# Shreddin' in the kitchen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478 "2014-02-16T15:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/21 "2014-02-18T14:32:56Z")
I hate chopping most vegetables with a passion. Impatience and arthritis are a bad combo. So if I have to do more than two for a dish (and when don’t I?) I use the processor. If I can do them into the same workbowl because they get cooked at the same time/rate, so much the better. I can prep for soups and stews in less than 5 minutes instead of 20, and it looks nicer than what I do by hand. Slicing mushrooms thinly is a favorite; I use mushrooms 2x a week in something. Gumbo is so much easier. I also love the processor for making dips and sauces that I don’t want completely pureed. Fruit salad is fun this way. I get more creative when I don’t dread chopping yet another ingredient. Again, cleanup is easy. Into the dishwasher, or if it was just some onions or something, all I do is rinse immediately in scalding water. Just don’t ever let the bowl and parts sit in leftover sludge overnight and you’re golden. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/22 "2014-02-18T17:08:00Z")
I cut myself putting _away_ the mandoline not long ago! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/23 "2014-02-19T00:49:00Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > I don’t have much beef with setting it up, but I may have a higher tolerance for assembly than you do. My food processor, I have to orient the container on the base correctly, and the lid on the container correctly. I cannot tell if I have the container on the base correctly until after I try all three possible orientations of the lid on the container. Drives me batshit. And then, I can’t really cut the vegetables to the size I like for each kind. Carrots, peppers, onions - I like them slightly different widths based on how quickly they cook … I feel I am giving up flexibility for greater inconvenience. But there is nothing better for shredding carrots . ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/24 "2014-02-19T20:46:43Z")
I had written to a company that sells commercial peanut butter makers to those health food stores that set them near their bulk nuts & grains so people can make super-fresh peanut-butter, almond butter, and honey-roasted peanut butter on-site. I told them I had already burned out two blenders trying to make cashew butter and asked if they had smaller models than their $415 storefront unit because I didn’t need anything for quite that volume. Someone responded saying the storefront model was their cheapest and smallest. She also noted that a blender isn’t made to handle the strain of turning nuts into nut-butter, but for home use I might look into a food processor. So I bought a cheap Black-and-Decker at The Broadway and I’ve never regretted it. The blender could handle making a few ounces of peanut butter; the food processor turns two pounds of almonds into a quart of almond butter (add 8 ounces of coarsely chopped almonds to make it chunky style). I just made cashew butter and almond butter for years. Then my wife wanted to make a huge soup for a pot-luck dinner and said she hated chopping onions. I suggested she use the food processor and set it up for her. She turned three whole onions into a quart of chopped onions in less than 30 seconds and from then on she was hooked. She loves her soups and has turned all kinds of vegetables - carrots, onions, potatoes, peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, whatever – into slices or diced bits or paste to throw into her nutritious lunches-for-the-week. She creates sauces, soups, and stews with that thing and makes stuff up that I could never dream of. I’ve never done much with the grater wheel. I did try to use it to make little carrot haystacks for tempura once, but the shreds were too short. Long shreds like that require a mandolin or box grater running lengthwise along the vegetable, and the chimney for my food processor won’t allow that approach. I still rarely use it for anything other than nut butters. Oh, I did throw in some sausage\* and vegetables and pack the ground-up mess into won ton skins for baking. My wife loved 'em with marinara sauce and with red spicy salsa, but I prefer my won tons deep-fried and couldn’t appreciate my own creation. Regardless of what it’s used for, clean-up is pretty simple: Let it soak for a few minutes in hot soapy water, then run a jar brush around the outside and inside perimeters (and all over the chopper(s). Sanitize in the dishwasher. –G! \*Grinding down a sausage seemed kind of like a backwards process. Hmmm…I need to start a separate thread… ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/25 "2014-02-19T23:33:54Z")
I have a mini-chopper and it takes five seconds to set up. It’s perfect for cabbage, Brussels sprouts and making fresh salsa. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478/26 "2014-02-20T15:28:47Z")
I forgot about my chopper! I used to use it a lot for nuts, then I just started crumbling them in my hands. Mostly for salads and throwing in waffles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreddin-in-the-kitchen/681478.md?page=1)