Hand crank meat grinder, other uses?
My husband bought a Villaware tabletop hand crank meat grinder years ago that I recently started using for making ground beef at home. Just curious if anyone uses this simple machine for other uses. Would it work for nut meal or coarsely cutting grains?Thanks
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calves' liver to make patties or a rough pate;
harder fruits for making sauces and preserves (apple, pear, quince);
raw ingredients for cranberry sauce (the berries, whole orange, some nuts and spices).
Sometimes people use this hand crank grinding device for making guacamole. You could use it for grinding softer nuts. Also, they are pretty good for chopping onions.
The grinder had different plates which were used for grinding various ingredients. We made a traditional stuffed noodle dish every year for Maundy Thursday and the grinder dispatched with the meat, onion, parsley and other herbs, and spinach. At Christmas, Mom used the grinder for chopping up candied fruits for fruitcake and nuts for cookies.
The grinder came apart--the handle was held on by a large screw. When that was unscrewed, the whole grinder could be broken down and washed, so there was no reason to keep it dedicated only to meats.
If you do have a sausage attachment, try to have a helper if you stuff sausage into casings--one person turns the grinder handle and the other person catches the encased sausage as it emerges from the machine.
Or just grind up pork spices etc to make sausage patties (and freeze them if you're making a big batch).
You could also experiment with making some more difficult to find sausage--Italian, for pizza. (okay not to difficult to find). Spanish Vs Mexican Chirozo. (sometimes hard to find Spanish which is more paprika and less hot than Mexican).
And Boudin sausage for New Orleans dishes--which sometimes hard to find. Look for recipes that include liver--pork liver can be hard to find, use chicken liver and pork; cooked rice, green onions, Cayenne pepper, onions, parsley--etc..etc). Great in "Dirty Rice".
And maybe look into getting curing salts and casings to cure the susages..and low smoke them, or just make 'sausage patties' as mentioned. as a dry run test project.
I'll grind (with a mini prep) some pork and crushed fennel, thyme, oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic, a touch of Morton's 'tender quick" and let them sit in the 'fridge overnight for Italian sausage for pizza.
You could, however, use it to crush tomatoes.