Robot Coupe Salvage?
2 years ago
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My vintage Kitchen Aid Food Processor...waaah!
Comments (13)Once upon a time, a son of France rose, drank his bowl of cafe au lait, smoked a morning Gauloise, and made machines until lunchtime. Fortified by the lunch packed by his young bride, a carafe of vin ordinaire, and more Gauloises, in the afternoon he made more machines. The next day, and the next week, he did it all over again. Those machines traveled all over the world of the swingin' seventies, to kitchens from Helsinki to Hackensack, and set to work. Chopping and dicing, whirring and kneading, they worked in kitchens grand and small, just as their big commercial Robot Coupe brothers were working in the world's restaurants. Like the solid French ouvriers who made them, the machines worked and worked. The years passed, decades went by, generations came and went. The sturdy young Gaul who screwed together this food processor and riveted the engraved label to its underside grew old, stooped, and was buried in the old cemetery by the wood, next to his beloved wife. The machines he made outlive him, and may outlive their children, and their children. In 1970s France, they hadn't learned to shave thicknesses and cheapen materials so that their products would fail just after the warranties expired. Your Robot Coupe in Kitchen Aid livery was made to keep working indefinitely. It was meant to be the last food processor its owner would ever have to buy. We live in the twilight of quality consumer goods. Everything is made in China of thin plastic and pot metal, cost-engineered to fall apart after an average of X years, with a standard deviation of Y that the company's accountants compute into the warranty reserves and balance against the manufacturing cost, to achieve maximum profit for the corporate parent. There is no red wine, or indeed time for lunch, in the factories. Yes, there are sturdy machines in the factories, some even made in France. They are used to make the cheap new machines that we consumers buy. Or, that we don't buy. You can get a used bowl, lid, blades, and stem for your KFP 700 for about $50 on eBay. See link for a typical auction. Or a new work bowl for about $60 from a few companies who stock parts for old machines. Try Gourmet Depot. Obvious, as a grouchy old sentimentalist, I would keep using the old French machine instead of junking the work of our Gauloise-puffing and vin rouge-imbibing hero. But I'm not a nutter about this stuff. Why, only today I dumped a box of old stuff - 56K modems, parallel printer cables, floppy disks, Celeron processors - at the freegeek computer recycle place. But I kept the old acoustic coupler and 1200 baud modem that I used to go online with, from pay phones on dusty roads all over France. Maybe, even the side road where the factory once stood. Maybe, even the phone where our hero would call his young wife, to take her out for dinner with the francs earned from his long day of making machines. Maybe, even the sturdy machine on your kitchen counter. Here is a link that might be useful: Example...See Morefood processors: cuisinart vs. braun?
Comments (1)I'll throw another choice at you since you mentioned Robot-Coupe. Take a look at Magimix. They are essentially the old Robot coupe home version and what I'll be getting if my 30 year old RC ever goes kapoot. I've had my Robot Coupe for 33 years.... unfortunately US availablilty is strictly commercial/restaurant style now so when my bowl broke a while back, I assumed I needed a new machine. After trying a Cuisinart and a Viking, I sold them both on ebay after I found a place that sold the bowls for discontinued machines. If the motor ever goes on the RC I'll be getting a Magimix. Still made in France but available at several online places: Chef's Catalog, Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table etc...See MoreMy Robot Coupe Broke!
Comments (5)I have the Cuisinart DLC XP which is the largest Cuisinart made: 20 cups, and heavy duty. The shaft is steel. You can find them new from dealers on ebay, as well as the entire set of blades, which are approximately 8 inches in diameter. I hear the Magimix is very nice and and Chefs catalog has a package deal on the 5150, less expensive than the DLC XP. I cannot speak for the former but the latter has never disappointed and is rated commercial by Cuisinart. If you're happy and accustomed to the RC, you may not have the same feelings with another machine. RC does have a web site and maybe you can send it in for repair. Also, they show up on ebay, some new, some used. The DLC is made in Japan; Magimix France, and the remainder are made in China, if it makes any difference. Once in awhile, ebay has an older KA new in the box that was made in France (rumor is by RC). Good luck....See MoreFood Processor recommendations
Comments (21)My last food processor was great while it lasted (which was for about a year after I purchased it) at a thrift store for a song. It was one of the "newer" models which I got at a thrift store back when you could find such things at thrift stores. My contention is that so many people now shop thrift stores to resell things that things like good food processors disappear off those shelves faster than ever. And since I rarely am able to get over to the thrift store, I must buy from the resellers on eBay. A while back (a long while back) I did a lot of research on Cuisinarts online. I don't know where all that information is now, because it is nowhere to be found -- but I can tell you that back then (over ten years ago) I ran into a LOT of people very unhappy with Cuisinart food processors since the company was sold (back in the late '80s, I believe) and their #1 complaint was that the newer blades broke so easily. That always stuck in my mind, so this time around since I had to go to eBay anyhow I did a lot of research to figure out what to get. I learned that I am NOT a typical food processor user, in that I am not buying it primarily for shredding, grating or even making bread or pie crusts. For me it is mostly for making my own tahini (just put the sesame seeds in with about a TBL of sesame or olive oil for every cup or two of seeds and let it whir for a while -- maybe 10 min). The tahini is out-of-this world and soooo much better than anything I could buy. Now store-bought tahini tastes rancid to me! And then of course I make hummus using the food processor. Another thing I love to make is "coconut butter" using organic flaked coconut. This take about 12 minutes with the S-blade and doesn't really need any oil added. WAY cheaper than buying coconut butter in the jar, and so good for you! Last but not least, I think it is awful good fun to make my own butter (and buttermilk) using some grass-fed organic heavy cream. I haven't done this yet but have seen a couple videos of it on YouTube. Anyhow, the fp I am getting is the Cuisinart cfp-5A. Thanks for all the reviews you have done on that model, John Liu, in past years -- helped a lot! It was also good to know that this model is NOT good for making bread, and I was able to buy it with my eyes wide open about that. It will be a drag to have to turn the lid left and right in order to "pulse," but I can live with that. I was able to get the cfp-5A with the S-blade and with the basket and lid having sustained zero chips or cracks for just a little over $70 including shipping, so I'm a happy camper (or will be when it gets here). And in time I may spring for a blade that grates, shreds or slices. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a manual for the cfp5 or cfp5A. If anyone knows where I can get the pdf of that manual please let me know! Maybe it does not exist, since I cannot even find it on the Cuisinart manuals page which has manuals for 66 different models of food processors! By the way, what IS the difference between a shredder and a grater in these discs? Would either of these work well to very finely grate ginger? Also, can anyone tell me the serial numbers I would need for the discs that go with the cfp-5 series? I am surprised how little information I can really find on the Cuisinart cfp-5 series. My goodness, I could not even find a YouTube video demonstrating it. Surprising!...See More- 2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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John LiuOriginal Author