Meat Grinder Plates
Whitetail Deer
I just bought a 1hp Cabelas Carnivore Meat Grinder but I need some opinions I normally grind my deer twice with a med. grind plate, however the new grinder came with the 4.5 mm and 10 mm grinding plates. I feel like the 4.5 would make mushy burger but I'm afraid the 10 mm is too large. For those who grind out there should I go ahead and buy the 7mm plate or just try double grinding the 4.5?
Thanks for the help
I grind mine twice. The first pass is with a coarser plate, looks like coarse ground beef, while the second pass is with a smaller plate, which comes out looking like the consistancy of ground beef at the market. Don't know the mm numbers but a 7 and 4.5 seem about right.
rodb, Is the textured good?
I always single grind with a smaller hole. It may be smaller than 4.5mm can't tell you offhand. Never had a problem. I like it
It depends on what you use the meat for.
If you do a lot of chili, spaghetti, I like to grind once using the larger plate. Ive found if you do a double grind - large/small - the burger texture is small, like soup style
My typical process is to grind once with larger plate. Package and freeze. As I do lots of chili/spaghetti.
Then, if I do summer sausage, I thaw the meat, add fat, seasonings and cure, refrigerate for a day then run it thru the grinder using the triangular opening plate. Texture is pretty fine, not course at all
If I do jerky from ground meat [once ground], I thaw and add seasonings/cure. Refrigerate overnite.
Then, use my jerky shooter for some sticks that have really nice texture.
I do so single grind with the 4.5mm plate for burger. Mike
I do a single grind for chili with the 10 mm as I like the coarse meat for that, and do a second grind through a 4.5 mm plate for everything else. I think it goes more smoothly if you run it through the 10 mm first before going to the 4.5 mm plate.
I leave a lot of tendon and other membranes in the meat and it's about impossible to do a single small hole grind. Mine has a plate with what resembles triangles (large) and then I use the larger of 2 smaller round hole plates. Great texture.
I run mine through twice. First through a coarse plate then a second through a fine plate. Think the larger is about 1/4” and the smaller about 1/8”. I also have the 1hp Cabela’s and works great. Just keep the meat really cold. Sometimes I thaw to the point the meat is not quite thawed and runs through very well and cuts all tendon and sinew. I like the ideas of one coarse grind for chili. May try that this weekend.
Mine has 3,4.5 and 8. I double grind with the 8. Use for any meal. Tried the 4.5 but took to long to grind.
Double grind with the big plate, burger and sausage. Unless you want it like liverwurst.
I'm thinking about doing a sample tonight. I have a deer in the cooler so I might try single 10 mm grind double 10 mm grind single 4.5 mm grind 10 mm + 4.5 mm grind
I would love to do a single grind but I'm not sure how well the fat will get mixed in. I like to run beef fat kinda lean 2.5 lb per deer. Anyway Thanks alot for the imput
Get the plate/size you want. Double grinding is SO hard on your machine. And a complete waste of your time.
I double grind with the 4.5mm plate. I mix beef suet (harder, drier fat around the kidneys) with the deer/elk/moose at a ratio of 10:1 then double grind which mixes it perfectly.
Double grind with the big plate, on the second grind I ad my ground pork, so it helps mix it
One grind. Probably smaller than 7. I put a pound through twice. Yuck. Just one pass for me. But I handgrind.
Grind first with course plate then second grind with small plate. looks like hamburger from the store.
First Grind 10 MM Plate
First Grind 10 MM Plate
Left side 4.5 MM Right side 10 MM
Left side 4.5 MM Right side 10 MM
Edit
Left Side 4.5 MM Right Side 10MM
Edit
Left Side 4.5 MM Right Side 10MM
First Grind 10 mm ( First Pic), Second Grind Right Side 10 mm plate, Left Side 4.5 mm plate ( Second Pic)
I ordered the 7 mm plate today. It might just be me but I want something in between these.
