Living in the past looking to the future
April 19, 2013 9:29 PM Subscribe
Grating carrots grates - can one automate? I find myself eating a lot of carrot salads and it is my task to grate them. I love the carrots, I hate the grating. Can you recommend a kitchen gizmo that would make that task easier?
I don't like peeling either, but I'm trying not to push my luck, plus my budget does not include an AI Robot. So, understanding that I will still need to peel the carrots (I don't want to buy pre-peeled, or already grated), I'm looking for a device that will automate the grating. Here's a few points:
1) Can be, but does not have to be electric - mechanical is also fine
2) Easy to wash! Nothing worse than a gizmo that does 5 minutes worth of work in the kitchen but then requires 3 hours of washing with multiple components and hard to clean out nooks and odd shapes
3) Not more than $100 in cost
4) Hopefully smaller than a washing machine
I've looked through Amazon, but quickly became overwhelmed, plus I'd like people's feedback, as I am a kitchen primitive. This caught my attention, but otherwise I dunno:
Presto 02970 Professional SaladShooter Electric Slicer/Shredder, White
Halp, I'm trapped in the 1850's!
I don't like peeling either, but I'm trying not to push my luck, plus my budget does not include an AI Robot. So, understanding that I will still need to peel the carrots (I don't want to buy pre-peeled, or already grated), I'm looking for a device that will automate the grating. Here's a few points:
1) Can be, but does not have to be electric - mechanical is also fine
2) Easy to wash! Nothing worse than a gizmo that does 5 minutes worth of work in the kitchen but then requires 3 hours of washing with multiple components and hard to clean out nooks and odd shapes
3) Not more than $100 in cost
4) Hopefully smaller than a washing machine
I've looked through Amazon, but quickly became overwhelmed, plus I'd like people's feedback, as I am a kitchen primitive. This caught my attention, but otherwise I dunno:
Presto 02970 Professional SaladShooter Electric Slicer/Shredder, White
Halp, I'm trapped in the 1850's!
food processor. we have a cuisinart, but really any garage-sale or higher model will have a grating attachment. plus, they can also blend, knead bread dough, etc.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 9:31 PM on April 19, 2013
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 9:31 PM on April 19, 2013
Yup, food processor. You can get electric or manual ones in a variety of prices.
(Ps you don't have to peel your carrots if you scrub them with a scratchy sponge- like the green side of those yellow-and-green ones- and a touch of soap, and rinse!)
posted by windykites at 9:33 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
(Ps you don't have to peel your carrots if you scrub them with a scratchy sponge- like the green side of those yellow-and-green ones- and a touch of soap, and rinse!)
posted by windykites at 9:33 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
RIP Joe Ades: the best seller of the best peeler you can buy for $5 (yes, it's smaller than a washing machine)
posted by jng at 9:37 PM on April 19, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by jng at 9:37 PM on April 19, 2013 [6 favorites]
Depending on where you are, you may be able to find a nice food processor at a local thrift shop (good will) for fairly cheap, and then purchase the grating disc separately, if you want to save some money.
posted by markblasco at 9:38 PM on April 19, 2013
posted by markblasco at 9:38 PM on April 19, 2013
They have MINI food processors! They take up much less counter space than a full sized one and I find them less of a rigamarole to clean, although that may be in my head. Especially if you're cooking for one or two, they're really nice.
(I scrub my carrots with a stiff veggie brush and don't peel.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:40 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
(I scrub my carrots with a stiff veggie brush and don't peel.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:40 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
I hate washing food processors but find grating fast with a mandolin. Put in a julienne blade and they are thin enough for salad. You can spend between $5 and $50. If you get one with a handpiece to hold the carrot you can be even more mindless.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 9:56 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Trivia Newton John at 9:56 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Food processor cleanup tip: put some water and a squirt of soap in and pulse it a few times.
(I'm not 100% sure this will work to clean a grating disc though, since those usually attach way at the top of the work bowl and usually the fill line for liquid is about mid-way.)
Food processors are wonderful and versatile and worth the counter space regardless, IMHO. The old Cuisinarts seem to last forever, so you can look for one of those used.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:26 PM on April 19, 2013
(I'm not 100% sure this will work to clean a grating disc though, since those usually attach way at the top of the work bowl and usually the fill line for liquid is about mid-way.)
Food processors are wonderful and versatile and worth the counter space regardless, IMHO. The old Cuisinarts seem to last forever, so you can look for one of those used.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:26 PM on April 19, 2013
Response by poster: Thank you everybody so far! Sadly, neither of the two options so far are appealing :(
1)Food processor - exactly what I was thinking when I wrote "Easy to Wash" - a food processor is the exact opposite of easy to wash. Not in a million years. I'd sooner use my fingernails to grate. No, never, ever. Here's what's easy to wash: the ordinary box grater I already have - that's about as much washing as I want to do... run it under water from the tap and lightly brush - finito!
2)Mandolin - not much an improvement over what I already do.
Sadly - and shockingly - the Presto I found looks the best option so far... but that cannot be the case, can it, with all the food experts on metafilter!
Any other suggestions that take into account my requirements (including no washing ordeals)?
posted by VikingSword at 10:37 PM on April 19, 2013
1)Food processor - exactly what I was thinking when I wrote "Easy to Wash" - a food processor is the exact opposite of easy to wash. Not in a million years. I'd sooner use my fingernails to grate. No, never, ever. Here's what's easy to wash: the ordinary box grater I already have - that's about as much washing as I want to do... run it under water from the tap and lightly brush - finito!
2)Mandolin - not much an improvement over what I already do.
Sadly - and shockingly - the Presto I found looks the best option so far... but that cannot be the case, can it, with all the food experts on metafilter!
Any other suggestions that take into account my requirements (including no washing ordeals)?
posted by VikingSword at 10:37 PM on April 19, 2013
Maybe a mouli grater? Fans include Alice Medrich and David Lebovitz (here's his carrot salad).
posted by taupe at 10:51 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by taupe at 10:51 PM on April 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
#1 - Peel your carrots by scraping with a grapefruit spoon. So Much Easierr!
#2 - Food prcessor is easy to clean (just rinse with hot wayer on high blast from your tap) if you are only grating carrots. You are being silly here. Get a real traditional Cuisinart, and you'll be set!
Plus, once grated, carrots keep for a few days in the fridge, so you'll only have to grate 2x's per week.
If you don't want to peel, peeled baby carrots in the grat of a Cuisinart will work great. And I saved you the trouble of peeling there, so you can deote that extra effort to rinsing your food prcessor.
Macy's is having their One Day Sale tomorrow, and Cuisinarts are always cheap there. Seriously, don't wait. It's not a hassle and will change your life.
(I have both a Japanese and tradional mandolin, I have all other manner of professional appliances and tools - just get the freakin' food processor. You're welcome:))
posted by jbenben at 11:01 PM on April 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
#2 - Food prcessor is easy to clean (just rinse with hot wayer on high blast from your tap) if you are only grating carrots. You are being silly here. Get a real traditional Cuisinart, and you'll be set!
Plus, once grated, carrots keep for a few days in the fridge, so you'll only have to grate 2x's per week.
If you don't want to peel, peeled baby carrots in the grat of a Cuisinart will work great. And I saved you the trouble of peeling there, so you can deote that extra effort to rinsing your food prcessor.
Macy's is having their One Day Sale tomorrow, and Cuisinarts are always cheap there. Seriously, don't wait. It's not a hassle and will change your life.
(I have both a Japanese and tradional mandolin, I have all other manner of professional appliances and tools - just get the freakin' food processor. You're welcome:))
posted by jbenben at 11:01 PM on April 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I have owned a presto salad shooter. If you think cleaning a food processor is too much work, I've got news for you. The Presto is ten times more work. I threw mine away and bought a food processor, which for carrots takes just about no time to clean at all.
posted by Orb at 11:42 PM on April 19, 2013
posted by Orb at 11:42 PM on April 19, 2013
Best answer: As a long-time handwasher I can relate, but anything mechanical is going to suck to clean. Box grater or mandoline.
posted by rhizome at 11:43 PM on April 19, 2013
posted by rhizome at 11:43 PM on April 19, 2013
Best answer: First, you don't have to peel carrots, just scrub the dirt off of them like a potato.
What you want is a better grater. Yours is worn out and dull if it takes you long enough that it's a problem in your life. Get a new sharp one and it should take you like 30 seconds to shred a carrot.
posted by cmoj at 11:44 PM on April 19, 2013
What you want is a better grater. Yours is worn out and dull if it takes you long enough that it's a problem in your life. Get a new sharp one and it should take you like 30 seconds to shred a carrot.
posted by cmoj at 11:44 PM on April 19, 2013
Response by poster: OK, reality is beginning to set in. Yet again, on another front, I find myself living in the middle ages. Back to the salt mines - looks like a new grater to replace my old dull one, sum total of progress over the millennia of carrot grating. Maybe in a few centuries from today, we might figure out how to grate carrots without having to spend three times as long to wash as to grate. Not all is lost though - one valuable tip I'm grateful for - brushing instead of peeling... that is a definite time saver!
posted by VikingSword at 11:54 PM on April 19, 2013
posted by VikingSword at 11:54 PM on April 19, 2013
I alternate between a manual rotary mouli-julienne and the julienne version of the Zena Star that Joe Ades used to sell.
posted by holgate at 12:51 AM on April 20, 2013
posted by holgate at 12:51 AM on April 20, 2013
I personally find a mandolin hugely easier and faster to wash than a box grater!
posted by shazzam! at 1:15 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by shazzam! at 1:15 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
You have tried the asian vegetable shredding thing? I don't know the name - in our house, we call it the vietnamese shredder, because that's what we use for prepping vietnamese meals, but it looks like a handheld peeler with a jagged spiky blade (picture) and you can shred loooooong strips off vegetables very quickly with it. An asian supermarket would have it, and I find it easier to use than a mandolin.
Thermomix is out of your price range, but it is self-cleaning. For grated carrots (for cake alas, not healthy salads), I dump washed carrots cut in half into the jug, hit speed 3-4 for about 10-20 seconds, and then tip out a couple of cups of grated carrots. These are small chunks, not julienned strips - for that you need a food processor or mandolin. To wash, I fill it about halfway, add a squirt of dishwashing liquid and set it to stir and heat to 80 degrees for 3 minutes. Then I empty the soapy water into the sink, swishing out a bit with a cloth if there's anything left to clean, although for carrots, no. I just made a banana and sour cream cake, and I had to wash out the batter which took about 30 seconds at the sink. I am a lazy, lazy cook, so not having to wash multiple bowls or take apart something is a big deal for me.
posted by viggorlijah at 1:33 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thermomix is out of your price range, but it is self-cleaning. For grated carrots (for cake alas, not healthy salads), I dump washed carrots cut in half into the jug, hit speed 3-4 for about 10-20 seconds, and then tip out a couple of cups of grated carrots. These are small chunks, not julienned strips - for that you need a food processor or mandolin. To wash, I fill it about halfway, add a squirt of dishwashing liquid and set it to stir and heat to 80 degrees for 3 minutes. Then I empty the soapy water into the sink, swishing out a bit with a cloth if there's anything left to clean, although for carrots, no. I just made a banana and sour cream cake, and I had to wash out the batter which took about 30 seconds at the sink. I am a lazy, lazy cook, so not having to wash multiple bowls or take apart something is a big deal for me.
posted by viggorlijah at 1:33 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
For salads I sometimes just run a peeler all the way through, slicing carrots into long, thin orange noodles. A peeler obviously is easy to rinse clean, and using it as a slicing tool adds zero cleaning time if you were already using it to peel the carrot.
If you want to get fancier, there's such a thing as a julienne peeler. I haven't tried one, but some get great reviews.
There's such a thing as a too-sharp box grater. The one made by OXO is lethal -- I had one, and gave it away. The box grater I love and keep has no brand labeling and came from a big chain import store, probably made in Pakistan (source of many small and finely-made stainless steel implements, for whatever reason). Sadly the store I got it from doesn't carry them anymore, but it was only about $10, and much better than the really cheap ones that are made of such thin steel that the grater sides deflect inward under pressure as if to avoid cutting anything.
posted by jon1270 at 1:42 AM on April 20, 2013
If you want to get fancier, there's such a thing as a julienne peeler. I haven't tried one, but some get great reviews.
There's such a thing as a too-sharp box grater. The one made by OXO is lethal -- I had one, and gave it away. The box grater I love and keep has no brand labeling and came from a big chain import store, probably made in Pakistan (source of many small and finely-made stainless steel implements, for whatever reason). Sadly the store I got it from doesn't carry them anymore, but it was only about $10, and much better than the really cheap ones that are made of such thin steel that the grater sides deflect inward under pressure as if to avoid cutting anything.
posted by jon1270 at 1:42 AM on April 20, 2013
That's weird, I own a Salad Shooter and a food processor and vastly prefer cleaning the Salad Shooter. ymmv, I guess, but I haven't had a dishwasher for a few years and hate washing dishes, and I've been very grateful (no pun intended) for the Salad Shooter. It's only mildly difficult to clean if you grate cheese in it, vegetables are just rinsing.
posted by Nattie at 2:37 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Nattie at 2:37 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
This sort of goes against your title, since it's vintage rather than new-tech, but the rotary grater this guy uses (visible briefly beginning at about 17 seconds in) seems pretty quick and easy, except that you do have cut the carrots first, so maybe not suitable. If you are interested, though, it looks like it's a Mouli Salad Maker. They can be found on eBay, and this image (from this seller) seems to match up to the one in the video.
posted by taz at 3:30 AM on April 20, 2013
posted by taz at 3:30 AM on April 20, 2013
A food processor is extremely easy to clean because everything can go on the top rack of the dishwasher. If you have one, any way.
posted by ancient star at 4:24 AM on April 20, 2013
posted by ancient star at 4:24 AM on April 20, 2013
I hear you on the cleaning the food processor. But the thing is, if you spend and get a good one - the cuisinart really is awesome - it's totally different. I have an el cheapo that's fine for my needs, I only use it occasionally, but it's badly designed so that I have to use a little scrubby brush and sometimes a knife to get bits of food out of the nooks and crannies. The cuisinarts are made all smooth, without all that. Soooooooo much easier.
posted by lemniskate at 5:37 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by lemniskate at 5:37 AM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I was baffled about the food-processor cleaning complaint - quick swish with a scrub sponge around the bowl and rinse, 20-30 seconds to scrub off the disc with a brush - but I have only ever had a Cuisinart. It's not hard to clean, and I'd say the whole process is faster and easier than washing a box grater, and safer than cleaning a mandoline.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:56 AM on April 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Lyn Never at 6:56 AM on April 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
a food processor is the exact opposite of easy to wash.
A modern food processor is totally easy and fast to wash. We bought one last year and I was amazed, it's really a totally different deal than any I've used before. All the plastic is molded and smooth so that the soapy water just rinses or wipes off clean in one go and without effort, and there are no little gaps or annoying pieces or food-grabbing crannies or anything. It's awesome. It's not even a very expensive or fancy one, just a smallish compact-model Kenwood. Plus it grates carrots like a champ.
So throw out your ideas about what food processors are like, things have changed.
posted by shelleycat at 7:24 AM on April 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
A modern food processor is totally easy and fast to wash. We bought one last year and I was amazed, it's really a totally different deal than any I've used before. All the plastic is molded and smooth so that the soapy water just rinses or wipes off clean in one go and without effort, and there are no little gaps or annoying pieces or food-grabbing crannies or anything. It's awesome. It's not even a very expensive or fancy one, just a smallish compact-model Kenwood. Plus it grates carrots like a champ.
So throw out your ideas about what food processors are like, things have changed.
posted by shelleycat at 7:24 AM on April 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
The microplane box grater is as good a grater as I've ever found. It's as sharp as a mandoline but much less hassle. It cleans more easily than the kitchnaid. It's not perfect, microplanes will dull over time too, but this is a decent box grater, much better than the old 50s ones.
posted by bonehead at 9:08 AM on April 20, 2013
posted by bonehead at 9:08 AM on April 20, 2013
brushing is also better For You than peeling...most of the vitamins and minerals are in the skins of vegetables...
nthing 'real' cuisineart...the grater is one flat plate and the container is a bowl.
also...excellent with shredded carrot: hijiki. Soak it in water in the fridge (~1/2 hr) (usually sold dried), drain (or not), add carrot, a splash of rice vinegar...nom nom
posted by sexyrobot at 12:55 PM on April 20, 2013
nthing 'real' cuisineart...the grater is one flat plate and the container is a bowl.
also...excellent with shredded carrot: hijiki. Soak it in water in the fridge (~1/2 hr) (usually sold dried), drain (or not), add carrot, a splash of rice vinegar...nom nom
posted by sexyrobot at 12:55 PM on April 20, 2013
Do we need to clarify about the washing - do it immediately after grating the carrots, so everything just rinses off. If you leave it on the counter until tomorrow, everything gets all dried and stuck on and it's a nightmare. Fresh is very simple to clean.
posted by CathyG at 9:24 PM on April 20, 2013
posted by CathyG at 9:24 PM on April 20, 2013
I leave my food processor bowl until the next day, sometimes two or three days (we don't have a dishwasher) and it always cleans off just fine. The plastic is somehow made so things just don't really stick. And just to be extra clear, I loathe doing dishes and always refused to wash or dry our old food processor. I still hate washing or drying the box grater, the processor bowl and blades are so much easier (and safer too, I cut myself a lot while cooking).
posted by shelleycat at 1:33 AM on April 21, 2013
posted by shelleycat at 1:33 AM on April 21, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Miko at 9:30 PM on April 19, 2013 [2 favorites]