Several people asked me about ice cream makers after yesterday’s post.  Ice cream makers unfortunately come in a dizzying array of shapes, sizes and materials.  From the $25 Ice Cream maker ball, that makes ice cream by rolling around a frozen plastic ball, to the $2800 commercial batch ice cream makers that can make ice [...]]]>

Several people asked me about ice cream makers after yesterday’s post.  Ice cream makers unfortunately come in a dizzying array of shapes, sizes and materials.  From the $25 Ice Cream maker ball, that makes ice cream by rolling around a frozen plastic ball, to the $2800 commercial batch ice cream makers that can make ice cream in as little as 20 minutes.  Ultimately I settled on the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2qt model, I say settled because I couldn’t afford the Taylor 220 shown here used for $11,500.  For $79 dollars though I think the Cuisinart was a close second.  Keep reading to find out why I like it.

My earliest memories of ice cream making have to be of my parents begrudgingly pulling out the hand crank machine.  My memory is a bit foggy but I think it was one of those wood style bucket machines that probably had a stainless steel bucket and required the use of lots of ice, rock salt and man power (or kid power if available).  Looking back I can see why we only made ice cream once when I was younger.  Quite simply it was a pain in the ass.  But that was in the olden days surely technology has surpassed such trivial ice cream issues?  Not as much as you would think.

Below $200 dollars you will not find an ice cream maker that has a built in compressor-freezer.  This means you are left with units that have either a non-chilled bucket (typically stainless steel) and require the addition of ice and salt to keep the bucket below freezing.  Or you will find units like the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence that use a plastic bowl that requires you to pre freezes the bowl for 24 hours prior to using it.

The Cuisinart Pure Indulgence falls into the pre-freeze bowl category and features a nice clean look with stainless steel housing and a very usable 2 quart capacity.  There is even space under the ice cream maker for cord storage, a little thing that makes a big difference for storage.  Other than the unit itself you have only three addition parts, the plastic lid, plastic paddle and the freezer bowl.  All three are very easy to clean and the lid and paddle can be tossed in the dishwasher if needed.  Operation could not be easier, just freeze the bowl, and assemble the bowl into the housing along with the paddle and lid.  Turn the unit on and pour in your chilled mixture.  30 minutes later you have whatever frozen treat you set out to make.

To me the ease of not having to worry about adding ice and salt make it worth the space I need to have in the freezer for the bowl.  Fortunately at Flavourgasmic we have a storage freezer with plenty of space to keep the bowl permanently on freeze for ice cream any time.  If you don’t have the freezer space than I would consider a traditional model but be warned having to monitor your progress and add ice and salt is kind of a pain.  Either way you will do yourself a favor by not getting a hand crank model.  While you may think to yourself that this is cool or olde tyme, you will soon find yourself cursing your decision and not enjoying ice cream.

Not much more to say.  The Cuisinart Pure Indulgence has been a great ice cream maker for the two years we have used it.  In that time we have produced some truly great ice creams and also some truly horrible ice creams (not the fault of the ice cream maker).  If you are on a budget Cuisinart also makes a very similar 1.5qt model that is about $30 dollars less but has most of the same features.  You will not go wrong either way and there is nothing better on a hot day or when the craving hits than some wonderful, creamy, delicious homemade ice cream!

No? Yeah neither do I, I think of Cuisinart the iconic manufacturer of the Food Processor, so prolific in fact was Cuisinart that writer Eva Pomice of Forbes once commented that owning a Cuisinart “was tantamount to wearing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. You could hardly boast of a gourmet kitchen if you didn’t [...]]]>

No? Yeah neither do I, I think of Cuisinart the iconic manufacturer of the Food Processor, so prolific in fact was Cuisinart that writer Eva Pomice of Forbes once commented that owning a Cuisinart “was tantamount to wearing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. You could hardly boast of a gourmet kitchen if you didn’t own one of these.”  So why mention Robot Coupe, because I noticed while watching various food shows that professional chefs where referring to food processors as a Robot Coupe (pronouncing it like “robo coup”) very much like people will call facial tissue, Kleenex or cola, Coke.  This got me to thinking about how this seemingly obscure company could be the inventor of the food processor?  How in the world of professional chefs is the name used in place of the device itself but in the home kitchen Cuisinart is the name of choice?  Simple, they are French!  I kid, I kid, for the real story of the food processor just hit the jump.

As it turns out the food processor was idea of one Pierre Verdan, who during his time as a salesman for a French catering company noticed just how much time his clients spent chopping, mixing, and shredding food in preperation for service.  To help them he had the idea of fitting a revolving blade inside the base of a bowl.  In 1960 Verdan created Robot Coupe to sell his idea to the catering industry.  By the end of the 60′s he had created the first models to use powerful induction motors and by 1972 the first household models where being introducted.  Things really changed in 1971 when Carl and Shirley Sontheimer visited a housewares show in France and saw the Robot Coupe for the first time.  Certain that they could create a home version of the machine they founded Cuisinart with $20,000 to import and resell high end cookware from Europe, also securing the sole U.S. distribution rights for three prototype models from Robot Coupe.

By 1972 Sontheimer had made significant changes to the Robot Coupe design both funtional and to bring it into U.S. compliance, he approached Robot Coupe to manufacturer it for him.  In 1973 he introduced his design to the American public at the National Housewares Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.  This was followed by the Sontheimers seeking endorsements from James Beard, Julia Child and other notable chefs which along with positive reviews by Gourmet magazine assured brisk sales by 1975.  By 1977 Cuisinart’s sales exceeded $50 million, so now with thier name well established they suspended their manufacturing contract with Robot Coupe and found a Japanese firm to pick up production.  Here is where things get fun.

With their manufacturing and distribution contract now gone with Cuisinart, Robot Coupe introduced their own model in the U.S. in 1978 running with ads featuring pictures above a caption which read “It used to be pronounced Cuisinart.”  Needless to say this upset Cuisinart who responed by issue brochures stating that Robot Coupe lost the contracts because of inferior workmanship.  Things continued like this into the early 80′s with Cuisinart running ads stating “Are you as easily fooled as they hope you are?” to which Robot Coupe replied “Whose fooling whom?”.  It eventually took a lawsuit to end the war, with the judgement that Robot Coupe stop producing ads implying that Cuisinart had changed its name or claiming that it manufactured Cuisinart food processors.  Despite winning the lawsuit Cuisinart failed to capitilize and in 1983 Kitchen Aid introduced a direct competitor manufactured by Robot Coupe.  The Sontheimer’s sold Cusinart to a group of investors in 1988 for $60 million and not a moment to soon.  Slipping to only 12% market share by 1989 due to a saturated market and poor marketing Cuisinart filled for Chapter 11 in 1989 at which point it was sold to Conair.

Meanwhile sold under the name Magimix, Robot Coupe continued to hold a dominant market share of the home Food Processor buisiness in Europe and it’s commercial line sold under the Robot Coupe brand has been solid.  So why don’t us home cooks talk about pulling out the Robot Coupe when we grab the food processor and why do only professoinal chefs toss out the name Robot Coupe like they invented the thing, (oh yeah they did).  Well I for one think it’s a combination of greed, ego, poor decissions and just plain stupidity, same reason that New Coke took a world that didn’t know that cola was anything other than Coke and made us order pop or soda, the same reason that we now use the copier instead of the Xerox.  What do you think?