Comparison Tefal Masterchef Gourmet QB612D38 stainless steel vs Electrolux EKM 4200 black

— The main bowl. An open capacity designed for kneading dough, whipping cream and mixing masses. The main bowl is included in almost all food processors. It can be made of various materials: plastic, glass, metal, etc.

— Blender. In this case, it is a bowl narrowed downwards, at the bottom of which there is a bladed knife. Such a device is suitable both for mixing liquids into a homogeneous mass (for example, for making cocktails or batter), and for grinding some solid foods (for example, fruits and vegetables) into a homogeneous puree. The blender is usually installed instead of the main bowl, however, there are devices that allow you to use two bowls at the same time.

— Food processor. A special capacity for chopping, which is equipped with either a knife for chopping products, or discs for chopping, cutting, French fries. Allows you to cut salads, shred cabbage and perform a number of other operations, depending on the complete nozzles.

— End-to-end food processor. A special nozzle for installing cutting discs. This accessory allows you to quickly chop vegetables or shred cabbage. Moreover, the final product enters the main bowl (or any other from your kitchen inventory) — there is no separate bowl like in a classic food processor.

— Meat grinder. The possibility of using the device as a meat grinder...— for making minced meat, grinding fruits and vegetables. In terms of possibilities, such nozzles are often not inferior to meat grinders made in the form of separate devices.

— Vegetable cutter. A special attachment for cutting vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Depending on the type, it allows you to cut food: into cubes, slices, sticks, etc. It can be equipped with its own capacity for collecting cuttings.

- Steam cooker. Ability to use the food processor as steam cooker — for steaming food. This method of cooking is considered healthier than classic cooking, it allows you to save a maximum of vitamins and nutrients in the products. Among other things, steaming is often used in the preparation of baby food. Some food processors with this function are originally designed specifically for cooking for children.

— Grinder(for coffee). The grinder with characteristic grinding rods for grinding grains (including coffee beans), oil seed crops, cereals and pulses. It is perfect for making flour. Ussually such attachments have opportunity to adjust the grinding degree.

— Centrifugal juicer. The universal juicer for getting fruit, vegetable and berry juice. Not suitable for citrus fruits (see Citrus juicer). Note that food processor juicers are usually less performant than juicers as separate devices, and therefore are poorly suited for harvesting large amounts of juice.

— Citrus juicer. It is a rotating ledge with a ribbed surface. To get juice, you need to manually put half of the fruit on it with the flesh down and press hard. Due to this procedure, the juice from the flesh is squeezed into the bowl located below, and the peel remains intact.

— The whisk . As the name implies, this attachment is designed for whipping and mixing "light" liquids (batter, mayonnaise, eggs, etc.). Most often the whisk is similar to that used in mixers (although there are other options). Sometimes there may be two such whisks.

— The hook for kneading dough. The attachment for kneading thick dough. It has a special shape, due to which the dough is evenly mixed, and there are no unused ingredients on the walls of the bowl.

— The double hook for kneading. The double hook allows you to significantly increase the efficiency of kneading thick dough. The second hook is used so that the dough does not stick to the bowl and mixes more thoroughly. Depending on the model, the double hook can be realized as a one hook or as a pieces of hook (two single kneading hooks) that can be used independently of each other.

— The spatula for mixing (bitter). The spatula for mixing is used in the making of light dough, confectionery mixtures, all kinds of pastas. Bitter can also simply mix various ingredients. It can be made of metal or plastic, as well as with additional rubber seal to prevent the product from sticking in the bowl.

— The disk for minced meat. Traditional grate grinder. The minced meat disk can have a different mesh size, from 3 to 8 m...m, which has a direct impact on the consistency of the cooked minced meat. Usually, three discs are included in the standard meat grinder set: for a fine fraction (cells are about 3 mm), for a medium fraction (about 5 mm) and for a large fraction (about 8 mm). Less commonly on the market there are also discs with smaller cells (1 mm or less), such are used for making pate.

— The attachment for kibbeh. Kibbeh is a dish of Arabic cuisine, which is a hollow sausage made of minced meat, which is stuffed with lumpy meat, vegetables and other products. After that, kibbeh are fried like meatballs or baked in the oven. The kibbeh attachment is fixed on the spout of the meat grinder, instead of the clamping ring for the grate, and allows you to quickly and easily form hollow sausages from minced meat.

— The attachment for homemade sausages. It is a thin-walled tube with a diameter of up to 20-30 mm and a length of 50 to 100 mm. The attachment is installed on the “spout” of the meat grinder, instead of the clamping ring for the mince/pate grate, and the edge of the membrane of the future sausage is put on the second end of the product. Thus, the attachment allows you to form homemade sausages, which are later fried or baked in the oven.

— For tomatoes/soft vegetables. The auger attachment for processing tomatoes and other soft vegetables or fruits, which effectively separates flesh from peel and tails. This is for making tomato juice or compotes at home.

— For pasta (macaroni). Wide popularity gained discs for making macaroni with openings of different calibres for certain types of pasta (tagliatelle, fettuccini, spaghetti and etc.).

— For cookies. The cooking attachment for cookies and pastry. It is a disc attachment with fixed plate with openings-patterns for forming curly dough. It is recommended to use low and medium speeds of the food processor for making the cookies.

— The chopper knife. The model is equipped with a knife for a food processor, which allows you to cut salads, shred cabbage and do a number of other operations.

— Disc for shredding/slicing. A disc with special slots that play the role of knives during rotation. Allows you to quickly and evenly cut fruits and vegetables into slices, especially useful for cutting large quantities of food.

— For dicing. The attachment for cutting fruits and vegetables in the form of small cubes. Great for cooking salads.

— The French fries disc. To make French fries, potatoes need to be cut in a special way — long thin sticks. The special disk, which is equipped with some food processors is for such cutting.

— For draniki (potato pancakes). Draniki, or potato pancakes, are pancakes that are made from mashed potatoes. The attachment for their cooking is usually a kind of "prickly" grater, which allows you to bring raw potatoes to the desired consistency. It can also be used for other purposes (for example, making applesauce).

— The disc for making sauces. A specialized attachment that allows you to grind semi-finished products into puree and making thick unigorm mixtures, such as sauces, creams, etc. It is a disk with special guides on the surface.

The volume of the food bowl provided in the food processor. Most often the full volume is indicated, not the working volume. It should be noted that you can not use the bowl completely when cooking, the working volume is approximately 70% of the total. Thus, about 4 liters can be used in a 6 liter bowl. And if you go into the recipes and power modes of the food processor (see the instructions), then smaller numbers are acceptable for preparing a particular dish (kneading dough, mixing salad, etc.).

Note that a large capacity affects the dimensions and weight of the unit, and also requires a more powerful engine — which affects energy consumption and price. So when choosing a bowl by capacity, you should not chase the maximum capacity, but take into account the planned volumes of work.

The volume of the blender jar (see Blender) that the food processor is equipped with. Standardly, it is about one and a half liters; for a large family, it makes sense to select a larger capacity (about 2 liters), and 1 liter will be enough if a blender is rarely needed and for small quantities of the product.

Rated power of the food processor. Most of this power comes from the engine — the rest of the unit consumes very little energy. Usually, the more power, the higher the productivity of the unit, and the less time it takes to process products.

Note that the optimal power value directly depends on the volume of the bowl (see the relevant paragraph): for example, for a 1.5 kg bowl, at least 300 W is desirable, for a two-kilogram bowl — 400 W, a three-kilogram bowl — at least 700 W. And with the same bowl capacity, a more powerful unit will be more productive, it will work faster and better cope with high loads (for example, a full load). On the other hand, an increase in power affects energy consumption and price.

The number of fixed speeds of rotation of the attachments provided in the design of the food processor. The more of them, the more accurately you can choose the required speed for each specific mode of operation. It is worth noting that some devices do not have fixed speeds — the control is carried out smoothly (see Stepless speed controller)

The ability to operate the food processor in pulsed mode, when the motor does not rotate constantly, but with pauses. This mode is particularly useful when processing hard foods, such as frozen fruits and vegetables, to ensure efficiency while reducing engine load.

Turbo mode allows for a short time to increase greatly the speed of rotation of the food processor discs. This can be useful in dealing with hard products, such as making crushed ice or chopping vegetables. It will also come in handy in case of "congestion" at work — a short-term acceleration of the knife will help to cope with them. Keep in mind that the turbo mode is a kind of “emergency measure”, and not a regular mode, because the food processor engine in this mode works with significant loads. Therefore, you can turn it on only for a short time — otherwise there is a risk of damage to the device. Specific features of turbo modes differ from model to model and are usually indicated in the instruction manual.

— The plastic blenders are the most common due to their low cost and durability. However, the material itself has a number of important advantages. So, it is easy to clean and dries quickly, plastic bowls can easily withstand a fall from a small height (up to 1-1.5 m) thanks to good margin of safety. Additionally, plastic bowls have a minimum cost. In the list of disadvantages, one can be noted the exposure to the rapid appearance of scratches and scuffs on the surface of the bowl.

— The glass blenders are resistant to scratches, and they allow you to monitor the process of processing products thanks to transparency. An important advantage of glass is the absolute chemical neutrality to foodstuffs and liquids. This material does not absorb odours, it can be washed in a dishwasher, the working surfaces of the bowl are practically not exposed to scratches and scuffs. Thus, glass bowls do not lose their original presentation over time. Among the disadvantages, fragility can be noted — glass does not tolerate falls even from a small height. Additionally, glass bowls are very expensive.

— Metal (most often it is stainless steel) is the most strong and durable material. However, it is opaque, and a metal blender usually affects the cost of the device. The metal bowls are perfect for crushing ice and crushing nuts. Such models are not afraid of falls from a heig...ht and rough handling, they can be freely washed in the dishwasher.