What food processor/blenders do the pro's use?

robfosters

robfosters

robfosters

Caporegime
Joined
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Welling, London
Just watching a Jamie Oliver programme where he's using both.

They are so smooth and quick it's unbelievable. I've got a Kenwood about 10 years old that chugs along like an old steam train. The processor chops irregularly, the grater purees any veg it comes across and the liquidiser seems to ignore anything at the bottom.

Think I'll invest in something new and reliable. As I say, the JO one looked fantastic. Any views?
 
It can be a bit misleading going on what you see on TV, because often the gadgets they use are there because the company has donated them for a bit of product placement. Classic examples are the Neff ovens on Great British Bake-Off, Kitchenaid mixers etc. You get much less product-placement skew when you see inside a commercial kitchen, where you'll see what equipment is needed when you want the same performance and bulletproof reliability. For examples you don't see Kitchenaid equipment, you'll see bigger, stronger stuff from Hobart - and I do a lot of bread baking and my Kitchenaid didn't last long with regular heavy use. The only problem is much of that commercial equipment isn't practical to have at home because it's a lot bigger, plus they don't always deal with smaller quantities very well.

Programmes like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Man Vs Food on the Food Network are quite good for seeing commercial equipment in use. I was quite surprised to see that most of the kitchens they show use those £400+ Vitamix blenders.

The big Magimix food processors are quite good. Tried and tested design, bulletproof and easy to use and clean. I used ours to blitz through just under 100kg of apples for cider last autumn and about 30kg the year before, so I can vouch for its reliability :)
 
I don't see how you can realistically compare the two Jonny?

One is for commercial use and one is for domestic, it is the same with almost everything, everything for commercial use it designed to be hardwearing as hell and produce large quantities. Not many people have commercial grade appliances in their kitchen.

Neff ovens and Kitchenaid mixers are great products for domestic markets, and the thing to remember about Kitchenaid mixers is the parts are easy to buy and swap so it's a mixer for life if you put the work in.
 
Magimix would get my vote for processor. It also does some of what a KitchenAid does (dough) but I must confess I would love one some day.

Blender, I have a Duronic blender which I would recommend to anyone who likes to: lose their hearing, have to replace it several times due to faults and also anyone who would like to suffer from 3rd degree burns by it spitting soup all over their arm.

Blender - go with a cheap panasonic stick blender. I got mine with a spice blender attachment which is great for making curry spice mixes and finely chopping garlic.
 
There is barely a professional kitchen in the land that doesn't have a Thermomix - Vorwerk have worked long and hard to make it an indispensible piece of equipment in the kitchen and very cleverly marketed them in the early days.

Speaking of L'Ortolan, they work very hard to push them to guests on their experience days and almost act as a dealer of sorts. I know Lucy from Vorwerk does a lot of work with them on that front.
 
glitch said:
Speaking of L'Ortolan, they work very hard to push them to guests on their experience days and almost act as a dealer of sorts. I know Lucy from Vorwerk does a lot of work with them on that front.
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You get vouchers for additional accessories that you apply when you buy one, but that's about it.
But given how much they genuinely use the product though, I'm happy with that kind of marketing and endorsement. If celebrities actually used everything they advertised, the world might be a different place...! :D
 
glitch said:
Do they not hold stock any longer then? They always used to have them boxed up and ready to sell in the Demo Kitchen upstairs.
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Not for years and even then, they seemed more geared toward budding/professional chef's experiences rather than the general public ones. Joe Public tends not to drop THAT much cash on a blender like this...
 
Robot Coupe in my cafe.
And my gosh ovens, we finally bit the bullet and bought a Bonnet combi a few months ago.
Very expensive, but very worth it.

A question for those in the catering trade. If your using Hobart kit, how are you finding them of recent?
I've had Hobart stuff for 15 years+, but now have a problem of them not storing parts like they used to. Repairs can really drag on.
A main reason we have Hobart kit was their repair speed.
 
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