Just tossing this out there in case anyone is interested. LeCreuset outlet stores are having their December "Storewide 30% off sale." CLICKETY!! December 5-24.
Short version- Mark had me open my special Cmas present yesterday- an aqua colored Kitchen Aide Mixer So far he has made over 5 dozen cookies.... he loves it
You all need to get a food grinder attachment (Kitchen Aid #FGA) for that beast. Given your husband's background, he'll make good use out of it. I used to buy chuck steak on sale and make my own burgers. It's amazing how much fresher they taste (the flavor of ground beef significantly diminishes the longer it sits.) You can process other foods with the FGA as well. Amazon had a variety of them with various accessories (like sausage stuffers.) The basic plastic one is $30. There are 3rd party high-end versions. You also need to get hubby to bake some breads. Put that dough hook to use! And give those cookies away. Maybe a homeless shelter or some other such place.
I'm currently making one out of my dining room table cloth for me after the amount of food I ate at Thanksgiving, and now there is all the christmas cookie/candy quality control that has to be done, while making them.
We went through several of the KitchenAid plastic grinders before we found the metal ones. The metal is MUCH more durable, of course we process everything from frozen cranberries to an entire moose (not frozen) through them. We also put an entire sheep (ram) through it to make Italian sausage.
Yes it was. It was even with the smaller KitchenAid we bought years ago with a fiberboard gear to prevent overwork. We now have a bigger one as my wife got "mixer envy" when our daughters had bigger stand mixers than she did. The smaller mixer still does work though. We had to have that gear replaced one time.
We are on the downslope of life now @John Brunner. I don't think the big monster is in our future. One of our sons has a big stand alone meat grinder and a commercial bag sealer...and 3 or 4 freezers.
Did you buy that fat separator? The short ribs I braised had a LOT of fat on them, too. The recipe said not to trim it off but to let it flavor the dish, then "skim with a large spoon" before serving. We all know that skimming with a spoon is a PITA and not very efficient. So... didja gittit and how do you like it? Recommend?