How do you get meat grinders clean?

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My husband bought a couple meat grinders at auction. I took them apart &boiled them,but they still put out a dirty looking product. Any ideas on how to clean them?

-- Kaye Reno (klreno@irtc.net), September 13, 1999

Answers

try running some bread through them. what I have done is go to the day old bread store, and get cheap bread and run a whole loaf through a piece at a time. It usually picks up all the crud and cleans them out good. Unless they are rusty of course. Good luck. It really is fun to grind your own meat, make sausage etc. I hope this helps!

-- jenny pipes (auntjenny6@aol.com), September 15, 1999.

I was intrigued by the bread cleaning answer and can't wait to try this one! We usually just soak in very hot water with Dawn detergent and then use a scrub brush to get in those hard to get places - toothbrush works good in small ones. We do have to scrub a lot though as that fat likes to stay put!

-- Kassie (katwell@llion.org), September 19, 1999.

I just wanted to clarify...I do clean the grinder first with dishsoap and a stiff brush, let it dry all the way, then...the bread. I should have made that more clear. It picks up whatever the soap and water misses, kind of grabs the stuff on the way through. Do start by washing it first though!!! Good luck!

-- Jenny Pipes (auntjenny6@aol.com), September 19, 1999.

After the grinder is cleaned and resurrected, bread (1-2 slices) can also be used at the end of meat grinding to make sure you get all the meat out of the grinder. You grind the bread through until crumbs start coming out instead of meat. If you were making meat loaf, you could grind the bread up all the way and mix it in with the ground meat. Anyway, the bread sort of "pre-cleans" the grinder, making it easier to wash up.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), September 21, 1999.

Older bright ware hand grinders that have been unused for a very long time may need to be scrubbed with a wire brush-steel wool to get any rust out, then cleaned. Dry in a low oven or on the shelf over the stove and oil with a clean cloth that has oil/lard of your choice on it.

-- Tom Cagle (nh-adapt@juno.com), October 18, 1999.


My dad would never let me thoroughly wash the meat grinder before I put it away (a big electric one that gets passed around to family and friends in the little community in Alaska where he lives). He said to leave it greasy, then just before using wash it thoroughly and scald it. I would feel a little bit better, I think, about washing it well first then oiling it to put it away. But his way worked, and no one ever got sick.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 13, 2000.

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