Home Grinders

launderess · Jul 7, 2012

This has always me thinking. Why did almost every single mixer or similar small kitchen appliance come with a grinder attachement? Or the things were sold separately. Don't remember my mother or grandmothers grinding up anything for dinner. Ground beef and such came from either the butcher or supermarket.

So just who used all these grinders?

tomturbomatic · Jul 7, 2012

Maybe people who butchered their own meat used the grinders. There used to be a real aversion to commercially ground meat before grocery stores were more regulated and reliable. Those who used the grinder were probably among those who used the sausage stuffer attachment on the grinder as well. I have seen forcemeat recipes in older cookbooks so they would need that or the grinders that bolted onto the table. Before food processors, people used the grinders to destroy, I mean chop, peppers for pepper jelly. I have seen something called ham salad made with a grinder. Lots of kitchens had those bolt-to-the-table grinders. I guess those with more money or who used the grinder more frequently could avail themselves of the motor-driven grinder. There was at least one brand of motorized grinder/shredder, Rival, maybe.

Oh, and when you make gefilte fish at home instead of buying it prepared in jars, you use the grinder to grind up the raw fish if you are doing it in quantity. Otherwise, if it's just a small amount, you won't kill yourself chopping it by hand.

Even when the Cuisinart was introduced, one of the tasks at which it was rated was making chopped, not ground, meat which has a different texture than ground meat. Again, it is something that people could do with their own cuts of meat.

westingman123 · Jul 7, 2012

Other purposes

On the farm, we used a Universal grinder. Often, you see these attached to Hoosier cabinets. We didn't just grind meats with it, the thing was put to work on many fruits and vegetables at canning time. I can only guess that mixer manufacturers had this in mind when they added grinders to their list of attachments.

It's juicer attachments that raise a question in my mind. I see them often, but Grandma and Mama only ever used the glass hand juicers. Oh, that fresh-squeezed taste!

bajaespuma · Jul 7, 2012

My grandmother owned a KitchenAid K3-B and she used the grinder attachment for tons of Armenian food, from grinding lamb into a paste for Kuftehs (Armenian stuffed meat balls and stuffed tripe pockets), to grinding chick peas for Lenten meals (she made the Armenian version of Felafel that was fried and crumbled into soups). I have several plastic KitchenAid meat grinders and I use them for similar tasks. We had a couple of Oster meat grinders for making dog food back in the day and used them a lot.

Tom, did you ever see a PBS documentary titled "A Family Pesach"? It centered on preparations for the family Seder made by three sisters who were daughters of a Kosher butcher. It's very entertaining and funny. At one point, the three sisters who are in their late seventies, go down to the basement and wrestle-up their father's last electric meat grinder to make the necessary three tons of gefilte fish for the holiday. The machine looks like it weights about 100 pounds and watching them argue about how to put it together is priceless. I love to make gefilte fish; the stuff in the jar always reminds me of Frankenstein's "Bad" brain, so I need to make it myself. Here's one of my recipes:

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north african-style gefilte fish

Makes 6 servings

 

If you have never tried gefilte fish, poached patties of ground fish, here’s where to start. The addition of toasted ground hazelnuts adds a new textural dimension to this dish. With a traditional meat grinder or an electric food processor, this is an easy and uncomplicated dish.

Ingredients:

 

½ cup whole blanched hazelnuts, toasted and ground fine

1 pound white fish fillets, from sole, flounder, pike, whiting or a mixture of all

1 large onion

2 eggs

1/3 cup matzo meal or cracker crumbs

1 to 2 tablespoons cold water or ice chips

 Salt and freshly ground white pepper

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine (reserve stems for broth)

¼ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped fine (reserve stems for broth)

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into coins

1 large onion, sliced

A few slices of fresh ginger

Reserved herb stems

1 quart water or fish stock

¼ cup more fresh chopped coriander, for garnish

 

 

1. Put the fish flesh, the nuts and the onion through the fine disk of a meat grinder (or process only to a light paste in the food processor). 

2. Add eggs and matzo meal to the fish paste. Add herbs, spices and season with salt and pepper. Add a little of the water or ice if mixture is too heavy a paste. Chill mixture for at least 1 hour, covered, in the refrigerator. 

3. Wet your hands with lightly salted cold water and form fish into 12 small flattened oval cakes. Place on a clean plate.

4. Heat stock or water, onions, carrots and other vegetables in a large wide Dutch-oven or stock pot, to a boil. Lower heat to simmer. 

5. Carefully lower fish cakes into simmering stock. Place cover on pan but leave slightly ajar and simmer very slowly for 45 to 55 minutes. 

6. Carefully remove gefilte fish to a clean dish. Strain broth, and return to clean pot. Bring back to a fast simmer to reduce volume of broth by ½. 

7. Serve the fish warm, garnished with the cooked carrot and the chopped coriander. Or refrigerate the cakes and the strained reduced broth separately, which will jell. Cut the jellied stock into little cubes and use this to garnish the cold gefilte fish.

rockland1 · Jul 7, 2012

We made hash often with left over beef roast in our Sunbeam mixer grinder. Now I still do today with the KitchenAid. It's a real treat in our house!

frigilux · Jul 7, 2012

My mom used the grinder, as others have mentioned, on tasks now delegated to food processors. She would grind dried bread into crumbs; grind ring bologna, hard-boiled eggs and cheese to make baked party sandwiches; cranberries for sauce on Thanksgiving---things like that.

wayupnorth · Jul 7, 2012

My mother had a Universal grinder also that clamped to the kitchen table. My job as a kid was to crank it as she fed the top. Corned beef or roast beef hash still brings back the memories. It is sitting in a big built in shadow box in my kitchen with all the jello molds and my grandmothers green glass juicer.

mixguy · Jul 7, 2012

Food Grinder

My mother had a Keystone "clamp to the counter" type of food chopper. It was most often used to chop the ingredients in making chicken salad. I told my mom "I am going to get you an electric one some day." I was given a Moulinex Kitchen works from a friend that got one for sponsoring a Tupperware party and never used it. I liked it and added some of the optional accessories that were available like the ice crusher cone and a coarser chopping disc than what came with the basic machine. After buying my first Kitchenaid, I passed the Moulinex down to her. This was a much easier to use than the power unit and grinder for her Hamilton Beach model H mixer. We also used the grinder to chop cooked shrimp and seasoning vegetables make shrimp salad.

launderess · Jul 7, 2012

The Gefilte Fish Chronicles

Is that the film you mean?

Love, love, just luvvvvvvvvvvvvvve it. Try to catch it ever year as our local PBS station usually has it on during Passover

The accents of the older sisters are something you just don't get anymore. Real old "New Yawk"/Brooklyn Yiddish/Jewish (think Bugs Bunny, no I'm not kidding) accent, especially the older bossy sister.

Yes, remember they tried to get the grinder to work and it didn't so they went out and purchased new. Was so amazing to see the various generations of female family members (and a few men) young and old arrive and start helping getting the Pesach meal ready. When one of the younger "Princesses" wants to help one of older women chimes in "quick get a camera and take a picture, she wants to help".

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sudsmaster · Jul 7, 2012

Oh, I most certainly remember Mom getting out the hand crank cast meat grinder, clamping it to the side of the kitchen table (the enameled steel kitchen counter wouldn't accept it), and making ground meat for burgers, spaghetti sauce, etc.

And I have used the grinder attachment for my KA mixer to make ground pork. I'm also considering using it to grind beef for burgers, since the stuff that comes from supermarkets might be adulterated with "pink slime", or worse.

It's really the only way to ensure fresh and safe ground meat.

passatdoc · Jul 7, 2012

Clearly, our most dear Laundress.....

...you aren't from a German-American family, or you wouldn't have asked this question.

(you would have like my grandmother, born/raised in Dem Grossen Apfel, but very Germanic. She used to make her own bratwurst because you can't trust what comes from the butcher shop. My other grandmother did not own a KA mixer and used a manual grinder for making meatballs at Christmas and for stuffed cabbage.

maytagbear · Jul 7, 2012

My mother.........

had, and I still have it, a noisy, noisy Hamilton Beach thing....it had options for a grinder (all that we have), a cone slicer/shredder, and I think, a can opener attachment.

We made ham salad with it, and also, but not at the same time, pimiento cheese.

I have the grinder attachment for my K45, but not the sausage stuffer. When I do make sausage here at home, I just form patties, because I only make a variation of standard pork sausage.

Did any of you know that a very good approximation of Panko crumbs can be made with the Shredding Disc of the processor? I was cooking, and ran out of Panko, but used the Shredding Disc, and I am not buying premade and expensive Panko again! Also, by making these crumbs, you can even have whole wheat Panko!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

autowasherfreak · Jul 7, 2012

My mom had one of those old grinders that clamped to the table or counter edge. She would grind left over chicken, roast beef, or ham to make her own sandwich spreads. During the holidays she would make homemade cranberry relish with the grinder to using cranberrys, apples, and oranges. We never had a mixer that used a grinder attachment.

westingman123 · Jul 7, 2012

Jim!

Do you happen to have the recipe for that holiday relish? Ours got lost somehow, and I've mourned it for years. I'd be much obliged if you could turn it up.

K

vintagekitchen · Jul 8, 2012

Oh lord..

I think in this area the old grinder was the most popular kitchen appliance in its day. In fact, they are still popular as gifts, and command high prices at auction whether electric or manual. Butchering time on the farm, hunting season, the grinder did and still does get a lot of use in this area. And many women in this area still refuse to use a food processor for certain recipes, preferring the good old grinder. Until the food processor came along, the grinder held a position of honor in most kitchens, grinding and chopping for the woman of the house. Also, I can say, cranberry relish really doesnt turn out the same from a food processor.

vintagekitchen · Jul 8, 2012

Cranberry relish recipe

My family recipe starts, 1 bag cranberries, 1 large orange, white pith and seeds removed (don't throw away the orange part of the peel, it goes in the relish), 1 large apple, cored but not peeled, and a cup or so of walnuts. Run all that through the coarse blade of the chopper, (or pulse it in the food processor), and combine in a large bowl.

Now this is where the arguments start. The traditionalists add superfine sugar to taste, while the rest of us add a box of dry raspberry jello powder, and stir to mix it all together. Pack the mixture in a copper mold, and chill 3 days (24 hour minimum, but 3 days is better.) Turn out on a chilled plate, serve.

I have a cousin who skips the mold, and just uses a cut glass bowl. Right before serving she sort of "fluffs" the relish with a fork. It makes for a pretty presentation too.

rolls_rapide · Jul 8, 2012

Grinder = mincer in the UK.

I remember my mum had an electric Moulinex Julietta from the 1970s, a multi-function device. It came new, from her mother-in-law. Mum never used it. I used it for a brief period. Then mum's mum complained about the local butcher changing ownership and the quality going down, so she got it and used it for mincing steak.

It had a mincer attachment, I think a sausage protrusion, a citrus attachment and vegetable slicer with three different shredding drums. Was a hell of a noisy thing though.

A totally separate device was a Moulinex goblet blender, and it had a small chopping attachment for herbs or whatever. Noisy again.

westie2 · Jul 8, 2012

My grandparents and parents have the big grinders and also a small one. The big grinders were for using when we buthered a beef or pig. One set of grandparent has a country general store and they would grind hamburger meat right in front of customers for them. Always asked how many passes therough the grinder 1, 2 or 3. Most wanted 2 passes through. The smaller ones for the kitchen was used for things mentioned above. We have one of the small ones, also the Tupperware Moulenex one, Had a Kenmore miser with the attachment and now one with our Kitchenaid. When we lived in New Orleans we always bought a chuck roast and had them grind it for un at Schweggman's. When you can get a roast on sale we still do but grind ours at home. Like to grind cooked ham left overs to make ham loaf.

Vintagekitchen you make your relish the same as we do with the sugar. We used to use the Texas Sweet oranges and still do if we can find them.They have very thing skin and no pith. Juust quartered than and through the grinder. It was always the kids thing to turn the handle. The longer the relish sits the better the flavor blending.

launderess · Jul 8, 2012

Superfine Sugar

Can be made easily at home with a food processor from everday sugar (not powdered). Simply pour an amount that is about <3/4 or so of volume into the FP, close the lid and either pulse or set the machine to it's highest speed and process for about a minute or so until things are where they need to be.

Learned this trick from a baking book in my collection and haven't purchased superfine sugar in packages in years. Use this fine sugar in cakes and such even when not always called for as one feels superfine sugar gives better results.

Home Grinders

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