The first food processors were giant, expensive, heavy-duty models invented to help make prep easier for restaurant chefs working on an enormous scale, but starting in the 1970s, smaller, more affordable versions of this invaluable tool appeared that were adapted for the home kitchen. Self-described “gadget freak” Julia Child called the food processor “one of the greatest breakthroughs since the mixer”; she was especially excited that it would allow home cooks “to make fish mousse in a few seconds.” The food processor quickly changed the way cooks thought about preparing ingredients and making complex recipes, and it helped eliminate the need for piles of other, more specialized equipment, making all kinds of dishes more accessible.
These days, the food processor is a fixture in most well-equipped kitchens, yet we think it’s often underutilized and underappreciated. Too many cooks see their food processor as a bulky, specialized item worth dragging out for only a few specific tasks. We want to show just how diverse its applications can be, for cooking as well as for baking.
In the test kitchen, the food processor is an everyday tool. We love all the ways it makes ingredient prep faster and helps us get better results in everything from dips to bread doughs. We’ve also spent years discovering which unexpected tasks can be made easier with an assist from this powerhouse appliance. These include grinding meat for fantastic homemade burgers of all kinds, creating simple batters, and making sophisticated frozen desserts that would typically require a fancy ice cream maker. In creating this book, we wanted to explore the range of dishes that can be streamlined and simplified when you use a food processor, plus share all our tips and tricks for making the most of this kitchen workhorse. We organized the book to emphasize the machine’s varied abilities and multifaceted uses. For instance, in our Sliced Green Salad, not only did we whiz together a perfect vinaigrette, we also sliced all the vegetables, including the lettuce. The custom-ground mixture of short ribs and steak tips in our Meatballs and Marinara gave us meltingly tender meatballs, and the processor made it easy to throw together a rich homemade sauce to simmer them in. And notoriously fussy Classic Cheesecake was a cinch when we whipped up the silky-smooth filling and quick crust in the processor.
While this book may not feature a fish mousse recipe, it does have everything from Homemade Italian-Style Sausages and Peppers to Free-Form Summer Fruit Tart—so we think Julia would approve. It also contains our exhaustively researched buying guide, with detailed reviews of processors, large and small, plus all the tricks we’ve learned, like using vegetable oil spray to keep sticky ingredients from gumming up the shredding disk or grinding your own nut flours in the processor. Whether you’re new to using a food processor and looking for a comprehensive guide to this hardworking kitchen tool or you’re in search of ways to make better use of a processor you’ve had in your cupboard for years, this book will show you how to make it your new sous-chef and an indispensable part of your day-to-day life in the kitchen, no matter what you’re cooking.