Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?

[Pivodog]

I’m thinking of making Summer Sausage using the Caraway & Onion Summer seasoning using my Bowl Chopper instead of using a grinder. Has anyone tried this?

[processhead]

I haven’t tried my bowl chopper to make summer sausage, but I use it all the time to make snack sticks.

It will certainly work for summer sausage but just check your emulsion often while chopping. If you chop too long you may lose some particle definition in the meat mix and end up with a product that no longer resembles summer sausage.

My chopper bowl is about 15" and only can process a few pounds of meat at one time. Not a problem, just takes a little longer.

[Pivodog]

I was worried about the loss of particle definition too. My bowl is 15" in diameter and most likely will take a few batches for 10 lbs.

Thanks!

[Pivodog]

processhead - What type of Bowl Chopper do you have?

[processhead]

Pivodog said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

processhead - What type of Bowl Chopper do you have?

It is an ancient Hobart combination #12 grinder/ “14 bowl chopper. I think I said 18” earlier, but I checked and it is actually 14".

[Pivodog]

nice! I’ve got the next-gen Hobart

[processhead]

Pivodog said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

nice! I’ve got the next-gen Hobart

That should be a nice machine. Pictures?

[Pivodog]

processhead Here you, I just got it a couple of months ago.

[processhead]

Pivodog
That looks like a fine machine. Dare I ask what it set you back?

[YooperDog]

processhead That setup looks cool. I bet it has a lot of stories to tell. Some of that older equipment is built to work for several lifetimes.

[processhead]

YooperDog said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

processhead That setup looks cool. I bet it has a lot of stories to tell. Some of that older equipment is built to work for several lifetimes.

If you think back 50-60 years ago, equipment like this was often in nearly daily use in small stores and restaurants. The only reason a lot of it got retired was because of sanitary regulations and requirements for businesses to go to stainless equipment.

The meat contact surfaces on the grinder head and chopper bowl are all tin plated cast iron to minimize rust. The only stainless parts are the chopper knives. Everything gets coated with white oil after washdown.

I have no doubt this machine will be grinding and chopping great stuff long after I have departed this world.

[YooperDog]

processhead I am keeping an eye open for a bowl chopper, just because. I remember back when I was younger with all the small mom and pop grocery stores and meat markets and seeing all that style equipment behind the counter. My family had an old Hobart grinder. That there is a piece of history

[Midwest_kc]

Pivodog used to use a chopper just like that at the grocery store back in high school. It was the 90s,but we still made our own salads for the salad cases, etc and we used this all the time.

[processhead]

YooperDog said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

processhead I am keeping an eye open for a bowl chopper, just because. I remember back when I was younger with all the small mom and pop grocery stores and meat markets and seeing all that style equipment behind the counter. My family had an old Hobart grinder. That there is a piece of history

This is my Grandpa in his butcher shop in 1943. Not much meat to be found during war rationing. You can see his old grinder in the background.

[Pivodog]

processhead I paid $1100.00 for it from a local used restaurant equipment store. It was pretty dirty when I got it. I ended up taking apart the bottom plate to remove all of the old c**p and polished it up. It looks really nice now. I also replaced the blades and locking collar and nut. I’ve been mainly making frankfurters with it along with a loaf of Leberkasse.

[Pivodog]

Midwest_kc said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

chopp

It’s a great piece of equipment!

[Pivodog]

YooperDog Watch ebay! I found mine on it and it was here locally and I went over to inspect it and made him an offer and he took it.

[processhead]

Pivodog said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

Midwest_kc said in Making Summer Sausage with a Bowl Chopper?:

chopp

It’s a great piece of equipment!

Did it come with the grinder head too?

[Pivodog]

unfortunately not!

[processhead]

The grinder heads show up on the second hand market from time to time. If you don’t already have a grinder, I would be looking to score one.

You did well.