From emergency aid to indispensable machine
Shortly before Christmas 2022: On the Thursday morning before the holidays, it is December 22, the cutter at the Heinrich butchery breaks down. Irreparably, as it soon turns out. What saved the Heinrich customers' festive meal was a cutter from K+G Wetter.
Rental machine up and running in 12 hours
Thanks to Ralf Klein, Heinrich delicacies were not missing on the festively laid tables around Burladingen in the Swabian Alb. The area sales manager at K+G Wetter received the emergency call from Peter Heinrich at 9 a.m., shortly after the 16-year-old machine broke down. "We already have a K+G Wetter angle grinder and are very satisfied with it. It's reliable and state of the art," says the butchery's senior head, explaining the decision to turn to K+G Wetter for a cutter. He was lucky: Ralf Klein had a suitable used machine available, pulled out all the stops and the cutter was ready for use in the Heinrich sausage kitchen that very evening at 9 p.m. "Mr. Klein also got us up and running straight away," says Peter Heinrich, who was able to produce all the sausage delicacies for Christmas after this short period of familiarization.
Third Heinrich generation gets off to a flying start with new vacuum cutter
The new VCM 120 vacuum cutter from K+G Wetter, which was then ordered, has now been in use at the Heinrich butchery since the summer of 2023. And with the machine, a new generation of butchers has also moved in: Peter and Helmut Heinrich have handed over the business to their sons Jan and Michael and Alexander. All three are trained butchers: Jan Heinrich has also studied business administration and looks after the commercial side, Michael is responsible for production and Alexander for sales. "The mix of young, creative butchers and experienced colleagues, coupled with the knowledge of the master butchers, is what drives our company forward," says the Heinrich website. "For us as the older generation, the young team is a pleasure, " adds Peter Heinrich, his eyes shining.
Technology and know-how combined for perfect Leberkäs
A South German classic is currently on the production schedule at the butcher's: Leberkäs is always in demand, whether as a cold cut, in a sandwich for lunch or as a main course. "We use the lean emulsion process," says master butcher Heinrich. To do this, he minced the lean meat the day before - and this is where K+G Wetter comes in, because the WW 130 angle grinder has been a tried and tested member of the butcher's team for a long time. The powerful machine also comes into its own when it comes to producing the perfect Leberkäs: Among other things, the pneumatic sorting device ensures that any unwanted components remaining in the meat, such as small pieces of bone, tendon or cartilage, are reliably sorted out during processing - automatically and without any additional time - creating the basis for the best Leberkäs. Thanks to the lateral ejection, the entire cross-section of the cutting set is available and the grinding process is faster.
Peter Heinrich and his colleague then load the minced and well-cooled lean meat into the cutting bowl of the VCM 120 and start by slowly cutting a few times, adding salt and spices. In the next step, ice is added and the next cutting phase begins. Parameters such as bowl speed, knife speed and cut-off temperature are controlled by CutControl. K+G Wetter's software supports the master butchers' skills by storing recipes and defining and steering the parameters for each step in detail. "This ensures that the product is always the same in terms of quality and taste, no matter who is working on the cutter. This is important and works perfectly here," says Peter Heinrich as he starts the next processing step.
Incidentally, this advance to the next step works - a practical feature - with the opening and closing of the noise protection cover, so that the large, clear touch display does not even need to be touched. In the next step, Peter Heinrich adds the minced and cooled fat to the sausage meat. During processing, cutting phases under vacuum ensure better protein breakdown, ideal emulsification of the sausage meat, reduce air inclusions and make the finished product more durable. A short time later, the batch is ready and around 100 kilos of sausage meat wait to be processed on the way to the sales counter. "It looks perfect," says Peter Heinrich, pleased with the light pink sausage meat, which has a fine shine and is already whetting appetites. This quality is due in part to the flexible baffle plate, which reduces the size of the cutting chamber, resulting in very finely cut sausage meat in a short and gentle processing time.
Faster to the best salami
Heinrich, an experienced master butcher, can immediately demonstrate another significant advantage of his new cutter: "We used to have a drying time of 14 days for our salami, now it's three days less. So, we can cut and sell the salami after eleven days. It dries more evenly and the sausage is simply better. " The technical background: When producing raw sausage in the VCM 120, Peter Heinrich removes the baffle plate and installs a raw sausage cutting head with sickle-shaped blades. ‘This ensures a clear cut and the meat fibres are cleanly separated,’ explains the butcher. The enlarged cutting chamber prevents blockages when cutting to the desired grain size. This inhibits the protein breakdown, which makes the cut even clearer. In addition, the capillary flow improves: without a protein film around the individual particles, drying takes place faster. Thanks to the new VCM 120 from K+G Wetter, Heinrich's salami now reaches the customer's plate around 20 percent faster.
A thoroughly clean affair
When changing to a different product and at the end of the working day, the bowl cutter and grinder from K+G Wetter can be cleaned and sanitized in no time at all - thanks to consistent hygienic design and sophisticated technical features. This starts with the finely polished and chamfered stainless-steel surfaces, which prevent build-up and stagnant water.
The parts of the bowl cutter and grinder that require cleaning can be removed quickly and easily - usually without tools - so that even intermediate cleaning can be carried out quickly.
Added to this are clever technical solutions such as the removable knife cover strip or the seal-free construction between the vacuum chamber and the cutter bowl: "The bowl cutter is clean in 10 minutes," says Peter Heinrich, getting to the heart of the matter.
Regional specialities for gourmets from near and far
Since 1966, the Heinrich family, now in its third generation, has been supplying customers in Burladingen and four other regional branches with the classic butcher's range and hearty lunch snacks. Another mainstay is tinned meats and regional specialties, which can be bought in-store or ordered from the online shop. "At the moment, we mainly supply southern Germany and a lot of France," says Peter Heinrich. His customers include, for example, lovers of regional delicacies, but also Swabians in exile who miss the cuisine of their homeland - the traditional sour tripe is probably something that would be difficult to get in Hamburg or on the Mediterranean without this online ordering option.
Quality is a core value in the family business
In the sausage kitchen, the senior partner still works side by side with his butchers: only qualified workers produce in the Heinrich team. "We want to keep quality as a core value," emphasizes Peter Heinrich, also referring to his selected regional meat suppliers. And with a view to the VCM 120: "I wouldn't have thought that the K+G Wetter vacuum cutter would really bring such improvements across the board." These improvements pay off in Heinrich's sausage kitchen from the start of work to the finished product: whether it's the smooth and therefore much quieter operation, the convenient operation of the vacuum cutter or the high quality of the sausage meat and sausages. Ultimately, the pre-Christmas emergency rescue ensures even more enjoyment for the customers of the Heinrich butcher's shop.
Photos: (K+G Wetter)
Photo 1: Only trained butchers work with the VCM 120 from K+G Wetter at the Heinrich butchery - like senior head Peter Heinrich (left) and his colleague.
Photo 2: Meat, fat, salt, ice and spices are ready and waiting. The recipe management software CutControl supports the master butcher in the processing of the Leberkäs sausage meat.
Photo 3: The finished sausage meat is perfectly shiny and uniform. Thanks to the high-quality of the VCM 120 and the precise design of the ejector, the bowl is emptied cleanly in no time at all.
Photo 4: The baffle plate, clearly visible here, reduces the size of the VCM 120's cutting chamber when producing fine emulsions. The created backlog improves protein extraction and emulsification. A positive side effect is that very little sausage meat remains in the lid, minimizing product loss.
Photo 5 and 6: Master butcher Peter Heinrich is the senior head of the Heinrich butchery. With the angle grinder and vacuum cutter from K+G Wetter, the third-generation family business produces sausage specialities in the Swabian Alb.
