Whether it’s all natural pork with a special blend of spices and cure, hand piecing together a ham, or ensuring that just the right amount of natural smoke is applied to their award-winning turkeys, turkey breast, ham, or bacon, locals rest assured knowing that only the finest ingredients are used at their hometown, award-winning, family-owned Thrushwood Farms Quality Meats, Inc. in Galesburg, Illinois.

Known for their handcrafted, traditional smoked and honey glazed hams, smoked turkeys, prime rib, sausages, deli meats, and Swedish products, Owner Jim Hankes and his son, Doug, take great pride in producing the highest quality smoked and processed meat products. So, it should come as no surprise knowing that the Hankes use only the finest processing equipment for their custom processing, retail, and catering business. In fact, the duo believes that their sausage kitchen wouldn’t be complete without a German-made MADO Supra bowl cutter from Koch Equipment.

The 70-literMADO bowl cutter has been in production at Thrushwood Farms for nearly a year now, and this father-and-son team is still amazed at the cost savings that has resulted from a 60% decrease in labor compared to their former traditional grind/mix/regrind process.

“Prior to installing the bowl cutter, we used a mixer/grinder to process our sausage products, which was very cumbersome. Before adding specialty ingredients like cheese, whole olives, blueberries, or encapsulated citric acid, we had to pull out the knives and plates prior to mixing. When the mix was complete, we would then have to auger out the material. With the bowl cutter, it’s quick and easy. All we have to do is add the ingredients to the meat mixture, reverse the blades with a touch of a button and it mixes without breaking down the ingredients.”

Doug continued, “The result is a distinctive-looking sausage because you can actually see the whole olives, blueberries, cherries, etc.”

Through the use of touch controls, operators can manage the forward and backward mixing action and achieve a wide range of speeds from 50 r/min to 4,000 r/min, which gives them increased flexibility when blending, mixing, chopping, mincing, or emulsifying. Additionally, the Hankes can save product programs that allow them to produce consistent pulled pork and barbecue beef time and time again, no matter who is running the machine.

Jim commented, “Before using the MADO bowl cutter, we were unable to make a good hot dog. By using high speeds, we can create a super smooth emulsion that results in a superior mouth feel and a really great hot dog. We have and will continue to recommend the MADO bowl cutter to other plant operators. This is a solid machine with great flexibility. You can use it to shred jerky, pulled pork, barbecue beef, make a wide variety of sausages, deli loaves, and more. Its uses are endless and we’ve added over 20 new products that we could not make before we installed this machine.”

Doug added, “This is one piece of equipment that I can honestly say ‘I don’t know how we lived without it.’ It allows us to make a wider, more diverse array of products faster and with the highest product integrity. Whether you are making specialty sausages, or working to achieve the highest standard with your current product offering, the MADO Supra 70SL is a must-have for any sausage kitchen. It frees up other equipment so we no longer have employees standing around waiting to use equipment, which results in making more products during our hours of operation.”