When I “discovered” forcemeat (and charcuterie) dishes, I wondered what kitchen tools I’d need to make some (or all) of these dishes successfully. I did some research and put together this helpful article about the essential tools required for making various forcemeat dishes, the nice-to-haves and some tips on when and how you can make do with what you already have.

The tools and gizmos you’ll need or want for making common forcemeat dishes:

• Blender.
• Bowls.
• Curing fridge or chamber.
• Dutch oven.
• Food processor.
• Frying pan, cast iron or heavy.
• Insta Cure #1 or Insta Cure #2.
• Instant-read or infrared thermometer.
• Knives, sharp.
• Measuring equipment, including a scale.
• Meat grinder.
• Meat press, a.k.a. ham maker.
• Meat slicer.
• Rillettes pots.
• Roasting pan.
• Sausage pricker.
• Sausage stuffer.
• Smoker.
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment.
• Tamis or sieve (fine mesh).
• Terrine mold or loaf pan.
• Utensils.

Now, you don’t need all of this equipment for each type of forcemeat. To make things easier, part 1 is a glossary of terms which tells you what each tool is for and includes some substitutions you can make if you don’t have that gizmo. In part 2, I let you know which tools and gizmos are must haves and nice-to-haves for making each type of forcemeat dish.

Keep reading to find out what tools you need (and want) for these forcemeat treats:

• Pâté en terrine.
• Pâté en croûte.
• Rillettes.
• Mousselines.
• Meatloaf.
• Quenelles.
• Stuffing and meatballs.
• Galantines.
• Ballotines.
• Confit.
• Sausages.
• Cured sausages.
• Bologna or Mortadella.

Part 1: Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary (in alphabetical order)

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Blender

A blender is “an electric culinary grinding and mixing appliance, consisting of a container with propellerlike blades at the bottom that are whirled by a high-speed motor to purée, chop, or mix foods.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

A blender is super useful for recipes that call for puréeing some or all of the ingredients. For example, making a mousse-like chicken liver terrine or a mousseline. For example, I use my blender-like Magic Bullet to liquify the liver in my favourite chicken liver terrine recipe. But you can also purée in a food processor and with an immersion blender (handheld) so an actual blender might be superfluous. Which is great because I got rid of mine a couple years ago at a garage sale.  

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Bowls

A bowl is “a rather deep, round dish or basin, used chiefly for holding liquids, food, etc.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

When making various forcemeat dishes, you’ll need bowls to collect, mix or chill ingredients. For example, if you grind meat for anything, you’ll need a bowl to collect the ground meat. That bowl should sit in another bowl of ice/icy water to keep the collected ground meat chilled. A big bowl is needed to mix your raw ingredients in for many dishes from meatloaf to sausages.

When you make rillettes, you put your cooked ingredients into a bowl to mix them up into a delightful potted meat. (Unless you go electric and use the stand mixer with the paddle attachment.)

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Curing fridge or chamber

A curing fridge or chamber is a fridge or cooler (like a fridge with glass doors) used to cure dried meats and sausages such as salami, soppressata, bresaola, pepperoni, etc. This chamber or fridge is a carefully controlled environment so that your charcuterie dries out evenly. The factors you need to monitor and regulate in your curing fridge or chamber are temperature, humidity and airflow. You can buy a curing chamber or make your own with a regular fridge or cooler.

As I write this, the Sausage Maker has a sale on curing chambers: their digital dry curing cabinet is marked down to $3,100. That price point means that most cured-sausage beginners will go the DIY route. To read about the trials, tribulations and successes of making your own curing chamber, check out Victor Vitaly’s article on the Taste of Artisan site called, Advanced Meat Curing Chamber at Home.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Dutch oven

A Dutch oven is “a heavily constructed kettle with a close-fitting lid, used for pot roasts, stews, etc.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

Heavy Dutch ovens come in all sorts of sizes and shapes and are often made of enameled cast iron. Famous brands that make enameled cast iron Dutch ovens include Le Creuset, Staub, Lodge, etc.

My small Dutch oven is a cheaper KitchenAid and it works just fine. A Dutch oven is perfect for cooking rillettes. Though, the last batch I made was too small for my Dutch oven (that darn turkey leg!) so I used a regular pot with a glass lid, and it worked well.

A Dutch oven is also when your husband farts in bed and then pulls the covers up over your head so you smell—and are enveloped by—his fart. This is not the type of Dutch oven you need to make any forcemeat dishes.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Food processor

A food processor is “an electric appliance with interchangeable blades within a closed container into which food is inserted for slicing, shredding, mincing, chopping, puréeing, or otherwise processing at high speeds.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

Food processors are handy when you’re making pàtés, pàtés en terrine and mousselines. But if you don’t have one, that’s okay because you can find recipes that don’t require a food processor. Like my favourite chicken liver terrine recipe (I use the Magic Bullet for the liver). But if you’re getting more into pàtés and terrines, you’ll probably want to get one sooner or later. [This includes me. I had one but never used it, so I gave it away. Oops. But I didn’t know I’d fall in love with forcemeat so no regrets!]   

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Frying pan, cast iron or heavy

A frying pan is “a shallow, long-handled pan in which food is fried.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

Frying pans can be made out of light or heavy materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron and enameled cast iron. They can have non-stick coatings or rely on butter or other fats to give them natural (and not as non-sticky) non-stick characteristics.

Depending on your recipe, you might need a frying pan to sauté aromatics or brown meats for pàté and pàté en terrine. A gratin forcemeat is one where some of your meat is browned before mixing in with the rest of the ingredients.  

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Insta Cure #1 or Insta Cure #2

Insta Cure #1 (also known as Prague powder #1) is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite (6.25%). It’s a preservative used in meats that are cooked, canned, brined or smoked. It also keeps the meat a pink colour. Some folks use a pinch of this in pàtés to keep the pàté pink, rather than brown.

Insta Cure #2 (also known as Prague powder #2) is a mix of salt, sodium nitrite (6.25%) and sodium nitrate (1%). It’s a preservative used in dry-cured charcuterie products—salami, prosciutto, etc.—that are hung for months. It keeps botulism at bay so using Insta Cure #2 is not optional when the recipe calls for it.

While this article is about equipment, I believe that these preservatives deserve a place on the list because when they’re called for, you absolutely need them. These preservatives are as essential as the meat grinder or bowl, especially when it comes to the dry-cured products that require Insta Cure #2.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Instant-read or infrared thermometer

An instant-read thermometer is a thermometer that gives you a temperature reading instantly. It’s great for liquids and can be used to check the temperature of cooking meats and other dishes. Unlike some meat thermometers, you don’t leave an instant read thermometer in (whatever you’re cooking) the entire cooking time.

In forcemeat dishes, an instant read thermometer is useful for checking the cool temperature of meat you grind or the cooking temperature, for example in a pàté en terrine. You’ll want to look for a digital thermometer that gives a reading in 10 seconds or less (not quite instant, ha ha).

Related to the instant-read thermometer is an infrared thermometer, which lets you take the temperature without even touching the food! This is a pricier investment; The Thermoworks  Food Safety Infrared (IRFS) thermometer is $69 as I write this. However, with a contactless thermometer, you don’t poke your food letting precious meat juices escape or leave puncture marks in whatever beautiful forcemeat food you’ve got on the go.  

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Knives, sharp

A knife is “an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

Whatever forcemeat dish you make, you’ll need one or more knives to cut the meat, fat and other ingredients. Knives are safer and easier to use when they’re sharp. If you’re hopeless at sharpening knives, you can have them professionally sharpened or get an electric knife sharpener instead of trying to sharpen knives with sharpening stones and/or a honing rod. Uhhhh…

I’m on board with the idea that sharp knives are better and safer, but I haven’t yet become vigilant about sharpening my one main meat cutting knife. However, one day I aim to debone a chicken myself to make a galantine, so I believe sharp knives are in my future. Or at least one.

Fortunately, you don’t need a whole collection of knives for forcemeat or anything really. In their article, The Three Must-Have Knives, The Food Network says only three knives are crucial: a chef’s knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife.

“Call me Captain Obvious but having a sharp knife will change your entire cooking experience.”

Jess Pryles, hardcore carnivore & respected authority on Texas-style barbecue

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Measuring equipment, including a scale

Measuring equipment includes measuring cups for liquid and dry ingredients and a kitchen scale. Measuring cups for liquids are generally transparent with measuring lines on the outside (so you can pour the liquid in and line it up to the amount you need). Measuring cups for dry ingredients are designed to hold the amount you need (for example, one cup, half cup, a quarter cup, etc.).

A kitchen scale is used to measure your ingredients by weight, rather than volume. Go for a digital one for accuracy.

With any forcemeat recipe, you’ll need a scale and measuring cups. If you don’t have a scale right now, you can work around it by buying your recipe ingredients in the amount called for in the recipe.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Meat grinder

A meat grinder is a machine used to grind meat and fat. Meat grinders can be electric or manual. There are also meat grinder attachments for other kitchen equipment like stand mixers by KitchenAid or Cuisinart. A standalone meat grinder is likely more robust than a stand mixer with a meat grinder attachment; if you grind with your stand mixer, always be gentle on it so you don’t burn it out.

You’ll need a meat grinder to make many pàté recipes and for sausages, mortadella, etc. To get around having a meat grinder, you can buy ground meat but that’s not a good option if you want to really get into sausage making, for example.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Meat press, a.k.a. ham maker

A meat press—the kind that’s also called a ham maker—is a stainless-steel tube with a spring-loaded press on top. To make homemade ham and other deli meats, you put the forcemeat into the meat press and cook the meat press in a water bath.

This is a specific tool for a specific job, so you probably won’t need one unless you decide to get into making your own bologna or other lunch meats. Like, if you love sandwiches and meat, this is probably a project you could get into!

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Meat slicer

A meat slicer is a machine that slices cured and processed meats like bologna, pepperoni, salami, etc. It can also slice cheese and raw meat—and if you’re not careful, fingers!

Meat slicers run from under $100 to more than $2,000. The less expensive slicers are designed for home use and the more expensive ones are more appropriate for industrial kitchens.

If you’re big into the cured meats of charcuterie or the pressed sandwich meats, you’ll probably want a meat slicer. Otherwise, you can do without.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Rillettes pots

A rillettes pot is a small pot used for storing rillettes. It can be made of earthenware (like in the olden days), glass, ceramic, enamel or enameled cast iron. At my house, my rillettes pots are one-cup, wide-mouth mason jars and half-cup standard mason jars.

If you make rillettes or even a liver pàté that you cook on the stovetop, you’ll need something to put these creations in. Preferably something that you can freeze (rillettes freeze well in my experience).

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Roasting pans

A roasting pan is a large pan used for roasting large pieces of meat, including whole chickens or turkeys. You can roast veggies in a roasting pan too, of course. Roasting pans often include a lid and can be made of stainless steel, enamel, aluminum, cast iron and enameled cast iron.

In the forcemeat world, roasting pans are used to create a water bath also known as a bain marie. Pàté en terrine is typically cooked in a water bath. If you need to buy a roasting pan for this purpose, make sure it’s big enough get your terrine mold in and out of.

You can also use it to cook ballotines and sausages.  

Right now, I don’t have a roasting pan so my water baths have been made of various pots and bowls. The last time I made chicken liver terrine, it was a tight fit for the terrine and my two gloved hands to get in and out of the water bath. I don’t recommend this tight squeeze—for me, it meant splashing a little water into the uncovered chicken liver terrine. And then trying to suck it up quickly with a paper towel. You don’t see that on the cooking channels, do you?!

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Sausage pricker

A sausage pricker is a tool with one or more sharp points, used to make small holes in the sausage casing and let any trapped air out of the sausage. This means your sausages won’t burst during cooking. A proper sausage pricker makes tiny holes, unlike if you use a knife or toothpick.

About their three-prong sausage pricker, Bob from The Sausage Maker says, “Once you’ve used this pricker, you won’t want to go back.”

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Sausage stuffer

A sausage stuffer is a contraption that allows you to put prepared sausage forcemeat into sausage casings. Sausage stuffers are usually made of stainless steel. For home use, you’d likely buy a manual sausage stuffer, unless you make a lot of sausage and have a big budget. For example, an electric sausage stuffer with a 25-pound capacity costs more than $3,000 at The Sausage Maker as I write this. Industrial/commercial operations use automatic sausage stuffers.

Capacity for manual sausage makers runs from 2.5 pounds (1.5 litres) up to 30 pounds. They come in three different designs: vertical stuffers, horizontal stuffers and horn-shaped stuffers. Horn stuffers have a small capacity (three to five pounds) and are manual only. Vertical and horizontal sausage stuffers come in manual and automatic versions. Manual horizontal stuffers need to be close to the edge of your tabletop or counter so you have enough clearance to crank the handle. According to the Meat Processing Products site, “Vertical stuffers are the most popular and there are models for both beginners and professionals.”

You can also buy a sausage stuffer attachment for your KitchenAid stand mixer and for some meat grinders. This attachment option is a good way to ease into sausage stuffing, but it may get tiresome if you decide to make sausages regularly.

If you’re going to the trouble of making sausages, you’d probably want to find a reasonably priced manual sausage stuffer with a five to 11-pound capacity. Generally, the more capacity, the bigger the price.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Smoker

A smoker is a gizmo that creates and distributes smoke to a cooking chamber where you place your food, often meat. You can cold smoke meats which remain raw or hot smoke meats which become cooked in the process of smoking.

According to The Spruce Eats, in their article, What Is A Smoker?, “a stable smoking temperature [is] somewhere around 225 degrees F/110 degrees C.” This is for cooking and smoking your meats.

Cold smoking is a lot cooler than hot smoking. In the Mother Earth News article, Preserve Your Food with Cold Smoking, they say, “Cold smoking is a bit trickier than hot smoking, because it’s important that the smoking temperature is under 68 degrees Fahrenheit.” [By the way, Mother Earth News is awesome for anyone who’s interested in homesteading, gardening and sustainable living—and I say that as a subscriber for 15 years and going strong.]

In their article, Guide to Cold Smoking, Smoked BBQ Source says, “While smoking any type of meat carries some risks, cold smoking fish and sausages is particularly risky. Cold smoking creates perfect conditions for harmful bacteria to grow.” They also suggest getting started on cold smoking by smoking something low risk, like cheese.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Stand mixer with paddle attachment

A stand mixer is a piece of kitchen equipment used for mixing food together. It’s beloved by bakers and people who want a functional piece of art on their kitchen counter. Popular stand mixers are made by KitchenAid, Cuisinart and SunBeam.

These mixers come with various attachments for different kitchen jobs. The paddle attachment is to mix ingredients together without whipping air into them. The paddle attachment is good for creaming butter and sugar together (not that we’re doing that at Forcemeat Academy). For more meaty purposes, it’s used to mix pàté ingredients together before cooking. It’s also used to mix the meat and fat you cooked for rillettes.

You could do what the stand mixer and paddle attachment do by hand but it will take more of your time and effort. Or you can focus on recipes that don’t require a stand mixer. Me, for example, I don’t bake and my forcemeat favourites so far are mousse-like pàtés and rillettes which don’t require a stand mixer.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Tamis or sieve (fine mesh)

A tamis is a fine-meshed strainer, shaped like a tambourine. The mesh can be made of cloth, nylon or metal. The outer part of the tamis can be made of plastic, wood or stainless steel.

Tamis is pronounced ta-mee—that S is silent—which I just learned about 30 seconds ago, fortunately before I said this word out loud to anyone!

In forcemeat dishes like pàté, a tamis is used to get rid of any lumpy bits to create a smooth and light final product. They can also be used to eliminate extra liquid from whatever you’re working on. You can also run your mashed potatoes, soups and quenelles through it.

A tami is a common tool in French kitchens and upscale restaurant kitchens.

If you don’t have a tamis, you can use a fine-meshed sieve or strainer. A tami is probably easier to use but when you have to make do, using a fine-meshed sieve is better than allowing lumps in your liver mousse.

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Terrine mold or loaf pan

A terrine is “a casserole dish made of pottery.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

A terrine—also called a terrine mold—can be round, oval, square or rectangular. Terrine molds used for pàté en terrine are made of enamelled stoneware, enamelled cast iron, porcelain and silicone.

However, you can also use a loaf pan—made of oven-safe glass, stoneware, non-stick bakeware, cast iron or enamelled cast iron—for your pàté en terrine recipes if you don’t have a proper terrine mold. Even mason jars and Pyrex dishes of various shapes and sizes will do.

Terrine molds for pàté en croûte are made of tinned steel, steel with non-stick coating or stainless steel. If you’re delving into the world of pàté en croûte—which is trickier than pàté without a crust—you’ll want to buy a terrine mold built especially for pàté en croute.

[To read more about how to choose the right terrine mold for you, check out my article, 11 Tips for Buying or Procuring Your First Terrine Mold.]

Forcemeat tools & gizmos glossary: Utensils

A utensil is “any of the instruments or vessels commonly used in a kitchen, dairy, etc.” [Source: Dictionary.com]

Utensils that come in handy in the forcemeat kitchen include:

• Serving-sized wooden or metal spoons, including a perforated spoon.
• Larding needle (for testing meat for doneness in case you don’t want to use a knife or skewer).
• Cutting boards.
• Tongs.
• Forks, spoons, knives for digging in and tasting your creations.

The utensils already mentioned earlier in this article are the all-important sharp knives and instant-read thermometer. That’s why they’re not on this little list here.

Part 2: Which of these tools do we need for various forcemeat dishes?

Good question! Let’s look at each of our forcemeat dishes and see which tools are necessary and which are nice to have. In these charts, I’ve shortened the lingo (such as turning the glossary item instant-read or infrared thermometer into thermometer).

As a reminder, this next part covers the tools required for making these forcemeat dishes:

• Pâté en terrine.
• Pâté en croûte.
• Rillettes.
• Mousselines.
• Meatloaf.
• Quenelles.
• Stuffing and meatballs.
• Galantines.
• Ballotines.
• Confit.
• Sausages.
• Cured sausages.
• Bologna or Mortadella.

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making pâté en terrine

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Terrine mold
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Blender
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Insta Cure #1 (depending)
• Meat grinder
• Roasting pan
• Stand mixer with paddle
• Tamis

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making pâté en croûte

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Terrine mold
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Blender
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Insta Cure #1 (depending)
• Meat grinder
• Stand mixer with paddle
• Tamis

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making rillettes

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Dutch oven
• Measuring equipment
• Rillettes pots
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Stand mixer with paddle

This tiny list is why I love rillettes!!!

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making mousselines

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Food processor
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Roasting pan
• Terrine mold
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Frying pan
• Meat grinder
• Tamis

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making meatloaf

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Measuring equipment
• Terrine mold
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Knives, sharp
• Meat grinder
• Stand mixer with paddle
• Thermometer

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making quenelles

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Measuring equipment
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Dutch oven
• Knives, sharp
• Tamis

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making stuffing and meatballs

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Measuring equipment
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Dutch oven
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Knives, sharp
• Meat grinder
• Stand mixer with paddle
• Thermometer

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making galantines

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Roasting pan
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Dutch oven
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Meat grinder

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making ballotines

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Roasting pan/dish
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Dutch oven
• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Meat grinder

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making confit

Must have tools …

• Digital scale
• Dutch oven
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Rillettes pots
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Bowls

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making sausages

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Meat grinder
• Sausage pricker
• Sausage stuffer
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Insta Cure #1 (depending)
• Smoker
• Stand mixer with paddle

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making cured sausages

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Curing fridge or chamber
• Knives, sharp
• Insta Cure #2
• Measuring equipment
• Meat grinder
• Sausage pricker
• Sausage stuffer
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Food processor
• Frying pan
• Meat slicer
• Smoker
• Stand mixer with paddle

Must-have and nice-to-have tools for making bologna or mortadella

Must have tools …

• Bowls
• Digital scale
• Knives, sharp
• Measuring equipment
• Thermometer
• Utensils

Nice to have gizmos …

• Blender
• Food processor
• Insta Cure #1
• Meat grinder
• Meat press
• Meat slicer
• Smoker
• Stand mixer with paddle

Conclusion

That’s it, that’s all! Now you know what you need for sure and what’s nice to have for making a bunch of forcemeat delights! Now go make some tasty meat dishes, pronto!