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Food Processor

incorporating Recipes and Cooking
sg31
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Food Processor

#227407

Postby sg31 » June 6th, 2019, 10:57 am

I've never had a food processor but now seems an appropriate time to get one. I have no idea what to buy but hopefully someone on here can provide assistance.

I'd like it to be as versatile as possible without costing the earth but something reasonably long lasting. That seems to suggest a mid price range from a reliable manufacturer.

Any suggestions welcome.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Food Processor

#227426

Postby UncleEbenezer » June 6th, 2019, 11:16 am

I used to have a food processor with lots of gadgets. It did quite a lot of things, but was a faff to use and maintain.

Ditched it in favour of a simple stick, as in https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/applianc ... s/c:29942/ . Does most things - like soups and desserts - just as well and with a whole lot less hassle. And much easier on dishwasher and cupboard space. The only thing I miss from a much fancier food processor is the attachment to squeeze the juice out of citrus.

Dod101
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Re: Food Processor

#227438

Postby Dod101 » June 6th, 2019, 11:32 am

I am no expert but I do my own cooking now and I would say it depends very much on what you are going to use it for. I have a simple stick for soups and also a nice little one which is great for making say pesto. I also have a slightly bigger one which I use to slice up carrots and so on.

My late wife also left me with a very big one all bells and whistles which I have never attempted to use.

John Lewis is as good as anywhere I think. The small ones at least are not expensive.

Dod

redsturgeon
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Re: Food Processor

#227524

Postby redsturgeon » June 6th, 2019, 4:23 pm

I second the thought that you need to decide what you wish to use it for before deciding what to buy. The stick blenders are by far the most useful thing IMHO but they don't do everything.

John

sg31
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Re: Food Processor

#227544

Postby sg31 » June 6th, 2019, 5:12 pm

redsturgeon wrote:I second the thought that you need to decide what you wish to use it for before deciding what to buy. The stick blenders are by far the most useful thing IMHO but they don't do everything.

John


I already have a stick blender, an old Moulinex blender/grinder and a decent stand mixer. The processor would be used more for chopping,grating and to replace the Moulinex which really is on it's last legs.

My knife skills are decent for an amateur but arthritis is making it more difficult to chop and slice effectively. Turning meat into mince is a function I'd find useful.

I've always avoided buying a food processor on the basis that it is more faff to clean it than using a knife. Now I'm considering it may be time to change my mind.

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Re: Food Processor

#227556

Postby redsturgeon » June 6th, 2019, 5:51 pm

For chopping/grating I'd be more inclined to by a good quality mandolin, much easier to clean.

https://www.bestadvisers.co.uk/mandoline-slicer

John

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Re: Food Processor

#227568

Postby PrincessB » June 6th, 2019, 6:37 pm

Turning meat into mince is a function I'd find useful.


Food processors don't tend to make good mince. The power of the motor and the friction between blade and food tends to heat the meat up. The result is acceptable but not award winning.

I had a quick Google about and the old style mincers seem to be in short supply these days.

Nibsets have one for £36 which looks alright, it's not dishwasher safe mind you.
https://www.nisbets.co.uk/kitchen-craft ... ncer/cw376

Other people (*Ahem Amazon) also do a fair range, most of which don't get very good reviews.

We've got an all singing all dancing Kenwood food processor which came with everything and cost about £90 at least a decade ago. It gets a good workout when we're batch cooking as the slicing blades work a treat (and go in the dishwasher), the design gives it a small footprint as the jug blender sits on top of the motor unit rather than next to it - I don't recall ever having used the jug blender, so for our use, smaller is better.

Would suggest a manual meat mincer and a budget basic food processor with a single bowl and a set of cutting disks could cost less than a more feature packed model.

Regards,

B.

sg31
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Re: Food Processor

#227593

Postby sg31 » June 6th, 2019, 7:59 pm

Thanks for the replies it does seem that the consensus is against food processors.

I do have a mandolin but I don't seem to get on with it very well. I'll dig it out of the cupboard it's hiding in and give it another try.

Princess B thanks for your comments on meat grinding, I'll bear that in mind. I have had several of the old style handle mincers many years ago, the majority were useless for meat, although I did have one which worked ok. It must have got dumped in a house move at some stage, I've certainly not seen it in years.

I'll give the subject some more thought before doing anything. I was hoping someone would say 'buy one of these ????? they are great' but no one seems to have a very high opinion of them. The last thing I want is some useless gadget taking up cupboard space.

Thanks to you all.

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Re: Food Processor

#227596

Postby genou » June 6th, 2019, 8:14 pm

sg31 wrote:I'll give the subject some more thought before doing anything. I was hoping someone would say 'buy one of these ????? they are great'


The problem is that you have said you want to chop, slice and mince. I wouldn't have thought any of these are strengths for a food processor normally. I have one that has blades that supposedly replicate a mandolin, but I use a mandolin. But then, I don't have arthritis. It might be what you want, given your options . It's not that it is particularly bad at it - it is just more faff to get out and clean. I'd gamble that there are now video demos on every manufacturers website, which might give you an idea. ( I can't recommend mine, because they don't sell it any more ).

ObRecipe - you are not making falafel without a food processor : https://www.ft.com/video/b7704599-631f- ... 977bb478a0

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Re: Food Processor

#227603

Postby Dod101 » June 6th, 2019, 8:57 pm

For mince get the butcher to do that. Also if you want to have a decent stew get the butcher to dice the meat. No point in doing that sort of thing yourself. Food processors as you have discovered mean different things to different people. Modern ones are not difficult to clean as long as you keep your fingers away from the blade which tends to be very sharp.

Dod

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Re: Food Processor

#227832

Postby Slarti » June 7th, 2019, 6:03 pm

PrincessB wrote:I had a quick Google about and the old style mincers seem to be in short supply these days.


How about https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/spong-mincer ??

Slarti

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Re: Food Processor

#227833

Postby Slarti » June 7th, 2019, 6:05 pm

Dod101 wrote:For mince get the butcher to do that. Also if you want to have a decent stew get the butcher to dice the meat. No point in doing that sort of thing yourself. Food processors as you have discovered mean different things to different people. Modern ones are not difficult to clean as long as you keep your fingers away from the blade which tends to be very sharp.


Ours is quite reluctant to mince the leftover beef or lamb from the roast :lol:

Slarti

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Re: Food Processor

#227866

Postby tsr2 » June 7th, 2019, 10:09 pm

sg31 wrote:I've never had a food processor but now seems an appropriate time to get one. I have no idea what to buy but hopefully someone on here can provide assistance.

I'd like it to be as versatile as possible without costing the earth but something reasonably long lasting. That seems to suggest a mid price range from a reliable manufacturer.

Any suggestions welcome.

I had a Magimix, which my wife replaced with a cheap alternative for reasons I can't remember. When we had kids we needed a good food processor and bought another Magimix. We've had that nearly 15 years, in which time we have once had to replace the bowl. It's used less than when the kids were young, but it's used regularly and it's still going strong.

johnstevens77
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Re: Food Processor

#228174

Postby johnstevens77 » June 9th, 2019, 6:10 pm

My knife skills are decent for an amateur but arthritis is making it more difficult to chop and slice effectively. Turning meat into mince is a function I'd find useful.

I've always avoided buying a food processor on the basis that it is more faff to clean it than using a knife. Now I'm considering it may be time to change my mind.


For mincing meat and fish, I agree with PrincessB, trying to mince in a food processor is a big no no! Recently I made an ad hoc terrine with some pork belly, chorizo and a few left over chicken livers recently; the pork and chorizo went through the medium blade on the mincer and the chicken livers were pureed in the processor, I mixed them all together with an egg, roast pine seeds and spices and we had a nice terrine with small pieces of meat, seeds and fat bound together by the livers. If I had done it all in the processor it would have been a homogenous mash.

Did you look into the possibility of getting a mincer attachment for the stand mixer? I recently bought one for our KitchenAid stand mixer to replace a 40 years old mincer attachment on an old Braun blender. I would not contemplate a hand mincer, too much work!

As for food processors, Kenwood, Moulinex etc all do a good job, you just have to choose the size and extras, if any, that would suit what you want to do. We have a large 13 years old KitchenAid with juicer and slicing attachments. The juicer is used once a year when I make marmalade and the slicer has been used just once when I made chasseur sauce for a charity lunch. Go figure! The bowl on the other hand is used extensively; vegetables for soups and bolognaise, and hommous, mostly.

John

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Re: Food Processor

#229301

Postby stewamax » June 13th, 2019, 5:52 pm

After advice on this forum (or it may have been on the 'old' Fool) I bought a Kenwood HDP406 800W 'stick' Hand Blender instead of a 'jug' blender. It includes attachments for soup, pureeing and mashing, whisking and chopping.
Highly recommended by me: versatile, powerful and very easy to clean.


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