a food processor or a 'boat motor'?

[veremchuka]

I would like a kitchen tool for pureeing soups and making pesto, nothing else. Which is better for my needs? A food processor seems like a good choice but they cost close to $100 and I don't want or need one for cutting/slicing things so they can do things I wouldn't use it for. A hand held mixer, Emril calls it a boat motor, is cheaper and would be good for pureeing but can you make pesto with it or does that require a food processor?


Thanks!

[Nodak]

The "boat motor" can make pesto but it needs to be a good heavy duty one that will cost almost as much as a blender. If you don't need to it to slice then a blender may be a better choice. I have a Ninja brand food prep device that does very well for about $60.

[Midpack]

Definitely the boat motor for what you describe, we have both. As long as you don't get too carried away with recipe size (and I mean huge like 12 quarts), a decent boat motor will be very effective. And you will love the easier cleanup with the boat motor. You basically have to take a food processor apart and clean 3-4 parts, so we use our food processor only when we are chopping, slicing large quantities. When I finish with the boat motor, I just run it under a stream of water from the faucet and it's almost clean already. Our boat motor is a Braun MR 72 (however we bought a few of the attachments intended to make a boat motor more versatile, none proved to be worthwhile IMO). Good luck...

Edit: I just noticed a KitchenAid "boat motor" at Target for $49.95 FWIW...

[donheff]

I make potato leek soup fairly often and used to use a regular blender. That worked fine but there are issues with stuff shooting up through the center part of the lid. I started using one of those immersible hand blenders and it works great (also called stick blenders). Mine is a Braun 160 watt. I couldn't find one online but there are lots of others that looked good in the $40-$60 range.

[Gotadimple]

Buy a blender with a small food processor attachment. Soup in the blender, pesto in the mini-chopper.

Mine is a Hamilton Beach.

-- Rita

[freebird5825]

I have both.

My food chopper is a simple rotating dual blade model, older but similar to this type of design
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-H...3802000&sr=1-2
All the parts are dishwasher safe. No silly discs or complicated parts to deal with. Mine has a variable speed slider switch and a pulse control button.

I use the boat motor very rarely. It vibrates too much for my hands. I do like it for pureeing soup.

[Dimsumkid]

If you already have a blender (I have an Oster brand), this can be used for both pureeing and making pesto. When I make cream of mushroom soup, I always make multiple servings (1/2 - 1 gal batch) the volume is too big for my small/medium processors and would burn out my cheap immersion unit. If I owned a large/xl processor, then I would use it, but I learned from experience the blender can do the job in 1-2 passes. I find the immersion blender (free promo item from a bank) is best for 1 cup or less, great for making small amounts of fresh mayo. I did see a nice unit for sale at Costco recently (Kitchenaid? brand) that was selling for $29.99 in the event mine broke.

[Nuiloa]

Get a blender. If you go to a second hand/thrift shop, I'll bet you find some nearly new ones there.

I have a very small food chopper - holds about 1 cup. That thing is so handy - not just for mixing smallish amounts but for chopping things like nuts, onions and even shredding cheese.

[TromboneAl]

Both. Garage Sales.