Proudly Canadian Madax Ham Maker - Stainless Steel Meat Press for Making Healthy Homemade Deli Meat with Thermometer and Cooking Bags

We bought this to make an attempt at reproducing the old 70's vintage Swift Hostess Ham in a round can. Then I decided an American style bologna would be fun too. I've made three batches (two pressed ham and one bologna) in the five days we've had it. All were nearly perfect and a breeze. I'm considering buying another so that I can run two batches at a time. Pros: excellent size makes a 4" round loaf. Stainless is a snap to clean. Dishwasher safe. Price is excellent. 2# batches is a great size for home production. Cons: there's no stop on the lid so it's easy to open when you don't mean to. The thermometer hole isn't big enough for my probe thermometer (fixed with a needle file). The instructions aren't very thorough and offer only limited options. I wish it had more "weight" to the spring press to get a firmer form. We are home makers of sausage and curers of meats so we have all of the things, like a meat grinder and curing salts, needed to cure and press meat at home on hand as well as most of the spices one might need. We also have a collection of plenty of recipes for pressed and formed loafs that this device is for and a good meat slicer to cut it on. I suspect that if you're new to this hobby then instant cure #1 (or Morton Tender Quick) and unflavored gelatin might not be things you are accustomed to trying to find - outdoor outfitters and hunter supply stores have it). I also suspect that if you're attempting this with a food processor instead of a meat grinder (or using grocer ground meat) that you might get frustrated. In effect what this is is just a 2" round stainless steel sausage casing for poached sausages and meatloaves. If you don't have the other materials needed to make your product, it will be a challenge. It's not exactly plug-and-play, you'll need some things for success. So far I'm very pleased indeed. A great addition to our meats making hobby.

The photos shows my first produce from this great piece of kit. I used the spicy ham recipe but modified it to add more garlic and some Prague #1 powder for safety. The result was way better than I was expecting for a first attempt. Good texture, solid mouth feel and great flavour. I used 1:1 Beef mince to Diced Pork. My wife likes it and she doesn't eat a lot of preserved meat but I think knowing what's in it made a great difference. There are some good Russian vids on Youtube that have interesting recipes and Google Translate makes a good job of making them readable. One good tip I got from them was take off one third of the mixture then blend it with some iced water until it is all emulsified then mix the other two thirds into it before filling the press. I also checked the included thermometer against my digital and much to my surprise it was very accurate. If you want to get into making your own good quality, no hidden chemicals, honest to goodness food then here is where to start. There's nothing complicated and you can do this in any kitchen.

I'm still practicing with this lunch meat maker. The first batch was ground rabbit with chicken and it was a bit dry. The product was super easy to use and meat was easy to remove as well. I will keep working with recipes for sure.

Nice and sturdy. Worked great. I already made chicken and pork sandwich meat.

I've had the Madax Ham Maker since May 2023. My initial attempts, failures, were my fault (not enough meat, too much meat, the video clearly states 2 pounds, that is what it holds. After I got the weight right all went well.). At the time I bought it I either didn't know about the cooking bags or chose not to buy them. Instead, after I oiled the container, I lined the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and lined the sides with parchment paper too. It made getting the finished loaf out after I ran the canister under warm water to loosen the solidified (congealed) juices. I used my food processor to chop the meats, some fine, some coarse. After seasoning the meat I put the meat into the container in batches using a spoon to spread the meats evenly. This greatly reduced the number of air pockets in the finished product. One thing to note: Do not have the thermometer in the canister when boiling it. The thermometer steams up and is impossible to read. Instead, when it gets close to completing the cooking time, insert the thermometer into the top of the canister and get the internal temp reading that way. I've made lunch meats from ground chicken, turkey, beef, beef with pork (2/3 to 1/3), and chicken with pork tenderloin and ham. By changing the seasonings we've enjoyed many varieties of "bologna". Thank you, Madax, you've saved me a lot of money and the time I used to spend at the deli counter is now looking at what is new so I can replicate them at home using ingredients I choose to use. Also since I got my Ham Maker, there are a lot of videos w/recipes for anyone to try.

The product didn't work for me - but EXCELLENT customer service! I make a lot of my own hams - mainly in the Instant Pot or using sous vide. I got tired using ceramic cups and Pyrex dishes for that; was hoping to produce something more professionally looking with the help of this ham maker. Well... while it was easy to load and easy to disassemble/wash (yes, it is dishwasher-safe), getting the ham out was quite a task. I've tried to follow their recipes to a tee, refrigerated the ham overnight, poured hot water over the canister to dislodge the ham - but all in vain. In my 3 attempts the hams stuck to the bottom and sides of the canister (even though I oiled them thoroughly) and I had to cut them in quarters to scrape them out - which affected the exact reason I bought this thing - meaning the looks. The hams tasted fine, but looked jagged, torn and overall horrible. I've never had this sticking issue with my ceramic mugs and glass containers... Anyway, what I was really impressed by during this process is customer support - and that's why I'm posting a 3-star rating. Absolutely incredible customer service. While the product itself didn't work for me, Magda from the customer support team stayed in touch throughout and ended up offering a refund for me without me even asking for it... I thought I'd get stuck with a nice-looking stainless steel container and find another use for it. Very high level and pro-active support. I would not hesitate to purchase from this company in the future. In fact, I asked Magda to keep me posted on their product line-up.

Nicely made. Relatively inexpensive for what you get. Stainless steel and dishwasher safe was a real selling point for me. Looks small but it is able to make a 2lb block o lunch meat/ham. I raise chickens and rabbits. Bought this on a whim to make lunch meat more as a novelty at first. Once I got it I made bologna with rabbit. I followed the simple directions and the resulting product was very good. I can't wait to experiment with different recipes and meats. All the recipes are nitrate free. This is great for people who are trying to eliminate nitrates from there diet. The only down side was recipes are limited. I would have liked to see recipes for both cured and uncured pressed meats. All and all Ii am happy with it and feel it was a worth wile investment. I attached pictures of my lunch. Remember there were no nitrates used so the color of the ham is natural.

Perfect results right out of the gate! Better than my best expectations. I followed the basic recipe, however I tweaked the spices and let my tastebuds do the talking. The HamMaker did the walking to a ”T”!!! Easy peasy cleanup because I used bag liner that worked like a charm. I cannot wait to expand my horizons. Highly recommend this quality item. Update review: I cannot say enough in the perfectly excellent results in the performance of this item. The last two pictures reflect two different meat and seasoning ingredients combinations. (forefront) combo : twice ground pork 1/2 pork - 1/2 veal pine nuts smoked mesquite seasoning = finer texture 2nd combo : 1/3rd pork - 1/3rd beef - I/3rd smoked pork butt and Amish German style baloney seasoning mix. Very pleased with results one coarse ground one finer ground BOTH delicious

It works. I've made several variations combing ground beef, pork and turkey. I like to use skim powder as a binder. I do not use gelatine. The picture below is bologna using 1 lb of ground turkey and 1 lb. of ground pork. It's excellent. It was emulsified prior to loading in the ham maker. It also contains a 1/2 tsp of cure #1 along with other seasonings.

It was so easy to use !

perfect to make cold deli meat - I've made it already with chicken, turkey, and beef - chicken is a winner in my opinion. Very good quality and speedy delivery to Australia. Highly recommended!

Pero solamente viene una sóla receta

The Madax Ham Maker is an excellent simple gadget which works well. I make any sausage recipe and therefore know what I am eating.