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Appliance recommendations

VeryKatie
VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hi! This is my best guess for where to put this discussion... though maybe recipes would have been a good place too.

Im looking for some appliances to make it easier for me to add more veggies into my family's diet.

Specifically im looking for DISHWASHER SAFE

1) Immersion blender
2) Food chopper. If there was a magical one that could cube, shred and make french fry shapes that would be amazing lol. Primarily id like something that cubes.

I had a food processor that i hated... it was hard to clean and food always got trapped between the blade and feeder so i ended up either chopping that by hand, reducing the effectiveness, or wasting food. It broke after about 5 uses anyway...

I hate chopping stuff by hand and doing dishes lol.

What do you have, do you like it? Would you recommend it?

Replies

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,124 Member
    Try a search for the appliances you want on the Serious Eats website. I trust them for appliance recommendations although I have only bought small items they tested such as oil pourers, blow torch heads, sous vide immersion sticks.

    https://www.seriouseats.com/
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,181 Member
    To be honest, I have a mandoline kind of thing, and setting it up, using it and taking it apart again and putting all parts into dishwasher takes as much time as opening a drawer to get a good chopping knife, chopping away and putting knife into dishwasher.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,469 Member
    Yeah, I'm kind of with yirara on this one.

    The assembly, disassembly, taking it out, putting it away, having way too many gadgets, etc. A knife and a cutting board are easier, faster, easy to clean and in so many ways better.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    I'm really slow at chopping... so assembling and cleaning something would still take less time.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,124 Member
    Food processors only purée, slice (usually choice of 2 thicknesses), and grate (fine or coarse). You might want to google “French fry cutter). It’s mechanical and quite easy to clean.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,124 Member
    We used to have a french fry cutter until we decided that frozen oven chips gave us the best results with the air fryer and gave the cutter away. If you go for this tool, I would choose a model with at least two blade attachments so you can get both normal fries, and shoestring fries.

  • tracybear86
    tracybear86 Posts: 163 Member
    For immersion blender I have a Cuisinart Smart Stick and I like it. The bottom part detaches so you could run it through the dishwasher I think. I generally just run that part still attached in some hot soappy water and then detach it and air dry.
    For food processor I am very attached to my 14 cup Cuisinart. I use it a ton! The top parts and blade all detach and can go in the dishwasher. Easy to take apart and put back together. No potato wedge attachment though. I mostly use my food processor for making dips and sauces as for me its quicker most of the time to just chop veggies by hand and leaves less mess. The one caveat would be shredding. Using the food processor to shred things like zucchini or carrots is much faster for me and no worries I'll end up with bits of knuckle in the end product!
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Food processors only purée, slice (usually choice of 2 thicknesses), and grate (fine or coarse). You might want to google “French fry cutter). It’s mechanical and quite easy to clean.

    Funnily enough, whilst waiting for something to cook todsy, I picked up the cookbook/manual that came with my processor and discovered that it had the ability to cut fries and julienne and also, with a set of ‘novelty’ discs would also do ripple cuts and a couple of other fancy things that I’ve now forgotten again! It already spiralises in 3 different ways, slices 3 thicknesses, grates in 4 grades, chops, purées, also purées fine enough for veloute with a fancy ring that fits in the bowl, whisks, kneads etc. It has 3 different size bowls with appropriate bells and whistles!

    I’d forgotten how many things it did, I only use one blade in the main bowl usually! Under-utilised 🙄 I may or may not rectify that now I’ve re-read the literature! 😂
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Food processors only purée, slice (usually choice of 2 thicknesses), and grate (fine or coarse). You might want to google “French fry cutter). It’s mechanical and quite easy to clean.

    Funnily enough, whilst waiting for something to cook todsy, I picked up the cookbook/manual that came with my processor and discovered that it had the ability to cut fries and julienne and also, with a set of ‘novelty’ discs would also do ripple cuts and a couple of other fancy things that I’ve now forgotten again! It already spiralises in 3 different ways, slices 3 thicknesses, grates in 4 grades, chops, purées, also purées fine enough for veloute with a fancy ring that fits in the bowl, whisks, kneads etc. It has 3 different size bowls with appropriate bells and whistles!

    I’d forgotten how many things it did, I only use one blade in the main bowl usually! Under-utilised 🙄 I may or may not rectify that now I’ve re-read the literature! 😂

    Which brand is it? It sounds like it does a whole lot if you buy a few extra attachments... or ask for them for Christmas :)
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,132 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    To be honest, I have a mandoline kind of thing, and setting it up, using it and taking it apart again and putting all parts into dishwasher takes as much time as opening a drawer to get a good chopping knife, chopping away and putting knife into dishwasher.

    I can wash a knife in about 5 seconds (OK, 10 seconds if I chopped garlic or dried fruit and forgot to wash it right away, or if I used it on raw meat/poultry/fish and thus feel a little obsessive). No need to put it in the dishwasher and risk dulling it on the plastic or having somebody else cut themselves unloading the dishwasher.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited October 2020
    Do you have a kitchen aid mixer? You might be able to find attachments for it that do some.of the things you've after.
    I have a Kitchen Aid immersion blender and it works great. Got it as my 5 year anniversary gift from work and it makes a great easy lazy one pot soup blender-upper. :)

    ETA: my "chopper" of choice is my Wusthof nakiri knife (Japanese cleaver). That bad boy gets the job done in no time flat...a quick rinse/wipe in the sink, and done. Takes like two seconds to wash it and the cutting board both. I personally hate dealing with multiple pieces and only use a machine type chopper when I *have* to.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Immersion sticks are great for making veggie soups, like split pea and cauliflower.

    I've had one made by Braun that I've used for over 20 yrs. Never put the lower blade section in the dishwasher; just rinse and dry it off.

    Bought a immersion blender set from Costco made by Cuisinart that also chopped/blended stuff but didn't like it and gave it to my GF who loves it.

    For serious chopping, there's nothing better than a medium sized Chinese cleaver. I use 2 (a lg one serves as a barrier and the med one is the chopper).

    You can mince anything in just a few mins and a quick rise and wipe is all that's required 4 cleanup.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    VeryKatie wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Food processors only purée, slice (usually choice of 2 thicknesses), and grate (fine or coarse). You might want to google “French fry cutter). It’s mechanical and quite easy to clean.

    Funnily enough, whilst waiting for something to cook todsy, I picked up the cookbook/manual that came with my processor and discovered that it had the ability to cut fries and julienne and also, with a set of ‘novelty’ discs would also do ripple cuts and a couple of other fancy things that I’ve now forgotten again! It already spiralises in 3 different ways, slices 3 thicknesses, grates in 4 grades, chops, purées, also purées fine enough for veloute with a fancy ring that fits in the bowl, whisks, kneads etc. It has 3 different size bowls with appropriate bells and whistles!

    I’d forgotten how many things it did, I only use one blade in the main bowl usually! Under-utilised 🙄 I may or may not rectify that now I’ve re-read the literature! 😂

    Which brand is it? It sounds like it does a whole lot if you buy a few extra attachments... or ask for them for Christmas :)

    Oops, I should have included that info, since that was the point of the thread! Sorry!

    It’s a Magimix Cuisine System 4200XL Auto

    If you’re up for buying extra attachments it also has a citrus press, juicer and smoothieMix, mash & purée kit, a dough bowl kit where you can knead, prove and even bake in the processor bowl! 🤯

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