Little late here, but Tom was on target earlier. I've also seen the reverse blade trick used on some models and it works pretty well if the butts are thoroughly cooked. But these are slaw making machines of first order. 50# of cabbage in maybe 3 minutes. They'll do butts as fast as you can feed them in, but 2-3 passes is all you'll want to do. Also makes great bread crumbs for breading oysters and such. Will almost turn bread into flour again. And I've never used one to make sausage, but I've seen it a few times on DDD on food network. Looked to do a pretty good job.