This mini food processor – Cuisinart DLC-2 is top of its class but constantly being compare with the KitchenAid KFC3100 – best mini food processor that is recommended in my previous blog post.
Each have its own advantage when come to chopping food, but KitchenAid KFC3100 has the reverse sprial action design which allow to pulls down the food when processing, and this make Kitchenaid KFC3100 a more superior product in my opinion. Anyway, Cuisinart DLC-2 mini food processor excel in the area of processing softer food category. Well, this 2 mini food processors are good buy but if your not sure which of the two products to buy, I would recommend to get theKitchenAid KFC3100 instead. Anyway, here are couple of user reviews of this Cuisinart DLC-2 mini food processor.
What People Are Saying About This Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Food Processor:
“As I have a full-size Cuisinart, I debated about buying a Cuisinart Mini-Prep Food Processor. However, I soon discovered that the Mini-Prep was ideal for chopping onions (without tears), making paté, chopped liver, and chutney. Soon I purchased a second plastic work bowl, so that when making paté I could use one for chopping lightly braised chicken livers, and the other for chopping onions and hard-cooked eggs. I do not recommend the Mini-Prep for grinding hard cheeses; I would use the plastic Zyliss rotary cheese grater instead. Also, I do not use the Mini-Prep for chopping or mincing herbs because it is too easy to bruise them; I use either a chef’s knife or a rolling mincer, like the Pedrini Acciaio.
The Mini-Prep is very easy to use, and it has a strong pulsing action. You use it the same way that you would use the larger Cuisinart. After a brief pulsing, you use a small plastic spatula to scrape down the sides of the container and pulse again. The ingredients are always chopped uniformly. If you want something minced or puréed, you just pulse it a bit longer. With this new and improved Mini-Prep, you can reverse the blade without taking it out of the container. There are now two pulsing bars: ‘chop’ and ‘grind.’ The booklet that comes with the Mini-Prep is very informative about which side of the blade works best with different items. Also, you can now pour oil into the container through two small holes in the top, which is perfect when making mayonnaise, aioli, or pesto.
One caution: one side of the Mini-Prep’s blade is very sharp! I cut myself the first time I used it. So now I handle it with care. I wash the blade by hand, but I put the containers in the top rack of the dishwasher.” – Michela
Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor
Cuisinart DLC-2 Product Description:
- Ideal for making pesto, grinding cheese, chopping onions, herbs
- Chops and grinds with patented reversible blade
- Blade’s sharp edge chops soft foods, blunt edge grinds hard foods
- 3-cup plastic work bowl is dishwasher-safe
- Compact, just 9 inches high
More User Feedbacks:
The Bad:
“We bought this machine two days ago. It doesn’t suck the food down for consistent grinding for baby food, which is what we bought it for. The top is chunky and the bottom is smooth. You have to consistently stir the items. Then it broke. The center rotator that turns the blade snapped off when we were blending avocado. We turned this item in, and are going to get a kitchenaide instead, as previous reviewers have recommended.” – Joseph Coolidge
The Good:
When I starting searching for a mini-chopper I was surprised by the huge rating difference between the Cuisinart DLC2 and the KitchenAid KFC3100, so I bought both and did a side-by-side comparison. The only explanation I can give for the ratings difference is that Cuisinart buyers must have higher expectations. For most operations they have nearly identical performance and for some operations the Cuisinart is the clear winner.
Onions: Many Cuisinart reviewers panned its performance here, claiming it made onion purée, but most KitchenAid reviewers praised its onion chopping ability. I found almost no difference between the two. Maybe its an issue with the instructions – for chopped onions you must use a few short pulses. A few more pulses and you get minced onion – more than this and both give you onion puree. I wouldn’t say either is great at chopping onions, but both are equally mediocre.
I also tested chopping nuts, and making breadcrumbs with similar results. Both performed about the same for a course chop, although the Cuisinart produced a more even chop on the nuts, but its when you want a really fine chop that the Cuisinart starts to shine. The first reason for this is the grind feature found only on the Cuisinart. This spins the blade in the opposite direction which allows the flat, back-side of the blade to impact the food. More importantly, it redistributes the food, so if you’ve got a couple of chunks that refuse to be chopped, a short pulse in the opposite direction helps it drop into the blade. For perfect, fine breadcrumbs I alternate between the normal chop mode for a few seconds, and grind for one second.
The other reason the Cuisinart gives a better fine chop is that it does a much better job of cycling the food through the blade. This is a real key when you’re working with softer foods like spreads, pâtés or purees. When I made a cream cheese spread in both choppers the Cuisinart did a far quicker and better job of pulling the ingredients down the center and into the blade. The KitchenAid kept larger chunks bobbing on top. If you’re making dips, spreads or baby food, the Cuisinart is the hands-down winner.
On the practical side, both choppers were equally easy to clean. Both have small holes in the lid for pouring in liquids on the fly, but only The KitchenAid has a slot for dry or thick ingredients – if that’s important to you. Overall, I found the Cuisinart easier to use for several reasons. First, the Cuisinart blade drops on easily, while the KitchenAid blade is keyed and I found myself turning it several times before it dropped in. Second, the KitchenAid lid must be removed first before you can lift off the bowl, but on the Cuisinart, the bowl and lid can be detached as an assembly. Finally, the Cuisinart blade has a “handle” that extends to the top of the bowl like a popsicle stick allowing you to remove the blade without getting your fingers in the food.
After all my testing, I really can’t understand the large ratings difference between these two. Neither is perfect – you’ll never get a perfect, even, course chop with things like onions or chocolate, but they do come in handy. For many uses either one will give you pretty much the same results. Because of its advantage with softer foods and its ease of use, I recommend the Cuisinart. – S. Burch
Further Information:
Related Posts:
- Best Food Processor – Main
- KitchenAid KFP750WH 700-Watt 12-Cup Food Processor – Best Food Processor
- Cuisinart DLC-2014N PowerPrep Plus 14-cup Food Processor – Best Large Capacity Food Processor
- KitchenAid KFPW760OB 700-Watt 12-Cup Food Processor – Best High Power Food Processor
- Cuisinart – DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-cup Food Processor – Best Medium Size Food Processor
- KitchenAid KFC3100 Chef Series Food Chopper – Best Small Food Processor
