Norpro Meat Grinder, Mincer, and Pasta Maker Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This product is terrible. It's the only thing that I've ever returned to Amazon because it simply dosen't work.

I bought it because I bought a small pate terrine, and I was looking for something to grind small amounts of chicken livers, pork and so on at home. I was dubious -- it seemed to kind of cheesy. But I thought that as long as it basically worked, it was fine.

I put in some chicken breasts for a pate recipe, and those were fine. But the, I put in some pork. It squished up in the machine and couldn't come out. It got stuck and I had to remove the mincing plate. I tried the larger plate. The same thing happened. Essentially, any meat with even a small amount of fat can't be ground in this machine. It has only a small, not very sharp grinder blade element. Given that the meat you'd tend to grind would be for the likes of sausages, pates and for hamburger, it makes this machine useless. I actually had some hamburger in my fridge. Just for fun, I tried putting that through the machine. It also didn't work on that -- and it was ALREADY ground!!

I thought, OK, I'll see if it can do pasta (which I don't need, since I have a pasta machine). Maybe that will redeem it enough to keep it. No way. The engineering on a playdoh machine is better. The dough comes out and immediately tangles with whatever comes out of it. It also just gets stuck and refuses to move through the machine. There's no way to make any kind of "strands" of pasta. I am a culinary school graduate, and a professional cook -- i know how to make pasta. This machine just doesn't work. Then, I went to clean it up. It took 40 minutes, using a skewer and Q-tips to get the pasta out of the little holes.

The suction cup device that is supposed to hold it onto a counter works only temporarily. It seems sturdy, but then you start to crank and it comes right off. The sausage funnel is way too small to actually use for sausage.

It sort of works for nuts, but then, I can use a coffee grinder for that.

Take my advice -- get the right machine for the job. Get a cast iron or stainless steel meat grinder; they sell them on Amazon. Get a separate pasta machine, the stainless steel kind that breaks the pasta down into sheets of thickness. They cost about $30 and will last you forever. If you want to make baby food, get a good quality food mill.

I think this is the most disappointed I've been in a product in a long time -- and I didn't expect much!

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Product Description:
Nor Pro Meat Grinder/Mincer/Pasta Maker. 7" Height. Ideal for meats, beans, nuts and many vegetables! Make your own pasta from your favorite recipe. Includes instruction and recipe booklet. Comes with two screens: Coarse mincing plate, fine mincing plate, sausage funnel and 3 pasta attachments: rigatoni, spaghetti and linguine.

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