Customer Reviews

Norpro Meat Grinder, Mincer, and Pasta Maker

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I like this grinder.

In the past I've owned the metal grinders that you have to clamp to a table and the electric kind with big motors that take up most of the space on the kitchen counter. They were so clumsy and a pain to clean that I seldom used either one. The electric one failed recently grinding peanuts!! and the old metal manual one got left behind in the last move so I decided to try this Nor-Pro despite it being made partly of plastic.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works. You do have to assemble the blades correctly. My first project was meatballs -- it ground the meat(buffalo stew meat in this case), the onions, a little garlic, mint stems and leaves, and the dry bread all very nicely into the square bowl which is included with the grinder. I grind my own meat to avoid the fat and "parts" from supermarket hamburger. The coarse grind is just right for tacos or wonton filling. Cleanup was easy - I put the pieces in the square bowl, added some hot water and a squirt of detergent and it was all clean in a few minutes and ready to use for the next meal. The extra pieces fit into a small plastic ziplock bag along with the basic instructions so they are not likely to get separated or lost. The rectangular bowl is attractive enough and the right size to take to table to serve sushi or gyoza.

The plastic is nice sturdy plastic like that in Lego toys. You do need to have a smooth countertop for the suction to work to stabilize the base(it doesn't work on my butcher-block table). It looks nice sitting on the counter so there it stays and gets used a lot. I only use my blender for smoothies nowadays. Nuts and beans and all sorts of other foods get ground in this little grinder.

One needs to make sure the pasta dough is not too moist... it takes a little practice.

The vegetables and cooked meats typically used for sandwich salads grind very nicely - even celery. So it is great when preparing lunches for brown bag or picnics. It also does a nice job of grinding garlic for garlic bread and/or salad dressing... saves my hands from smelling like garlic forever.

I'm left-handed and it is still easy for me to use.

This product is terrible. It's the only thing that I've ever returned to Amazon because it simply dosen't work.

I bought it because I bought a small pate terrine, and I was looking for something to grind small amounts of chicken livers, pork and so on at home. I was dubious -- it seemed to kind of cheesy. But I thought that as long as it basically worked, it was fine.

I put in some chicken breasts for a pate recipe, and those were fine. But the, I put in some pork. It squished up in the machine and couldn't come out. It got stuck and I had to remove the mincing plate. I tried the larger plate. The same thing happened. Essentially, any meat with even a small amount of fat can't be ground in this machine. It has only a small, not very sharp grinder blade element. Given that the meat you'd tend to grind would be for the likes of sausages, pates and for hamburger, it makes this machine useless. I actually had some hamburger in my fridge. Just for fun, I tried putting that through the machine. It also didn't work on that -- and it was ALREADY ground!!

I thought, OK, I'll see if it can do pasta (which I don't need, since I have a pasta machine). Maybe that will redeem it enough to keep it. No way. The engineering on a playdoh machine is better. The dough comes out and immediately tangles with whatever comes out of it. It also just gets stuck and refuses to move through the machine. There's no way to make any kind of "strands" of pasta. I am a culinary school graduate, and a professional cook -- i know how to make pasta. This machine just doesn't work. Then, I went to clean it up. It took 40 minutes, using a skewer and Q-tips to get the pasta out of the little holes.

The suction cup device that is supposed to hold it onto a counter works only temporarily. It seems sturdy, but then you start to crank and it comes right off. The sausage funnel is way too small to actually use for sausage.

It sort of works for nuts, but then, I can use a coffee grinder for that.

Take my advice -- get the right machine for the job. Get a cast iron or stainless steel meat grinder; they sell them on Amazon. Get a separate pasta machine, the stainless steel kind that breaks the pasta down into sheets of thickness. They cost about $30 and will last you forever. If you want to make baby food, get a good quality food mill.

I think this is the most disappointed I've been in a product in a long time -- and I didn't expect much!

I have been looking for this item as I bought mine several years ago and could not find it again, until now. I had planned to give it to my kids for Christmas as it is such a great item to have, neat, clean, handy and works great...but you have to do it correctly. If you put the blade in backwards it will NOT work. Read the instructions for those that did NOT like it.

Great item.

Don't be put off by the low price. This thing does exactly what it is expected to do exactly as one would expect it to do it.

Even the priciest gourmet food store does not clean its meat grinder to my satisfaction. Your medium rare burger is going to contain some medium rare pork as well.

Anyway, this thing replaces an attachment on my Kitchenaid stand mixer. It is easier, faster and simpler to clean. I love the way this thing adheres to the counter. Three pound meatloaf of beef, pork and veal took just 10 minutes. DEFINITELY put the meat in the freezer for about an hour before grinding. Cut the meat into strips. It only takes a few minutes to figure out what works well and what does not. For burgers, you might want to run the meat through twice.

I haven't a clue why some of these reviews are negative. Perhaps they assembled the mechanism incorrectly.

I'm not sure why this grinder got so many mixed reviews. I got this two weeks ago and have used it several times with no problems. Of course I'm not grinding 50 pounds of meat at a time, but for a small family or couple, this one works fine. I've done ground meat and poultry with no issues. I haven't tried to make pasta with it yet, but don't think I'll have problems with that either. The suction works very good on my formica counter and even works on my wood table. I thought it would be hard to crank the meat through it, but since the blades are very sharp the meat goes through without any problem. The cleanup is a breeze. I've read that it's best to wash meatgrinder attachments with bleach (for sanitary reasons), I use vinegar for all disinfecting of cleaning supplies, mostly because it's a natural product and I don't have to worry about chemicals. I purchased a small plastic bin from our local Dollar store and all the parts fit in there nicely. If you are looking for a high powered machine, this is not the one for you, but if you want to quickly grind up 1-2 pounds of meat this is ideal. I'll probably get an electric high powered machine sometime in the future, but I believe this one will continue to be used for those times when I only need to grind a small amount.

My fiance and I received this today and were really excited to try it out. We had some pork shoulder in the freezer we cut into strips and fed into the grinder. At first I was worried that the grinder was a bit on the small side but it easily ground through the pork, making quick work of the fat and tendons in the meat. The ground was nice and even, not too big, not too small.

The design itself is very sturdy and effective, it's definitely not cheap plastic. The suction device was very secure and did not budge during the grinding. I have not tried the pasta function since I bought this primarily to grind pork for dumplings.

Overall I am super satisfied, especially since it easily ground a fairy tough piece of meat very nicely. Would definitely recommend it!

My husband asked for a meat grinder for father's day. I didn't want to buy an electic one. Based on reviews I bought this meat grinder and this is magical. Not only daddy can grind the meat but also our three years young children can operate this meat grinder withut a problem. They are daddy's help to grind the meat for making their meatballs and Hamburger.
Easy to work with, easy to clean, and foremost it is safe and has no noise while grinding.
I advise everybody to have one.

I tried this meat grinder. It works for burger meat (what I tried it with). The crank arm feels rather flimsy and I know if I tried to do sausage with the pork fat and the rest of what might get there I would have not been happy.
So if you want to do burgers into meatball stuff and occasionally, this one works just fine. It is also very small and stores in very little space. All plastic with the exception of the crank, the cutting blade, and the cutting plate. Did I mention it is very easy to clean compared to others.

Granted, I've used it only twice so far, but both times it's done exactly what I expected it to do.

The first time, a couple weeks back, I used it to remix a meatball mix to extra-fine texture. That was a mixture of ground beef with onion and seasonings put through the grinder. Worked great, and the family asked, "What did you do differently? These are really great!" The mixture went through evenly and was ground well together, blending the flavors throughout the meatball and giving it a consistent texture that held together well for cooking. The texture also made it more appealing to the eater (I'm not a meatball fan, but that's the feedback from others).

The second time, just last night, I used it to grind ham for ham loaf. The ham has to be cut into small pieces, but you quickly learn the size needed (no more than 3/4" wide strips) and it works well. Again, the family loved it.

It's easy to understand how the grinder goes together even if you lose the little instruction manual with the diagram (darned kids!), and it cleans up great (hand-wash but comes apart completely and easily).

I'm not a gourmet cook, just feeding my family, but this little gadget works great. May try it for noodles. Definitely going to grind my own hamburger. Will update this review if I come up against something it doesn't do as expected.

This is a sturdy item, small, not good at all for pasta. Mine just clumped up no matter how I worked it. It works fine for making sausage (patties, haven't tried links yet) the chamber is small so you can't make big batches very quickly, but it's okay for my needs. I am disappointed about not being able to make small batches of pasta though.