Product: KitchenAid Food Chopper
I basically wanted something that made pesto but without the bulk of a food processor, mostly due to not wanting to lug something giant out of the cupboard every time I needed it. I came across the food chopper and thought I’d try it and for $139, it was more affordable than a lot of the bigger food processors.
Anyway, it does a great job with pesto, though, you should probably buy pre-grated Parmesan, and it wasn’t overly happy with the giant chunk that I put in there to begin with. I also tried grating cheddar in it, and it kind of turned it into a gross paste that might come out of a can in the US.
Update 2020-04-12: Despite great success using this device while it lasted, the blade’s socket, made of plastic, ultimately wore out, and started slipping in the driving socket. Or maybe it was the engine that lost its grunt. Anyway, it didn’t last the distance as much as we’d hoped. Removing the post from the “Good experience” category…
Apart from that, I now use it for everything, and the resident Frenchmen is happy that I am using it, since he doesn’t like to actually buy anything.
So:
- Carrots: great
- Garlic: gets it to a tiny dice
- Onions: great
- Zucchini: great
- Spring onions: need to cut it into segments first, but, good
- Ginger: good
- Not so good with long stalks
- Bacon: ok, but be careful to not let it go for too long (see previous comment about cheese)
- Tomatoes: Good for making passata, and pureeing tomatoes in general
- Pastry: Excellent for getting to “breadcrumb” stage, but it doesn’t like the adding water or egg stage much.
- Guacamole: Very good if you like it very smooth
- Cakes: Good for creaming cold butter and sugar to a pale yellow fluff, but a bit small for the full mix
- Pizza dough: No
- Curry pastes: Very, very good
- Nuts: very good
- Soup: too small, unless you do it in several batches
- Turning mince into sausage meat: good in small batches
It is also really easy to wash – not too many nooks and crannies. And it is small enough to just keep on the bench. Thus saving my lazy knees, back and soul.