Old windable mincer

Severnside I think that would make me vegetarian. However I did in far gone days. I used to buy a tongue and press it, I wouldn’t do it now though.
I always used my old mincer to mince the remains of the Sunday joint and make a pie. Then I got rid if it. It was extremely good, I think a lot if the basic equipment is. I had a Kenwood chef, but hardly used it because of all the parts and washing up, I gave it to the charity shop.
Madeline, I would love to chop an onion finely and quickly like the chefs do on tv, so fast and some not looking at what they do, I would be in accident and emergency. I’ve grated fingers and knuckles and cut myself more times than I can count.

Blimey Severnside what a lesson!
Very cross curricular!

GagaJo

Hahaha, this title put me in mind of a good gay friend of mine.

tee hee!

I taught children who had special needs. We combined a history lesson with one on the organs of the body. My butcher supplied me with a heart, liver and lungs which we examined by blowing down the windpipe and poking our fingers in the arteries of the heart: a very enjoyable biology lesson. Afterwards, we minced everything up in my mum’s old. Mincer with onions and herbs then wrapped the mixture in
sheets of cawl to produce faggots. Amazingly, even though the kids knew what they were made from, they all devoured
them. I must admit, mincing the heart was a bit grim because of the tough bits. One of my favourite lessons ever.

I tend not to mince food up but have a couple of really good sharp knives that fit my hands very well and I dice up stuff and it suits me ok. Have learnt a new thing from I think it was the biker blokes and that was to cut an onion in two and then hold it with one hand but really fold you fingers inwards and then put the hand on top of the onion and chop away. The weight of the hand stops it moving but your fingers are well away from the flashing knife. As I love onion and just about any casserole or roast has onions of some description in it has been a good safety tip. As I now live alone , it doesnt seem worth the faff to get a machine out to do things and so go back to a lot of simply chop things up. I always did have - and still do - one of those little mouli hand graters where you had a little box style thing on top of the circular bit with a handle. Very simple to put together and take apart. No grazed fingers or half an hours cleaning it! I find it useful for many things. a quick whiz with some cheese going a bit hard and there is your grated cheese topping. did good shredded carrots , but as I say a very sharp knife and a good chopping board seems to be the best for me. I like my coleslaw fresh and just made and have the ingredients and quite enjoy making it, so can change my mind up until the last minute. always have celery, and carrots and lots of other veg so it is a matter of what I fancy and see what appeals for that day. .

I've had meals involving spiralised courgettes a couple of times, it was pretty awful. I do have sliced runner beans replacing come of the pasta in my spaghetti bolognaise though!

I think you would find it would squash it up so much that it was effectively mashed.

I have two clampable hand mincers. The big cast iron one was my grandmothers, the smaller cast one was my Mums. Both still work perfectly, though I don't use them often. Last used the big one for mincing meat for our dog when he was a puppy. Never tried them for veggies, but I really can't be bothered with making vegetables look fancy!

I also have my GMs cast iron apple peeler/corer that clamps to the worktop and does a great job. The blades can be removed and sharpened. I bought a new one from Lakeland a couple of years ago but it's nowhere near as good, too lightweight. We have two large apple trees so we do a lot of peeling every autumn!

Memories of my mum mincing up leftover lamb roast to make shepherds pie. She put meat and onion through followed by some bread to clean the mincer (and probably ly pad the meat out). If I was lucky I got a small amount of tje meat and some of the minced bread - which would be onion and meat flavoured - to nibble on.

I’m still using the hand grater I’ve had for 50+ years. Bought fancy ones and have a flashy food processor but nothing works as well. You just have to be careful not to grate your fingers!

Baggs

Has anyone tried using an old-fashioned, hand driven meat mincer as a vegetable spiraller? And if so did it work?

I'm thinking of having a go with mine later today as the sous-chef mandoline that MrB bought at great expense seems to be too big for my hands/strength. Designed for a beefy man chef, I suspect.

I'm afraid I don't think it will. A spirallizer turns the vegetables (usually long ones like cucumber, courgette, carrots or others cut into chunks) which pushes them against a row of very sharp cutters, similar to a grater or a slicer but the movement of the veg means it cuts in a continuous slice or thread. I have one similar to the attached photo. A mincer chops or pulverises the meat, pushes it through holes which cut it of into short lengths. Any vegetables would, unfortunately, be pulverised and not spirallized.

Coastpath

Maybe you could get an old one on ebay or etsy if you don't have flea markets locally. The brand name of them is Spong! I remember as it's such a funny name. I often see them in flea markets/junk shops/car boots still in their original boxes.

That is a brilliant tip about the marmalade. I will always think of you as Kar-marmalade-lady now.

Spong mincers are no good if they attach by suction, coastpath. I bought one in the '70's and it drove me mad because it would never stay put! You need a good oldfashioned clamp on the table one...

I've a little plastic thingy that you poke into the vegetable and turn. Never used it though as I don't really see much point to spiralising. Can't think why I bought it, TBH

If you have a box type cheese grater, Baggs, with one side that has slots on it, the slots have mandoline action.
Mind you, I tend to use my food processor which has a slicing attachment.

I have hand cranked mincer, it belonged to my grandmother. It must be 100 years old by now... It still works

I don't know what you mean by spiralling, but unless you have an attachment that is supposed to do this, no, your mincer probably does not do this.

Mine minces everything, meat, fish, onions, carrots, and dried bread in cubes for breadcrumbs, but I suspect it would give up the attempt to reduce cabbage. Never tried that.

I still have mine but haven't used it in the while - perfect for mincing cooked meat, vegetables and fruit like apples - but you have to protect the worktop or table you attach it to and ensure it is tightly attached and doesn't move during use.

LOL thanks. It works.

Oh bother! That was a reply to Kali’s post about Brillo and oil.

Yep. Just so.

Maybe you could get an old one on ebay or etsy if you don't have flea markets locally. The brand name of them is Spong! I remember as it's such a funny name. I often see them in flea markets/junk shops/car boots still in their original boxes.

That is a brilliant tip about the marmalade. I will always think of you as Kar-marmalade-lady now.

I wish I had kept my old hand cranked mincer. I would have made marmalade this year, it was so good at mincing the skin.

It would not have spiralised anthing

Hahaha, this title put me in mind of a good gay friend of mine.

I have a Moulinex electric gadget which I bought in France and was cheap. Can't find it on Google.
Is has attachments graded in size one of which, as I found recently, is good for mincing cooked chicken and meat. Never tried it for raw.
I use it mostly for grating vegetables. It's red plastc and you push a button on the top to work it so not much manual work.

Calendargirl

I think you would find that if the mincer hadn’t been used for a long time, it would probably have gone rusty.

Clean with brillo pad then oil- no problem.

I still have my grand-mothers metal hand mincer, which you clip to the table, and with different 'heads' - much much better for mincing roast beef, or lamb, for pies, etc.

Husqvarna Number 102 Perfect.

I don't like the thought of a hand mincer.