Marvels of the Kenwood Chef

[bimble]

I use a hand whisk a lot - I guess I figured I would use it instead of that.

I don't have a liquidiser any more - I guess I wanted that, too

I have never used a dough hook, but I like the idea of being able to do so

I want to use the bean slicer for slicing beans occasionally and for slicing orange peel once a year.

I pine for being a domestic goddess creating all kinds of goodnesses for the people around me.

I live alone with three cats.

I'm still managing on just one cat for now but I get the fantasy of domestic wonderment.
I really like the idea of making my own bread but at the same time its the kneading with your hands that's the fun bit, and the wholesomeness, isn't it? Which this machine will take away.

In what situation does a person need to slice beans though??

 

[mrs quoad]

Millie's Cookies recipe

^^^drop in ingredients sequentially w k beater (if you don't own the dedicated creaming attachment). Piece of piss. Great cookies.

 

[mrs quoad]

The food processor attachment can also reduce the time required to make a basic ottolenghi salad to a mere half hour or so.

And I'd properly recommend Brindisa's melon gazpacho to anyone with five minutes and a blender jug. (One galia / piel de sapo. Lots of single cream. A bit of mace (if just thrown into jug fresh) or grated nutmeg. Can sieve the melon after blending / before adding other stuff if v keen for smooooth drink).

 

[teuchter]

To clarify, the photo in the OP is off the web and not of my actual machine, which is the same except that I just have a whisk plus the K beater (not the hook thing in the OP photo).

 

[teuchter]

It is not long into the disassembly that the cause of the mechanical irregularities becomes apparent.

The machine is full of some kind of gunk that I imagine is a mixture of 1960s vintage grease plus 40 or 50 years' worth of baking ingredient residue.

 

[mrs quoad]

The machine is full of some kind of gunk that I imagine is a mixture of 1960s vintage grease plus 40 or 50 years' worth of baking ingredient residue.

Probably prawn cocktail.

 

[bimble]

View attachment 100031
It is not long into the disassembly that the cause of the mechanical irregularities becomes apparent.

The machine is full of some kind of gunk that I imagine is a mixture of 1960s vintage grease plus 40 or 50 years' worth of baking ingredient residue.

This is the tragedy of living where we do teuchter, people don't put quality stuff out on the street.
Are you disheartened? Say it isn't so, you'll fix that.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I'm still managing on just one cat for now but I get the fantasy of domestic wonderment.
I really like the idea of making my own bread but at the same time its the kneading with your hands that's the fun bit, and the wholesomeness, isn't it? Which this machine will take away.

In what situation does a person need to slice beans though??

I do actually have a bean slicer, which I use occasionally.

it is for slicing the old fashioned green beans which most people don't seem to eat anymore. I think they are called string beans or something. The slicer I have got is just a little square about 1 inch wide with a few sharp slicing things in it and you push the bean through it. It is hard work, because they are not very sharp, and the beans are only really crisp enough for it to work when they are fresh off the plant.


ETA - like this. Bean Slicer | Dexam

 

[friendofdorothy]

I pine for being a domestic goddess creating all kinds of goodnesses for the people around me.

I live alone with three cats.

I'm still managing on just one cat for now but I get the fantasy of domestic wonderment.

you've made me laugh out loud!

 

[Pickman's model]

I use a hand whisk a lot - I guess I figured I would use it instead of that.

I don't have a liquidiser any more - I guess I wanted that, too

I have never used a dough hook, but I like the idea of being able to do so

I want to use the bean slicer for slicing beans occasionally and for slicing orange peel once a year.

I pine for being a domestic goddess creating all kinds of goodnesses for the people around me.

I live alone with three cats.

if you share a place with three cats you do not live on your own.

 

[bimble]

Millie's Cookies recipe

^^^drop in ingredients sequentially w k beater (if you don't own the dedicated creaming attachment). Piece of piss. Great cookies.

ok. Cookies! That's motivational.

 

[Guineveretoo]

My mother used to have an attachment that minced meat, which she used about once. The butcher had a much better mincer.

She also had an attachment that mashed potatoes that I never saw her use, but I expect she did, at least once.

She loved her kitchen gadgets, my mum. If there was a gadget to be had, she wanted it and, because my father was in a fairly well paid job and she had access to his bank account, she used to get them. You name it, she had it.

 

[friendofdorothy]

To clarify, the photo in the OP is off the web and not of my actual machine, which is the same except that I just have a whisk plus the K beater (not the hook thing in the OP photo).

cheat!

 

[Guineveretoo]

if you share a place with three cats you do not live on your own.

True, but I don't prepare goodnesses for them. I order their food on the internet and put it in their bowls in measured amounts.

 

[bimble]

True, but I don't prepare goodnesses for them. I order their food on the internet and put it in their bowls in measured amounts.

Home made lovingly blended authentic kenwood cat food cookies. That might be the way forward.

 

[gosub]

yes. we also have a local repair person who can mend anything to do with ours (which looks similar vintage to yours). I keep meaning to find out if the new model liquidiser fits in the old liquidiser slot.... we have lots of things to attach which we picked up cheap but have never used. worth getting a second bowl (stainless steel ones are good). I can made a victoria sponge blindfold - just tip the stuff in and turn it on.

Yes,my 3year old liquidiser will fit on my mums 1969 kenwood

 

[Guineveretoo]

Home made lovingly blended authentic kenwood cat food cookies. That might be the way forward.

yeah, 'cos that's going to happen!

 

[friendofdorothy]

Yes,my 3year old liquidiser will fit on my mums 1969 kenwood

so if I buy a new liquidiser it should fit?

 

[friendofdorothy]

yeah, 'cos that's going to happen!

I once worked in a cat food factory- it was bad enough coming out of the cans. What it was before really doesn't bear thinking about. don't contaminate your mixer with offal.

cakes. make cakes.

 

[bimble]

yeah, 'cos that's going to happen!

I dunno. I buy posh food for cat, its about £1 a tin, got to be a total ripoff.
But yeah, should be realistic: I have this machine now and before I give it away got to try to make friends with it. It's in these bags sitting there because my kitchen is small and i'm a bit intimidated by all its parts, but looks like an expensive machine.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I once worked in a cat food factory- it was bad enough coming out of the cans. What it was before really doesn't bear thinking about. don't contaminate your mixer with offal.

cakes. make cakes.

I lived in Cambridgeshire and had friends who worked in the Spillers pet food factory. I don't even want to drag up the memories of those conversations!

I am vegetarian, although my cats are not, and I am not going to contaminate my imaginary Kenwood chef even with imaginary offal or other meat products.

Cakes it is.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I dunno. I buy posh food for cat, its about £1 a tin, got to be a total ripoff.
But yeah, should be realistic: I have this machine now and before I give it away got to try to make friends with it. It's in these bags sitting there because my kitchen is small and i'm a bit intimidated by all its parts, but looks like an expensive machine.

Mine are on an vet imposed diet of some expensive weight reduction dried food. Which is why I get it on the internet. You can't buy it in pet shops.

I have got a small kitchen, too, but I would make room for the Kenwood Chef.

 

[gosub]

so if I buy a new liquidiser it should fit?

yep, will be plastic but ok

 

[Boudicca]

I too pine for a Kenwood like my mother's. It started me on my lifelong long love of cake baking. I still remember say (aged 12) "But I made you a cake, Mum, surely you don't want me to clear up as well?"

I bought a 'vintage' one on Ebay a few years back but it's obviously not vintage enough and has a nasty plastic bowl instead of the glorious white glass one.

But my mother's getting on a bit now, so I'm holding out for the original one. Which is still in use, I have to say.

 

[mrs quoad]

My mother used to have an attachment that minced meat, which she used about once. The butcher had a much better mincer.

I've got that.

It's tremendous.

It also stuffs sausages.

It's about £60.

 

[mrs quoad]

 

[teuchter]

This is the tragedy of living where we do teuchter, people don't put quality stuff out on the street.
Are you disheartened? Say it isn't so, you'll fix that.

Are you saying my Kenwood Chef A701A is not quality stuff?

Of course I'm going to fix it.
I've just ordered the replacement part.
I am going to restrain myself from overhauling the entire gearbox.
Also it is tempting to do the motor but I am going to leave that for now and see how it goes with the new cog in.

 

[Guineveretoo]

The Kenwood that is currently in what was previously my mother's kitchen looks like that - all metallic and shiny. I used it at Christmas time to make the nut roast. And the breadcrumbs for the bread sauce.

 

[mrs quoad]

The Kenwood that is currently in what was previously my mother's kitchen looks like that - all metallic and shiny. I used it at Christmas time to make the nut roast. And the breadcrumbs for the bread sauce.

I explored the differences quite robustly before buying. The main differences (as you escalate price points) are plastic vs metal body; aluminium vs stainless attachments; and motor size.

(And there's a bigger bucket size model that runs in tandem, though iirc the motors don't get bigger).

I wanted sth that could comfortably churn through 2kg of dough, so settled on this un. Which certainly can comfortably churn through 2kg of dough.

 

[StoneRoad]

How does that even work?

The spud scrubber - you put the spuds into the special bowl, which had a surface a bit like 25 / 40 grit sandpaper as did the false bottom - and some raised sections (ridges) - the bottom rotated and the ridges turned the spuds around and over. There was a "rubber" lid to keep things tidy when operating.

You had quite a job washing the spuds and the "rumbler" clean afterwards.

It was very noisy in use, was a pain to clean, and if the spuds were uneven in shape or had deep set eyes the finished result was "patchy".

Mum used it "a few times" but, tbh, we could all peel the things far more quickly and quietly by hand.