Even after all these years, I really enjoying stuffing salami and sausage!
Spicy Venison Salami and a traditional Hungarian Salami (made them a little long!).
Electric Vs Manual Stuffers – Smearing
The kitchen aid or electric types of stuffers – leads to the blending of meat/fat. This is where a manual stuffer wins, for in-home charcuterie sausages or salami.
It only take one or two runs of a kitchen aid stuffer for anyone to realize its painful to use, well for me anyway.
How Much Stuff are you going to Stuff?
That’s really what it comes down to when you’re talking about either going for 5lb or 15lb+ stuffer.
14lb (7kg) for me right now it just right, but I like to do decent runs when I have a harvest of meat – this excels.
I’ve never had issues with slipping, but I think because it’s solid, lots of stainless steel and heavy the below don’t have any issues with slipping.
There aren’t any clamps or the like either.
Most of the time, there are two of use operating the stuffer for salami or sausage making. So a horizontal stuffer means I person on the crankshaft and the other having 2 hands to work on the casing end. “stop” and “go” commands are issued and everything happens smoothly.
1 or 2 Speed Gearing
1 gear can work, but 2 gears make moving the plunger into position or out of position a damn sight easier – all the below recommendations are 2 gears.
Clamping/Feet Base Attachment
Most will just sit on a bench since they are heavy, the smallest HAKKA vertical is still around 20lb weight.
I wouldn’t bother looking at suction footing models, they have quite a poor reputation around here!
The old saying “cheap things aren’t good, good things aren’t cheap” – seems to apply.
Stainless Steel Build
Really important part of the build, and all these tick that box. Just the plunger is aluminium, with a piston air release valve.
Vertical Stuffers
Big point to note is the vertical stuffers don’t need to be on the edge of the bench/table.
Now I’m always working on the edge of the bench, so I can’t see this as an issue for anyone. But it’s just something to keep in mind. I actually prefer the lower crank then a higher up vertical stuffer, personally.
Big – Next Level, Semi Commercial/Artisan
The 25lber HAKKA stuffer is beast, if you prefer doing big batches.
Mid – Regular at Home Meat Stuffer
10 pounds or 5-kilogram capacity is the size I have, but a horizontal, not vertical one. Most guys lean toward vertical for space-saving.
Check it out on Amazon here.
Compact- Batch Now and Then
Hakka 7 Lb-er is very popular in the charcuterie @ home community. It’s under $150 and solid. Great for small runs or space-saving in the cupboards.
Horizontal Sausage Stuffers
They are for more home use, hence why I haven’t seen them go big like the vertical ones.
I’m pretty sure mine was a Hakka, they have changed the design and badged it over the last 7 years, the community around here find it a good balance between cost and quality for the home user.
Small Batch – Horizontal Stuffer
Hakka 7lb stuffer has 2 gears like the rest. Good of those small runs, and not too bulky.
Medium – Horizontal Stuffer
Large Batch Horizontal?
Don’t really get the larger ones for home use!