Review: The MEAT! 1 HP Grinder is a beast
Seriously, it will devour your meats.
Editor’s Note: This review, like all reviews on Texas BBQ, is based on my personal experience with the product and is in no way influenced by the company. I personally purchase each product I review, unless otherwise noted, and provide my honest opinion on topics such as usage, functionality, and overall quality.
The product: The MEAT! 1 HP Meat Grinder #22
Overall rating: 9.3/10
Simply put: This is a damn good meat grinder. It’s powerful, fast, and heavy duty enough to withstand a hefty workload.
Usage: I use this grinder for brisket trimmings and making sausage. The grinder head has a big mouth that allows you to feed large chunks at a time, unlike smaller grinders that require you to spend excess time cutting your meat into small cubes. It’s also powerful as hell and significantly reduces the time you’ll spend grinding. MEAT! claims the 1 HP can grind between 11 and 14 pounds of meat per minute, which I’ve found is absolutely true. It even makes double grinding a breeze, which used to be one of the longest processes for me in the Bourbon Brothers BBQ kitchen.
Functionality: The grinder will fit on your countertop, but it’s gonna take up a decent amount of space. It comes in three parts: the base, storage tray, and grinder head. You’ll have to assemble those parts [plus the grinder head] before use.
[Pro tip: Assemble the grinder head and freeze it an hour or so before you start so your meat doesn’t stick inside. Between your chilled meat and head, you’ll get a better, cleaner grind.]
The storage tray has a security bar that prevents you from sticking your hand inside and potentially getting it caught in the auger. The security bar is removable, but if you’re gonna take it off, for the love of god be safe and pay attention to what you’re doing. The grinder comes with a meat stomper so you don’t have to put your hand down the throat and risk mangled fingers.
The grinder comes with two plates: coarse [10 mm] and fine [4 mm]. I use the coarse plate to single grind a pork butt down for sausage. For things like ground brisket burgers, I’ll run a coarse grind first before switching to the fine plate for the second grind. Even with the double grind, the process is surprisingly fast.
Additional features: The grinder comes with three stuffing tubes for making sausage, which admittedly I haven’t used. I bought the MEAT! 15 Lb Vertical Sausage Stuffer instead [more on that in a future review].
What’s not to like: This beast is heavy. Like don’t throw out your back lifting it on the counter heavy. [Or am I just weak?]
As far as cleaning, you’ll also need a long brush to clean the inside of the grinder head really well. And I wish it came with a tool that allowed you to clean the holes of the meat plates, especially the fine plate that is filled with dozens of those tiny suckers. I bought a small wire brush that seems to do the trick, though.
[Yes, I’m a clean freak when it comes to cooking equipment, thank you for asking.]
Final thoughts: The 1 HP grinder may be a tad extra for your average backyard barbecue cook. You could likely get away with the .75 HP model with no problem. If you’re a hunter and process a lot of meat, the 1 HP should be more than enough, but there’s always the 1.5 HP if you want to be extra sure.
At $499.99, the 1 HP grinder is worth the value solely based on the time you’ll save. Do keep a watch for when it sporadically goes on sale. If you’re looking to upgrade, say from a Kitchenaid grinder attachment, you can’t go wrong with this.
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