KitchenAid FGA Food Grinder Attachment, White

I note that there are mixed reviews on this grinder...some good; some bad. I can only report our experiences and findings. To be honest, this is one of the handiest gadgets we now have in the kitchen. We love our KitchenAid Mixer and it is the most often used small appliance in our kitchen. This grinder attachment has enhanced the mixer's usage range greatly. We have had this attachment for about three months now and have used it many times. So far we have had absolutely NO problems with it and it has more than done the job we paid for it to do. If we were into sausage making or something like that in a big time way there is no doubt that we would invest in an appliance specifically meant for that usage. It should be remembered that this is an "attachment" to a small appliance and I suspect that it was not meant for industrial or professional use. It was made for home kitchens, which is what we have, and is more than up to the job. I suspect that if you tried to run 20 or 30 pounds of meat through it during one session that it would probably overload the appliance...this is merely speculation on my part. As it stands, we use ours for homemade sandwitches such as ham salad, beef salad, and the like. It works perfectly for the smaller jobs. We have not had the problem with "iron filings" or "dirty substances" in the end product as some have noted. I do not know the reason this is happening to some folk...it has not happened to us. This grinder does the job in far, far less time than using the old cast iron grinder we have used for years. It is much easier to clean and hook-up is a snap. I do note that it is much more effective if you feed the thing in moderation and not try to "force" more meat into it than is prudent. We are very happy with this product and could not ask for more...next...the pasta maker! Don Blankenship The Ozarks

I love this grinder! I read a lot of reviews before ordering and hoped I would be happy and I am. I cut the meat into strips and put it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes until it was slightly stiff but not frozen too much, set the mixer on speed 4 as per the instructions and fed the meat in at a steady pace but not too aggressive and it worked like a charm. The plastic pusher that comes with it worked great for me. I suspect people who had trouble with it were trying to push the meat at a faster rate than this home use machine was designed for. I ground 6#s of meat in a few minutes and was very happy. I used the coarse blade to grind a sirloin tip roast and had the best hamburger of my life! Grocery stores do not grind the wonderfully flavorful sirloin tip into burger but now, I can. (I watch for sales and stock up.) Many reviewers said that they had trouble with the grinder being unable to grind silver skin, so I just trimmed that off before I started cutting the meat up. No big deal. I did keep it till last and tried grinding to see what would happen and sure enough, it's so fibrous that it just wraps around the mechanism and won't grind very well, but I didn't really have a great need to eat the stuff anyway and with a sharp knife, it's easy to remove before you start. I don't know if this attachment or the stand mixer would be great if you were trying to grind a hundred pounds of meat, but for the home use it was designed for, it is really great. For less than $45 I have a fast and simple way to grind my own meat for a meal or a few meals. Clean up was a snap. As soon as I finished I just ran over it with the sink sprayer then swished it in hot, soapy dishwater and it was clean. Highly recommend for home use. Can't wait to grind some fresh lamb minus all the fat the grocery stores add. Ditto for pork. Delicious! And Amazon is always great about taking care of business.

Shortly after purchasing this thing, my Kitchenaid mixer took a walk off the counter. Presumably it was depressed. In the interim I purchased a hand grinder. I finally replaced my KA mixer which is a good thing as the hand grinder would eventually require me to undergo Tommy John surgery. You need to answer two questions: 1. How much do I want home ground meat and; 2. Am I willing to spend the time to really clean this grinder. Question one is easy. Gourmet food stores (like Agata and Valentina in New York) have one grinder that they clean once each day. Your medium rare burger is likely to contain some medium rare pork. Buying ground meat from a grocery is grotesque. It is always partially oxidized and one has no idea what is really in it. With a home grinder you have much better control of things like fat content. I like fatty burgers and lean meatballs. You can also grind whatever you like (try grinding half chuck and half flank steak for a truly delicious burger). As for question 2, forget the dishwasher. It will not clean the body satisfactorily and the metal parts are not dishwasher safe. You have to figure on a good ten minutes to really clean this thing. I think it's worth it - your mileage may vary. If you need it and are willing to clean it, this is a great device. For best results, partially freeze the meat. Almost everything is better if you grind it twice. Grinding up four or five pounds of meatloaf (beef, pork and veal) is really a trivial pursuit; Fast and easy. I need to buy a sausage stuffer.

When I read other reviews about there being some sort of "metal" filings being ground in to the food, I assumed people weren't using it right. I received my Kitchenaid Food grinder yesterday, cleaned it up very well, and put it to use today. Imagine my dismay when I began seeing what looked like finely ground blackish/grey "metal" filings in my meat. I noticed that when the meat was coming out, this junk seemed to come right out of the center of the grinding plate. I took the grinder plate off and noticed that the knife is LOOSE around the square peg part of the grind worm. It has quite a bit of "wiggle" from side to side. I suspect this is some sort of milling/manufacturing issue since there should be no wiggle (I can almost turn the knife part of the assembly completely around the square peg) in this product, the knife should fit snugly around the square peg. My theory is that this is causing some wear on the square peg/knife and producing metal dust, which then gets transferred to the meat. I would imagine that ultimately, with enough wear, the square peg will lose it's squareness and render the grinder useless because the knife would just spin freely around the peg. I'm going to ask my husband if there is any way to permanently affix the knife part to the grinder worm. Since this will be used exclusively as a grinder, I don't have to worry about taking it off for other attachments. If I can solve the "wiggle" problem, then there should be no more metal filings. Until we can figure something out, I won't be using it. I would return it, but it's a hassle and should work fine with some modifications. The grinder does work beautifully, but it's clear this is not an isolated problem so based on that, I couldn't recommend it. UPDATE 12/16/2012 I've had the grinder for several months now and use it only occasionally. I upgraded to four stars from my original review for the sheer convenience of the grinder. This thing is *great* for quick grinding, say pulling an elk roast out of the freezer and grinding it up for spaghetti, etc. Although I still get the silvery/black stuff coming from the same location I mentioned in my original review, I just take my nail and kind of keep the meat clear of that area. None of the stuff gets in to my meat. You could probably take a small water bottle cap and gently hold it over that area to avoid contamination? It's kind of a weird and annoying problem, but not enough for me to *not* use the grinder. In fact, we processed two deer with this grinder and I was surprised at how well it did. I wouldn't recommend it for heavy use like that as you're probably likely to burn up your Kitchenaid (we had a few units at our disposal and just switched the grinder between the units), but it did do what we needed it to do! I would recommend this grinder for light-use, just be aware of the issue with the silvery stuff.

SO, tired of buying pink slime burgers from various supermarkets, I thought I would give this a try on my kitchenaid mixer which gets use only for the occasional cake. Needless to say, my mixer is now out just about weekly. I have made ground beef, ground chicken, and ground pork with no problems at all other than the occasional jam. And the taste of all of them are so much better than anything I bought at a store I am simply not going back. It works will every cut of beef I have put in it, with chicken thighs and breasts, and boneless pork. Blazes right through it. Simple tips: -make sure your meat is cold as heck; put it in the lowest part of your fridge, or otherwise stick your cubed meat in the freezer a bit. I'm lucky that I have a dedicated meat drawer at 32 degrees, and that is perfect for this contraption. -do one inch cubes or small strips; big long pieces can cause problems. -alternate cubes of fatty versus lean (and make sure you have some fat or your ground will be very lean) - at the end, run a single half sheet of paper towel in the feeder and it will pull it through the machine and force out any remaining meat - when you are done, take it apart and soak everything in a bowl (I use the one that I ground into after transferring the meat) Just say no to pink slime

The only question I have is why I waited so long to order this. If you already own a KA stand mixer and have any interest in making great burgers, koobideh, shashlik, sausage, etc, do yourself a favor and buy it. Short of the time, bloody mess, and hard work of hand chopping meat, there is no other way to get the quality, texture, control, and freshness. For what you get, and what a difference it makes, this is an incredibly inexpensive investment. Easy to assemble, clean, and use. The main thing is to be sure that it is cold when you use it and that you don't let it heat up, as heat will transform grinding into smearing and ruin the effect you are after. I keep mine in the freezer, but you will get the same effect if you just freeze it for a couple of hours before use. And make sure the meat is also very cold, cut into small cubes or strips (not more than 1-2 inches), and trimmed of hard gristle or sinew. Obviously no bone. Allow the ground mat to fall loosely into a plate or piece of wax paper or parchment, and the LOOSELY AND GENTLY push into piles for burgers that barely hang together. Do not start packing it into hard clumps, if you want to take advantage of the fine meaty texture that a fresh grind produces. For great burgers, you can experiment with mixed of various cuts if meat (short rib, chuck, oxtail, sirloin, etc), but if you want it keep it simple just buy an inexpensive chuck steak or roast and break it down into small chunks, put it back in the fridge for 39 minutes (or freezer for 10), take your grinder out of the freezer and set it up (which takes 30 seconds), and grind away. I'm not much of kitchen gadget person and do as much as I can with a good kitchen knife, but this was one worthwhile and frankly overdue purchase. If you're a results oriented DIYer in the kitchen, just buy it; you'll thank yourself.

I had been wanting my own meat grinder for quite some time, but was very put off by the prices. I didn't need a big huge appliance, just something to grind up some chicken or steaks, you know how it is. So I heard there was an attachment for KitchenAid mixers. A few seconds of browsing here and I found this gem. For the price, I couldn't not buy it. The day I got it, I excitedly thought out some chicken and steaks and got to grinding! This attachment is very easy to use! It has two separate discs for thicker chunks of ground meat or finer chunks. I usually use the finer disc. It quickly and efficiently ground up all the meat in minutes! I didn't have to process any of it twice through either. Clean up was a breeze! I pulled it all off, ran hot water over it to get chunks out then tossed it all in the dishwasher. Easy peasy! It's very easy to assemble as well, not complicated at all. I didn't even read the instructions in all honestly. haha! I use my food grinder attachment often, and am continued to be very pleased by it. I occasionally find myself singing tunes from Sweeney Todd under my breath as I grind up steaks...is that wrong? LOL If you have a KitchenAid mixer and need something simple but very effective to grind up meat, this is the perfect attachment and I highly recommend it!

I bought this item to go with my KitchenAid stand mixer (which I love!) because I've become concerned about the quality of grocery store ground meat, and about what actually goes into it. First, I bought a beef chuck roast. It worked pretty well for that. Everything was super cold, almost frozen like the instructions suggest. I ground the meat twice, like the instructions suggest, and that step only took a few extra minutes. The motor was working pretty hard, but I don't think I turned it above 5 or 6. That was fine. I just got done grinding the first grind of a pork shoulder and the results were not nearly as good. The pork shoulder has a higher fat content, and I had the thing turned up to a 10. I had cut the meat into about 1 1/2 to 2 inch chunks, and again, had it super-cold. Halfway through, I was afraid the motor would overheat. There's also the danger that the meat will get too warm too. The fat clogged up the grinding mechanism (I was using the larger of the two it comes with), and cleaning it out at the end was REALLY a pain. I've got the meat in the 'fridge now, and am going to wait an hour or two before doing the second grind. This is a hassle I really don't want, as I have to clean the grinder between grinds, and was planning to be done by now. If I could do it all at once, I could just clean it once. Haven't ground poultry yet, but that I will be trimming all the fat off of, so I'm sure it'll work fine. Straight meat works very good. Its the fat (which you need in beef and pork) that doesn't. It cleans up fairly easily, and most parts are dishwasher safe. All in all, its just OK. I just really don't want to lay out $200 to $300 for a better grinder, so I guess I'll have to make this one do.

Top of the class product, one can never go wrong with kitchenaid

Dieser Fleischwolf, den man gewiss nicht nur für Fleisch verwenden kann, sondern ebenso für Teig und Kartoffeln für Kartoffelklöße, ist von gleicher Qualität wie die Kitchen- Aid Küchenmaschine selbst. Bei diesem Hersteller geht man offenbar kein Risiko ein, wenn man kauft, ohne vorher die Maschine gesehen zu haben. Der Fleischwolf ist mit einem Handgriff eingesetzt und mit der seitlichen Schraube fixiert. Er passt und wackelt nicht. Zum Betrieb wählt man die Stufe 1 oder 2. Die Maschinenleistung ist ausreichend, es gibt keinen Drehzahlabfall bei Belastung. Die Förderschnecke ist, wie auch das Gehäuse, aus einem sehr stabilen, glasfaserverstärktem Kunststoff, alles sehr leicht unter fließendem Wasser zu reinigen. Die Kritik eines anderen Bewerters kann ich nicht bestätigen. Da war die Rede von austretendem Öl oder einer Flüssigkeit bei der Antriebswelle. Wenn, dann kann das nur die Flüssigkeit des Schneidgutes gewesen sein. Möglicherweise war bei ihm die Ringdichtung abhanden gekommen, die auf der Antriebswelle sitzt und dafür sorgt, dass eben diese Flüssigkeiten nicht rückwärts ins Getriebe gedrückt werden. Beim Zusammenbau kann man nichts falsch machen, Messer und auch die Schneidplatten sind beidseitig zu benutzen und einsetzbar. Wer die Förderschnecke nicht richtig einsetzt, bekommt den Schraubring nicht mehr festgezogen. Also alles perfekt durchdacht und von der Handhabung gefällig.

I purchased this product last week as I wanted to grind meat / cheese for fresh tortellini I was making. I ignored the negative reviews, however they did leave me a little confused. The product is plastic, however its is robust. I minced down a mix of sausages, chicken, herbs and Parmesan cheese with no problem at all. You have to chop items into small cubes and then place in the machine (raw or cooked). I certainly didn't notice any difficulty at all with the shoot being too small, the product being slow and mincing / grinding nor food being left over. If this is happening I suggest the instruction booklet is read again as there's something you are doing completely wrong. It's not a difficult machine to use, you just attach to the Kitchenaid and then mince your food. Simple. I would highly recommend this product to any person who enjoys cooking.

Es verdad que es un producto caro, pero tiene muy buena calidad. No tenemos carnicería cerca de casa y usamos la máquina para picar cualquier trozo de carne que compras en el súper. Las carnes picadas que se compran tienen muchos aditivos y no nos gustan. Con este cacharrito te haces tu carne picada en un momento. Además si queremos hacer hamburguesas le añadimos las verduras al trozo de carne y se pica todo junto y no hay que ensuciar más cacharros ni cortar con cuchillo. Es bastante fácil de montar y limpiar. Muy contenta con la compra

I had to buy this after buying a cheaper version.