We had this little mini-foodprocessor/chopper type thing, that we used for onions or breadcrumps. Only one blade attachment and too small for more than a single onion.
Now it burned out and it’s our third in as many years (the second died because I left the bowl on the stove so it melted) - before buying a new one my wife started talking about maybe buying a bigger sturdier model and not replacing it so often (or at all, preferably). But being the master of household appliances in our family, I quickly realized, I have no idea what to look for.
The ones I’ve seen can do, what the little one can, but also slice vegetables (I use my mandolin), press juices (don’t need), mix dough (I have an expensive KitchenAid Artisan for that) and crush ice (KitchenAid blender)…
So I’m wondering if the foodprocesor really just overlaps what I already have or if there’s functions I’m missing? Should I just get another mini or go for the big machine? Importantly, it should still handle just a single onion fine. Any recommendations?
I only ever use a food processor for 1) making various nut butters and pastes, which I don’t know any other way TO make them but to use an automated spinny chopping device; and 2) chopping shit that I’m too lazy to chop, which I’ve discovered all of my local grocery stores will do for me for a minor markup, so I don’t even use it for that any more. It’s mostly a shortcut device, so if you tend not to take shortcuts in your kitchen, you’re probably fine with the tiny model. I am, anyway. Any model you get is definitely going to have some features that overlap stuff you already have just as a result of the nature of the beast, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
$800 for a basic chopper? Jesus christ. No bread needs that much crumping.
Cuisinart and KitchenAid are generally considered the leaders in consumer-grade stuff. I picked up a Cuisinart food processor at an estate sale a while back… thing must be at least 20 years old, but it still works great.
We use ours for making things like pesto and for quickly shredding things like cabbage for cole slaw and things like that. It’s also great for breaking down chunky soups quickly - like, puree half the soup and leave the other half chunky so you get that nice mix. Although I use it for that a lot less since I remembered we had a stick blender…
We just have a simple Kitchenaid one. Stainless steel. It has things like a dough blade but we never use it.
EDIT : And yeah, those robo things are ridiculous. We’ve had our $250 Kitchenaid unit for 7-ish years now and it’s still going strong. Unless you have a need to grind up hockey pucks, I would save the money.
Like you I used to make do with a mini-chopper, but last year I got a 7 cup kitchen aid with a mini-chopper insert, and its been a godsend.
It does a great job at mixing dough (so much so, I haven’t used my stand mixer in months), shredding meat, making purees, making fresh peanut butter, pesto, and doing multiple onions at a time :)
With the mini-chopper insert, it still does a great job at small stuff I used my old chopper for.
Hrmph. I was going to recommend Cuisinart but I see they’ve stopped offering simplified lids for their products. Get a good name brand but for god’s sake get a simplified lid that just has a simple hole and cap in it instead of the godawful hyper-safety lid they sell them with. The difference in cleanup and usage effort transforms it from a tool you are loathe to use into a reliable workhorse.
But it catch hold of the cover and cercumvolve then it can cut the fruit vegertable in pieces or in grain effectively. Such as apple,garlic,onion,potato,etc!
I’m not suggesting he buy 72 of them, either. It was just the first hit that I came on that looked like what I have. Something like this is pretty close and probably won’t cause lead poisoning or require he hang a picture of Chairman Mao to use it.
That came back and bit me right in the ass.
That recommendation was for an American, do remember that everything over here is at least 3x as expensive (like paying $470 for a KitchenAid foodprocessor and probably extra for the mini-insert). It was also a recommendation for a Republican voter and I figured those guys are all loaded…
I simply couldn’t resist after you argued the shower head was not that expensive. :)
That said, as MagiMix is made in France, maybe it wouldn’t be marked up as much for you as KitchenAid, which is made in the USA. I honestly don’t know how that all works, but I do know that anything made by Robot Coupe will likely last until the sun explodes.
I actually didn’t argue that it wasn’t expensive, I showed that the one showerhead I was talking about was less than $1000, so likely half that in the US. But point taken.
I think prices have very little to do with origin country. It’s taxes, brand recognition and charging whatever the fuck the market will bear. And up here it will bear a lot.
But thanks for all the replies, there’s a lot to look into.
