A little backstory here:
Once upon a time, there was a CEO of a major company and/or a former US President (I heard this story a long time ago and forget which it was), whose personal chef made the absolute best hamburgers. It was an inside joke between them where the CEO would repeatedly ask how the chef made such great-tasting burgers. The chef's reply was always the same, that a great cook never divulges his secrets.
After so long of this, the guy eventually jokes that he'll fire the guy if he doesn't fess up his method. The chef obliges and takes him into the kitchen. There, he proceeds to take a T-Bone steak, cut the meat from the bone and throw the meat into a grinder. He forms a burger and grills it.
The secret to a great burger, or so the story goes, is in using fresh, high quality steak.
Ever since that story, I was enraptured to buy a grinder and try this for myself. Woe was me when I saw even cheap consumer-grade grinders were $100.
So. Imagine my surprise a few years later when I typed in "meat grinder" into Amazon's search and found this $20 masterpiece.
At first I was skeptical, due to the price, but the reviews forced my hand. And I bought it. Here's my review:
PROS:
The price (was) right. It jumped $7 to $27 a few days after I purchased it.
The unit is solidly built and tears down to easy-to-clean parts. It is simple in operation and assembly and includes lots of additional (pasta) attachments.
It ground my de-boned short ribs and sirloin strip with ease.
The suction cup works great on my countertop.
The manual says don't clean in a dishwasher. Another reviewer says he does it with success. I barely rinsed mine after dis-assembly, threw it in the dishwasher and out it came perfectly clean and spotless. One thing I may note is that the clear plastic hopper may discolor with time using this method. The small pieces must be placed in an escape-proof tray, as well.
Free shipping, no sales tax and an unbeatable return policy (not that I'd need to use it with this product).
CONS:
None that I can really think of. It may be too small for some people, but for my needs it works great!
The unit is all plastic except for the blades and part of the handle. That may turn off some people, but not me.
OTHER & CONCLUSION:
I had never ground meat before. I was highly impressed with the results although it appears I need to work on meat selection and/or seasoning to master that "perfect burger."
The naysayers that gave this one star or less don't know what they're doing. This grinder works great for consumer use. They had to have been doing something wrong.
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Norpro: Quality & Innovation Since 1973
In 1973 CEO Gunnar Lie founded Norpro with a vision of designing, manufacturing and supplying the highest caliber kitchenware backed by a commitment to exceed customer expectations.
Norpro is consistently at the forefront of product innovation. Traveling worldwide to study trends enables us to create cutting edge products and introduce the customers to the latest technologies and industry innovations. Their products reflect the utmost in quality and are manufactured with superior materials and craftsmanship.
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Norpro Meat Grinder Mincer and Pasta Maker
Norpro
Good quality, a few minor issues
This is my first meat grinder; normally, I'd probably look for a more expensive and/or electric gadget, but the reviews on Amazon steered me to this one, and rightly so!It grinds meat with surprisingly little effort, probably helped by the long handle giving one plenty of cranking leverage. The length of this handle is also my one modest issue with the design: since the handle is longer than the height of the handle attachment point, the handle MUST stick out over the end of the mounting surface, or it will hit the surface near the bottom of its arc and not be able to complete a full 360 degree crank.However, the durability of the whole assembly is good. The parts feel solid and the threads and mounting pins look sturdy. Once the grinder unit is assembled, it slides onto the suction cup base. Note: do this before clamping the suction cup, as the suction cup clamping mechanism also locks the grinder unit to the base.The base with its suction cup (which does a great job securing the device to the counter) is not to be submersed in water, but a quick wipe should be plenty for it, as it doesn't come in contact with the meat. The suction cup is clamped with a knob on the base; the included plastic lever/pusher fits over this knob to provide easy leverage to lock the suction cup in place. The handle also shouldn't come in contact with the meat and so doesn't need to go in the dishwasher. The grinder assembly easily comes apart into about a half dozen pieces, which can be hand-washed or run through the dishwasher.As others have noted, try putting your meat strips into the freezer for an hour two before grinding, and experiment with strip widths to see what works best for you. I've noticed that often strips that seem a bit too wide are grabbed by the screw after a few turns, and then work fine for grinding.
