Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus: great gift for your favorite cook!
Written: Oct 05 '00 (Updated Oct 05 '00)
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Pros: Small, sleek, easy to clean
Cons: The two pour holes are difficult to use
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| tanster's Full Review: Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus DLC-2BC Food Processor |
Since around 1998, I’ve been the proud owner of the Cuisinart Pro Classic food processor. Unfortunately, it proved to be a bit over-featured (and oversized) for a “weekend cook” like me. I started to look for a simpler and smaller machine, something that would be easy enough to pull out of the drawer to cut up an onion, and would be a breeze to clean.
And along comes Cuisinart’s new Mini-Prep Plus....
Out of the box
The box included:
• Mini-Prep Plus unit.
• Spatula.
• Instruction and recipe booklet.
• Product registration card.
How it works
The Mini-Prep works much like a standard food processor: 1) Place the work bowl onto the base and lock it into place. 2) Insert the blade into the work bowl. 3) Place whatever food you want to process into the bowl. 4) Place the lid on the bowl and lock it into place (you will feel a definite snap. 5) Press either CHOP or GRIND on the front display.
It’s very simple; there are no other buttons or settings to mess with. The Mini-Prep chops (onions, garlic, herbs, cheese), grinds (coffee beans, nuts, seeds), and purees (baby food, applesauce).
How various foods fared
• Onions: you need to use a very light touch on the CHOP button as you pulse. And you must cut onions into very small pieces first (meaning not quarters, but more like eights, or even sixteenths). As long as you pulse in short bursts, the Mini-Prep nicely chops onions into uniform pieces.
• Bacon/pancetta: what if you need diced raw bacon or pancetta for a Bolognese sauce? I cut strips of bacon into eighths (approximately 1-inch pieces), put them in the bowl, and pulsed a few times with the CHOP button. The blades, while sharp, can’t handle the sinewy strands of fat found in bacon. So yes, the Mini-Prep Plus will produce diced bacon, but the dice will all be strung together!
• Garlic: the Mini-Prep beautifully minces garlic. I tried making the Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing offered in the instruction booklet, and it turned out fine. (Just remember to cover the tiny holes on top of the cover before you mix in the liquid ingredients!)
• Hard cheese: how did the Mini-Prep handle a little wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano? Pretty well overall, except for a few little pebbles that refused to be minced any smaller. (Those are the ones the chef gets to nibble on while cooking.)
• Nuts: using the GRIND button, you can easily pulverize nuts into an almost paste-like consistency. Hmmm, you can probably make homemade peanut butter….
Cool features
• Sleek compact design: there are no buttons or levers, just a smooth touchpad display (making the base very easy to wipe clean). It will easily fit on the smallest of kitchen counters.
• Auto-reversing Smart Power Blade: the dual-blade spins in one direction to CHOP, and the other direction to GRIND. While I really can’t tell the difference between the two (either one would pulverize if pressed long enough), I do believe that alternating between the two does a more thorough job of processing.
• Dishwasher-safe bowl, cover, and blade: even by hand, the Mini-Prep is a breeze to clean.
• Under-unit cord storage and non-skid feet: you can neatly wrap the Mini-Prep’s cord underneath its base.
• Good instruction booklet: it includes a list of common foods and how you should process each one, and about a dozen basic recipes – including chicken salad, mayonnaise, salad dressing, pesto, lemon garlic butter, and Cajun spice blend.
What I don’t like about the Mini-Prep
• Even though it states it has a 21-ounce capacity, that’s misleading. Since the instruction booklet warns that you should never to fill the work bowl more than two-thirds full, the actual capacity is only around 2 cups.
• The so-called spatula that comes with the Mini-Prep is nothing more than a glorified plastic knife! It also doesn’t bend, making it virtually useless for scraping stuff out of the bowl.
• The Mini-Prep’s cover has two small holes – one for pouring liquids and one for air to escape. But these holes are so small and so close to each other that it makes the liquid-pouring task quite difficult.
Specifications
Height (with bowl and cover in place): 8-1/2 in.
Width: 5 in.
Depth: 7 in.
Weight: around 2-1/2 lbs.
Cord length: 28 in.
Capacity: 21 ounces (advertised), 16 ounces (actual)
Warranty
The Cuisinart MiniPrep comes with an 18-month limited warranty.
Parts that you can replace
You can purchase a new bowl/cover ($12) or blade ($12) from the Cuisinart web site for the older DLC-1 model, so I assume they will be available for the new DLC-2 Mini-Prep Plus soon as well.
Comparison to similar products
Before you buy, you may also want to consider these products:
• Black & Decker 2-Speed Super Chopper Food Processor SC400 ($27.99). 2-cup capacity.
• Black & Decker HandyChopper Plus Mincer/Chopper HC3000 ($21.99). 1-1/2 cup capacity.
• Hamilton Beach 70150 ($29.99). 2-cup capacity. Includes feed chute, food pusher, slicer/shredder discs. (The Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus does not come with, or accommodate, accessory pieces like this.)
Where to buy
I purchased the Mini-Prep Plus at the local Williams-Sonoma store for $39.95.
All in all
There are definitely less expensive choppers/grinders you can buy. But I don’t think any of them look more stylish than the Mini-Prep. And the touchpad display is a unique convenience. It does a great job of cutting up small quantities of stuff, for a one- to two-people household. It has become the favored little sibling to my big, bad (and rarely used) Cuisinart Pro Classic. :)
For more info, see www.cuisinart.com.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 39.95
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Epinions.com ID:
tanster
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 111
Trusted by: 331 members
About Me:
Happily reviewing cool gadgets and SF Bay Area restaurants since 1999. Pass the gravy, please.
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