TECHNIQUES FOR CHOPPING
AND PURÉEING WITH METAL
BLADE
To chop hard food like garlic and
hard cheese:
Remove the small pusher, press the ON lever and
drop the food through the small feed tube while
machine is running. Small foods like garlic can be
dropped in whole. Large foods like hard cheese
should be cut into 1-inch pieces. This method of
processing minces garlic, shallots and onions.
Hard cheese and coconut will have the same
texture as if they had been hand grated.
IMPORTANT: Never try to process cheese that is
too hard to cut with a knife. You may damage the
blade or the machine.
To chop parsley and other fresh herbs:
The herbs, the work bowl and the metal blade
must all be thoroughly cleaned and dry. Remove
stems from herbs. Add leaves to bowl and pro-
cess until they are chopped as fi ne as you want.
The more herbs you chop at a time, the fi ner chop
you can obtain. If completely dry when chopped,
parsley and other herbs will keep for at least 10
days, stored in an airtight bag in the refrigerator.
They may be frozen for months, stored in an
airtight container or bag.
To chop peel from citrus fruits or to chop
sticky fruits like dates or raisins:
For citrus, remove the peel with a vegetable peel-
er, leaving on the white pith, which is bitter tasting.
Cut the peel into lengths of 2 inches or less and
process with ½ cup granulated sugar until fi nely
chopped. This may take 2 minutes or longer.
For sticky fruits like dates, raisins, prunes and
candied fruit, fi rst freeze the fruit for about 10
minutes. Add to it some of the fl our called for in
the recipe. Use no more than 1 cup of fl our for
each cup of fruit.
COMPACT FLAT COVER
Use the compact cover for added convenience
when your recipe calls for chopping, mixing,
puréeing and kneading. It is particularly useful
when preparing baked goods such as cakes,
cookies, pies and breads.
To assemble the compact cover:
Begin with the work bowl and the metal blade,
dough blade, or whisk attachment in place. Place
the compact cover on the work bowl so that the
Cuisinart logo written on the cover is face up and
readable. Then turn cover counterclockwise to
lock into place.
To disassemble the compact cover:
Place one hand near the Cuisinart logo and other
hand on opposite end of cover; turn cover clock-
wise. Lift cover up and off work bowl.
CHOPPING AND PURÉEING WITH
METAL BLADE
To chop meat, poultry, fi sh and seafood:
The food should be very cold, but not frozen.
Cut it into 1-inch pieces to ensure an even chop.
Process no more than 2½ cups (1¼ pounds) at a
time. Press the lever down to PULSE and release
it, repeating 3 or 4 times at a rate of 1 second
on, 1 second off. If the food is not chopped fi ne
enough, let the processor run continuously for a
few seconds. Check the texture often to avoid
over-processing. Use a spatula to scrape food
from the sides of the bowl as necessary.
To purée meat, poultry, fi sh and seafood:
Prepare the food as described above. Pulse until
it is evenly chopped, then process continuously to
the desired texture. Scrape the bowl with spatula
as needed. Leave the purée in the work bowl and
add eggs, cream and seasoning as called for by
the recipe. Process to combine thoroughly.
Remember, you control texture by length of time
you process. By varying the processing time, you
can get a range of textures suitable for hamburg-
ers, hash, stuffed peppers, rough pâtés or smooth
mousses.
To chop nuts:
Chop no more than 2 cups at one time. Press the
lever down to PULSE and release it, repeating
several times. Check frequently to avoid letting
powdered nuts clump together in a nut butter.
When a recipe calls for fl our or sugar, add some
to the nuts before you chop them—about ½ cup
for each cup of nuts. This allows you to chop the
nuts as fi ne as you want without turning them
into a nut butter. You can also chop nuts with a
shredding disc. The optional Fine Shredding Disc
is particularly good.
To make peanut butter and
other nut butters:
Process up to 2 cups of nuts. Let the machine
run continuously. After 2 or 3 minutes, the ground
nuts will form a ball that will gradually smooth out.
Scrape sides of the bowl and continue processing
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