Food Processors 9/9/13

As a home pastry chef, Teryn Beyer saves tons of time by using her food processor. Teryn Buyer “If I have a big order for carrot cakes, instead of sitting there with the grater and the carrots, I can just throw them all in here and it grates them perfectly… or it can chop nuts, or anything!” In the market for a food processor? Consumer Reports tested 20. This Breville Sous Chef vaulted past the top-rated Cuisinart processor – acing many of Consumer Reports’ tough tests — including slicing mushrooms … … and shredding carrots. Dan DiClerico, “And it’s relatively quiet, so you can easily have a conversation while you’re working.” This Sous Chef has a 16-cup work bowl, a mini-bowl insert, and a case where you can neatly and safely store a ton of blades and accessories. But it’s 18 inches tall and weighs nearly 20 pounds. Dan DiClerico “This is clearly a high-end product that requires premium counter space. It does also come at a premium price – 400 dollars!” If you can live with less than perfect results, consider this 50-dollar Hamilton Beach — model number 70730. It has a decent-size 10-cup work bowl and is fairly light for easy storage. And while it didn’t do a great job puréeing peas, it was very good at slicing mushrooms and did an excellent job shredding carrots. Dan DiClerico “The downside is, it’s very noisy!” Still, it does a lot really well and at a price that’s hard to beat. “