We are sorry to hear that you washed your mincer in the dishwasher. It’s not something we recommend. The mincer is oxidizing and turning black. We don’t have a solution to this, but it is worth trying the following:

1. Wash off as much as you can of the black residue using hot water and washing-up liquid
2. Then place it in a pan and cover it in boiling water
3. Pour in one sachet of citric acid per litre of water
4. Boil for 30-40 minutes
5. Take it out and dry it carefully. Smear cooking oil all over it

We have stopped mincers turning black in this way. But it will never be as nice and shiny as it was before, after it had been steel ball polished. But hopefully it will be usable. Run something through other than expensive meat to start with, perhaps potatoes or onions instead, so that you can get rid of some of the black residue that probably remains inside the discs.

There is no oil in our machines. What is happening here is that the oxygen content in some apples reacts to the metal in the strainer valve and starts to oxidize. It’s not at all harmful, but obviously it doesn’t look very nice. To prevent this, you can either sprinkle a little lemon juice over the apple segments, or if you are making a large quantity, switch everything off and rinse everything through once before continuing.

What is happening here is that the oxygen content in some apples reacts to the metal in the strainer valve and starts to oxidize. It’s not at all harmful, but obviously it doesn’t look very nice. To prevent this, you can either sprinkle a little lemon juice over the apple segments, or if you are making a large quantity, switch everything off and rinse everything through once before continuing.

Make sure that the knife is attached correctly. I.e. the blade of the knife must face outward, towards the disc. If you do a lot of mincing, the knife may need sharpening. Use a whetstone to do this. If the knife is very worn, it may be worth replacing it with a new knife. Sometimes, the piece of meat being minced may be the cause of the problem – it may contain a lot of sinews, perhaps.  In such cases, begin with a coarser disc (8 mm), and then put the mince through increasingly finer discs. Finish off by mincing a bit of crust, a potato or a piece of onion, to clear the remaining meat from the mincer.

Freeze the mincer before use. Grease the sausage horn with a little sausage filling before you slide on the casing. If air gets into the sausage, stop the Assistent and press the air backwards through the air channel. Sausagemeat can be mixed using the Assistent; use the bowl, dough knife and dough roller.