Features To Look For
The food processors vary in capacity greatly. Some can hold 3 cups while other can hold and can process up to 20 cups of dry food. Please note that dry food is important, that’s because if you add liquid, it cuts down that amount by almost half, and unless there is a covered lid, it could get pretty messy. If you are going to use it with liquids, plan on getting some excess capacity so that you will have what you need. The average household requires a food processor that can hold approximately 7 cups of dry food, but this may not apply.
There are many other features that you should consider when looking for the best food processor. One important factor that will be excellent to have in a food processor is removable pieces that you can easily take out to wash.
This feature is time saving because you will not have to wash the whole processor, only the pieces that you have used. If the pieces are safe to use in dishwashers, the better the processor is.
A pulse feature is also another thing that is nice to have on a food processor. This feature gives you more control in processing the food and can make you choose what size you need the food to be chopped. The processor must also have a safety feature which requires the lid to be securely placed before it works. This feature is great for avoiding accidents and is especially great for households that have children who might play around with the device.
What Actual Owners Recommend
Several professional and owner reviews say durability and performance problems can be an issue for some inexpensive food processors, so consumers should keep this in mind. Additionally, people strapped for counter or cupboard space may be interested in compact food processors and combo machines; these use a single base unit with blender and processor accessories.
Cooks partial to petite portions or users who routinely find themselves doing small slicing and dicing tasks should also consider mini choppers. There are several mini choppers on the market that have a 3-cup capacity and are ideal for simpler tasks like mincing garlic. Most units have a 3-cup bowl that snaps into a base that houses the motor.
Other food processor pointers:
* Performance is more important than extra features. All food processors can chop, slice, shred and puree foods. Optional attachments like juicers, egg beaters, cream whippers, dough kneaders, french fry cutters and julienne blades are nice extras, but can be purchased later. It's much easier to buy more blades than it is to buy another machine.
* Don't get caught up in the number of speeds. One speed plus pulse is all you need.
* The shape and size of the feed tube will affect how you have to prepare the food for the processor. For example, a long, narrow tube means slicing potatoes lengthwise, while a wide feed tube allows larger chunks of food to enter.
* A 4- to 7-cup capacity is adequate, but a 9- to 12-cup bowl size is even better. Most of the complaints about 4- to 7-cup models at consumer voting sites like Epinions.com resulted from problems caused by too-small bowls. Professional tests often find bowl capacity to be somewhat less than advertised. Also, keep in mind that advertised food processor capacities measure dry ingredients only, and an open-topped tube limits liquid volume to about half of the advertised capacity.
* Heavy food processors are more difficult to haul out of a cupboard, but they're also more stable. Weightier machines are less likely to shake across the counter during big jobs, and they also tend to be quieter. Reviewers agree that major projects like baking bread, making your own pasta or chopping heavy vegetables require a heavy machine.
For more effective processing, cut food into equal-size pieces, use short pulses, scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary and avoid using blade-damaging frozen or hard foods. Using the feed tube can also maximize efficiency. What else can blenders do?
Processors are not always good for blending small quantities, so if you want a small amount of mayonnaise, hollandaise, breadcrumbs, pesto or anything else that needs some quick, brief blending, you will find a blender does a better job.
What doesn't it do?
It won't grate or chop; it pulverises but doesn't actually chop. So herbs, for instance, just get mashed to a pulp, which is okay for pesto, but not for other things. Incidentally, I think a liquidiser is a more accurate title here than blender because it pulverises ingredients almost to a liquid.
What is the difference between a full-blown blender and the hand-held version?
Briefly, with a hand-held blender you have to do a little more work. In the goblet of a full-blown blender the ingredients are pulverised at the press of a button in seconds; with the hand-held version you have to manipulate it into the corners of bowls and pans to make sure the blades are reaching all the parts they need to. What you use is a matter of personal choice. Some may find the bother of washing a goblet a chore (though they are dishwasher-proof nowadays) and I have friends who say they prefer the hand-held version.
Do I really need a blender?
If you really don't enjoy cooking, particularly making and eating home-made soups, I would say probably not. But I feel a serious cook will always appreciate having both a blender and a processor because the two together provide a wonderful service in so many different areas of day-to-day cooking.
Food processors
This is probably the most expensive kitchen item you will need to invest in. Although a food processor is not an absolutely essential piece of equipment, because you can certainly chop, grate, slice, knead and mix everything by hand, it does do all these things very quickly and efficiently and saves you time and energy. After years of using one myself, I am convinced every serious cook should have a processor – it's a great piece of equipment.
Which processor?
There are dozens of different designs and sizes, but I would say that if you invest in the largest size, with the most powerful motor, you will have the best of everything. Remember, quality never comes cheap, and beware of what looks like a bargain but may have a short life and not do the job really well. A warning: the blade in the processor will wear out in time, so if your processor begins to show signs of not performing as it should, it probably needs a sharp new blade. This can be ordered from kitchen shops or direct from the manufacturer.
Know your processor
When you buy a processor and begin to use it, you will soon get the feel of how it performs. One of the most common misuses of a processor is to overdo it. This was much more of a problem before the pulse button was invented, when something chopped could become something puréed, over-processed nuts could become an oily, claggy mess and puréed meat make hamburgers or rissoles very bouncy! With the pulse button you can see what is happening after each burst, which is important, but care must still be taken not to over-process.
What does a food processor do?
First on the list is chopping, particularly large quantities. It can chop 1lb (450 g) of onions in seconds and will therefore save you masses of time. It can also chop other vegetables, fruits and nuts. I love my processor best when I feed it cubes of bread, which it instantly turns into breadcrumbs (some of you will be far too young to remember the tedious job of grating bread into breadcrumbs on the side of a grater).
Also, if you want to make a stuffing, the onions, breadcrumbs and herbs can all be whizzed together – a brilliant time-saver. It can also evenly chop meat much more efficiently than the old-fashioned mincers that squeezed the meat through the blades.