[geeks] food geekery question

[Phil Stracchino]

Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> OK,
> 
> So I am trying to prepare more meals at home rather than eat out as much
> (sort of a New Year's resolution / saving money thing; plus I want to
> cut down on sodium intake).
> 
> One of the problems is the food preparation stage:  cutting, slicing,
> dicing, kneading, etc.
> 
> As a result, it seems that there are mixers, like the well-known US
> brand Kitchen Aid, but recently there seem to be high-end blenders with
> 2+ HP motors that claim to be able to do everything a mixer can do,
> including mixing / kneading the bread (plus usual blending tasks like
> making smoothies, puree soups, etc.).
> 
> So the question is:  high end mixer, or high end blender?
> 
> I know there are a few food geeks that hang out on the list ...

A blender and a mixer are not interchangeable.  Blenders and food
processors can mix some ingredients, but not (to my knowledge) knead;
some high-end mixers have grinder attachments, but none of them (that
I'm aware of) chop or slice.

Personally, I have a good Braun stick blender and a Cuisinart food
processor; they do everything I need, but then, I never need to knead.
For that, my wife has a Hobart C-10 commercial mixer.  (Picture a
Kitchenaid mixer enlarged to the size of a drill press.)  They really do
not overlap to any significant extent.

So, my advice:  Buy with a good mixer, and a good food processor.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
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