Machine in the kitchen: an overview of kitchen machines
“There will be nothing, there will be only kitchen machines,” probably the people who develop these devices think so. Indeed, their owners do not need separately neither meat grinders, nor mixers, nor blenders, nor juicers, nor coffee grinders, nor ... However, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Text: Polina Strizhak.
Where do the legs grow from the car and what does astronomy have to do with it
First there was the mixer. But not simple, but planetary. The palm in its invention and popularization belongs to the American company KitchenAid - more than 90 years ago, it was under this trademark that the world's first planetary mixer was released. What's with the planets? It turns out that the whole thing is in the principle of the movement of rotating nozzles. The model of the structure of any star system, including the solar system, is taken as a basis, where the planets revolve around the star and at the same time rotate around their axis in the opposite direction.
Such a "double" movement, when the nozzles rotate around the perimeter of the bowl and simultaneously around their own axis, allows you to most effectively mix the ingredients and achieve uniformity of the mixed mass. All industrial mixers have exactly this principle of operation, but what are mixers - even concrete mixers! And just such a planetary mixer is what formed the basis of modern kitchen machines.
There is a motor, there is a bowl, it remains to “equip” the device with different nozzles - here you have a kitchen machine. But there are also just planetary mixers, the task of which is professional kneading of various types of dough, these devices cannot be called kitchen machines, if it is not possible to purchase additional nozzles for them.
However, planetary mixers - for example, Bomann KM 362, Bomann KM 370 CB, Clatronic KM 3323, Bork E800 or Stadler Form Mixer Three SFM.3000 - are respected by both professional cooks and experienced housewives, occupying their own special "semi-professional" niche among mixers .
The possibilities are almost endless
Like a conventional machine, the kitchen unit has a "basic package" and options - nozzles, which, if desired, can always be purchased. In fact, when purchasing a kitchen machine, you can always focus solely on your own culinary needs. You will find a complete picture of the configuration and capabilities of kitchen machines in our comparison table.
Additionally, depending on the model and manufacturer, you can purchase nozzles that perform the following functions: coffee grinders, multi-grinders, cereal mills, citrus juicers, berry presses, ordinary juicers, meat grinders, potato peelers, ice cream makers, a variety of graters-shredders; nozzle for cutting cubes; for cooking Korean carrots and french fries, a nozzle for cooking a variety of types of pasta - figured, flat, spaghetti, etc.
"Advanced" models have several sockets for connecting different nozzles: high speed, medium speed, low speed and a socket for nozzles using planetary mixing technology. Aerobatics - when all 4 sockets with different drives can work simultaneously, as in some Kenwood models.
But the option with one socket for an infinite number of attachments (like the KitchenAid planetary mixers, which are, in fact, real kitchen machines) is also convenient and simple, although it does not allow several attachments to work at once.
But Bosch has developed and patented a multi-functional lever for attaching nozzles in different positions with three drive shafts - also a great solution.
There are also machines with one or two sockets, they are more compact and suitable even for a small kitchen, such as Moulinex, Bosch, Russell Hobbs. But the obligatory minimum is whisk attachments, hook attachments, large nozzles for kneading dough (and their shape and material are developed individually by each manufacturer, like Kenwood’s K-shaped branded nozzle for cottage cheese and other soft dough) and several necessary nozzles of your choice. manufacturer, such as a meat grinder, juicer, jar blender and food processor, as in a Kenwood Prospero machine.
In general, mixing attachments (hooks, whisks) in kitchen machines are not the same as in conventional mixers - they are larger, often have a special shape for better enrichment of mixtures with air, for example, round or "balloon-shaped" whisks.
With or without heating?
The latest trend in the market of kitchen machines is devices with the ability not only to process and mix ingredients, but also to cook directly in the same appliance on an induction heating element. We think this segment will grow: Europeans have already liked the efficiency of the device. The first such machine is Kenwood Cooking Chef, and more affordable versions were released under German brands: Bomann KM 379 CB and Clatronic KM 3476 Cook & Mix.
The built-in induction hob not only saves time, space and uses fewer dishes, but also meets the requirements of high professional cooking, allowing you to set the duration and temperature of cooking from 20 to 140 ° C with an accuracy of 2 ° C. A special built-in double thermometer measures the temperature inside the bowl. During heating, the ingredients can be mixed at 3 speeds in 3 algorithms.
Control
As a rule, a huge number of speeds in a kitchen machine is not used even by professional chefs, their optimal number is 5-6. Almost all models have electronic speed control. Pulse or turbo mode is necessary to break, for example, lumps in the dough.
Management of devices with the possibility of thermal processing of food is not complete without a timer and an LCD display, which displays all the parameters.
“I asked for 400, and here - 402!”
Accurate electronic scales are a necessary thing in haute cuisine, in addition, they can be useful for those who follow the figure and count calories, athletes, mothers of small children. There are kitchen machines with built-in electronic scales, but there are few of them, there are models for which scales can be purchased.
For example, the AT850B scale is an option for the Kenwood Chef (including Cooking Chef) and Kenwood Major models, it allows you to weigh all the ingredients in one bowl, each time resetting and remembering the previous result, which is very convenient and does not require using several food containers.
From whom to choose?
The market for these devices in our country is very narrow, no more than 30 models (and modifications), most of them we have collected in the table. It is gratifying that there is still a choice: from expensive Kenwood and KitchenAid modifications to more democratic Bomann, Clatronic, Moulinex and Russel Hobbs.
In the Kenwood and Bosch lines, you can find semi-professional and purely household appliances that are cheaper. The difference is primarily in power (max. 1200-1600 W for semi-professional and 500-600 W for household ones) and other technical engines, in bowl sizes and dimensions, in the basic set of nozzles. I must say that the issue of power is an important one. For example, in most cases, with a power of 500-600 W, meat grinders in such units do not work well, coping only with tender fish, liver or selected meat, in which there is not a vein.
For comparison: the maximum power of individual meat grinders is from 1500 W and reaches 2000-3000 W. Centrifugal juicers at this power also perform worse than individual devices that have higher power.
But for kneading all types of dough, 500 W power is enough, for squeezing juice from citruses and berries, for making pasta, for forming dough for cookies, for stuffing homemade sausages, for grater and shredder - too.