Help cleaning KA meat grinder attachment

[WayneT]

After I used my KA meat grinder yesterday it somehow ended up in the dishwasher. When I took the parts out this morning it looked like this.


What happened to my nice shiny meat grinder? And, if you handle it, your hands will look like this.



Are there any proven methods to cleaning this thing up to be shiny again?

[CaptainMike]

I did the same thing, once. I just hand washed the heck out of it and it's fine. Use some Barkeeper's Friend, too.

[jfmorris]

I've got the same grinder. Just used it night before last to grind a 12 pound brisket into burger. Kitchenaide says EXPRESSLY *NOT DISHWASHER SAFE* in the instructions, aside from the plastic parts like the pusher, and to hand wash only.

I think it is because it is not stainless, but aluminum. Anything made from aluminum will have the finish ruined in the dishwasher - my wife did that to one of my practically new sheet pans in the top rack of the dishwasher. The dishwasher oxidizes the aluminum and makes it look like crap. Dishwasher detergent is very alkaline and reacts with unanodized aluminum.

Scrubbing by hand with Barkeeper's friend, as CaptainMike says, is about the only thing you can do now. And wash by hand in the future, using the bristle brush that came with it to clean the inside good.

A lot of advice on the web seems to lean towards using a paste made with Cream of Tartar (a spice) to scrub the aluminum.

[jfmorris]

WayneT sounds like you had some HELP cleaning the kitchen up last night... same kind of help I had!

Also - hope you took the grinder part apart and it didn't go through the dishwasher with the auger and blades and stuff still in there with meat scraps...

[WayneT]

Sometimes ‘help’ means extra work.

[CaptainMike]

Nice job slamming on the brakes of that bus that almost ran over your "Helper" WayneT. Men tend to live happier lives when we do that.

[texastweeter]

Barkeepers friend, elbow grease, and you will be ok

[STEbbq]

Well, I hate the KA attachment so can I just say throw it out and buy a dedicated grinder? No? I am being an enabler so I think so.

[WayneT]

Storage constraints.

[jfmorris]

Same here WayneT - I've filled several shelves in the pantry and in the laundry room with random equipment that SWMBO doesn't use, not sure a dedicated meat grinder has a spot, but she doesn't complain about 1 more attachment for the KA mixer...