from a poor cast quality or casting process. What was worse, was that I noticed a hole that resulted probably from an air bubble trapped in the cast - and the hole was covered with what looked like silver-colored paint that upon touching ended up on my fingers. I did not feel that this product conformed to the very basic food safety. The grinder was returned the very next day.

As much as this is a poor reflection on the quality of the product and this "non-brand", I also have a beef to pick with Amazon. I understand you are going for the most affordable products - but there should be some minimal product standards as well. I read a lot of reviews lately for products that were cheaply manufactured in China and simply were not fit for consumers. Going for the cheapest possible products may be OK when we're talking about camcorder batteries or mobile phone covers, but anything involved in food preparation should go through more scrutiny.

We make patatis skarv (potato baloney) every Christmas season. The Porkerts I bought were gifts to our sons, so they can keep the family tradition going. The grinders work well for making our tasty Swedish sausage.

This grinder is well worth buying. I started Atkins and needed a way to make a few more dishes out of meat. If you get one try grinding pork! The cheapest cut you can find with the most fat works best. I am making pork burger for .79 cents a pound if I catch it one sale. It cooks like hamburger. Use it in patties, tacos, spaggetti
what ever. Ground pork shrinks LESS than hamburger. If your on a low carb diet this grinder will pay for itself the first month.

This is the worst, poorly machined piece of junk, - parts do not quite fit, and it can't grind even ground meat. Also, it rusts. I bought it just to combine ground pork with ground beef and bread soaked in milk. It failed to do that. It does not come with the pestle that you use to push the meat down. The screw that holds it to the table lost tread on the second use.

Nice product, but it did not state it was made in China. Had I known I would not have bought it.

I got the product and found that it was very cheaply made and looked like it would break within a few weeks. Opted for a bit pricier electric model.