Help me pick out a food processor

[tomturbomatic]

Motor under bowl= direct drive
Motor beside bowl= belt drive

 

[panthera]

braun

The Brauns up to the mid-90s had outstanding cutting disks along with a cheaper line of "pressed" and sharpened. Today, their stuff is just as expensive as it always was, but you are paying for the name and not the quality.
Sadly.
Have asked my European friends the last few days - everyone says they have dibs in on their "Oma's" Brauns and Cuisinarts...in other words, nothing built in the last 10 years...

 

[scott55405]

Why are all the wonderful old-line European manufacturers selling out to these cheap-ass places? I thought stupid stuff like that only happened in the states.

 

[user 12105]

Human nature...greed knows no boundaries.

 

[foraloysius]

Actually prices of Braun products have come down. I remember I paid the equivalent of €300.- for my Braun K1000 and now many years later the improved version, the K3000 sells overhere for €249.-

 

[maytagbear]

That may be so, Louis,

but at least on this side of the puddle, Braun quailty has dropped like the proverbial rock.

I had to try three Braun stick/immersion blenders to get one that worked more than a week.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[tolivac]

If you want a good stick or immersion blender-get a Bamix.These are good machines for immersion blenders.They also have interchangeable blades for various mixing-blending jobs.And the machine is very quiet when its running.

http://www.bamix.com/

 

[foraloysius]

Lawrence, I must admit I never used a newer Braun stick blender, but the older ones I have are pretty good.

The Bamix blenders are indeed quite versatile and also very silent. My older one only has a 100 Watt motor which is actually pretty pathetic. You have to wait for a while to let it achieve it's speed. The newer ones are 140/150 Watts (110V) or 200 Watts (230V) but that is still not very much compared to other brands sold overhere (400 - 600 Watts).

 

[frigilux]

I've never used a stick blender, but I can see how they'd be useful for a puree or to smooth out a sauce. Can either the Braun or the Bamix be used in heat---for instance in a pan of bechamel sauce on the stove?

 

[tolivac]

Yes,the Bamix can be used in a pan on the stove.I don't know about the Braun.

 

[foraloysius]

The Braun stick blenders that I have can be used in a pan too. I love it for making cauliflower soup.

 

[frigilux]

Thanks for the info, guys!

 

[brisnat81]

Stick Blendors

Hi Guys,

We've never owned a blender ever My family has always had Bamix's in varying forms.

They might be low powered, but they'll puree anything thats cooked or not solid (IE Bad for Ice)

Soups, Fruit Puree, Sauces all go well. If I'm in a hurry I've even used it while the saucepan is still on heat. There has been a newer model out for a while designed for huge stockpots, and it has a longer shaft than the original designs.

I've got the coffee mill which I use for chopping nuts and the like, and Dad even used mums to mix grout when we redid the bathroom in the 80's.

The bamix machines have a run time of 10 minutes (The 240V ones anyway) Most of the plastic Braun type ones in Australia have a max runtime of 4mins.

I have a food processor for things like biscuit crumbs, and the slow and high speed shredder attachment for my kenwood chefs.

 

[scott55405]

The stick blender machines are nice for things on the stove, like soup, as Louis mentioned. So much easier than pouring batch by batch into a blender and having to be concerned about steam blowing the top off. A friend of mine got burned that way one time.

Most of them also have a chopper accessory for onions and so forth.

Mine is a Philips, but I think Jetcone had purchased a Bamix at one time and was speaking in a complimentary fashion about it.