To make the most of your food processor, find out all the chores that it can do and adapt your recipes and work habits to fit the processor into your kitchen routines.
When preparing dishes that have many chopped or sliced ingredients, start with the hard, solid ingredients, then process the softer ones. If textures are similar, do the chopped ingredients first, then the sliced and shredded ones. To chop, slice, or shred meats and cheeses, have them very cold or semifrozen but not hard frozen. Don’t attempt to process any hard cheese that can’t be pierced easily with a sharp knife.
To make purees for soup, baby food, and thickening sauces, drain any liquid, reserving 1/2 cup. Fill the processor bowl about half full with the soft or cooked food. Process in 15- to 20-second spurts, adding liquid as needed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl now and then. Purees can be frozen in ice-cube trays for future use.
To mix pastry or biscuit dough, first process the dry ingredients a few seconds, then add the chilled fat in pieces, and process just until mealy. With the motor running, add liquid through the small feed tube; process until the dough forms a ball. Many processors let you mix yeast doughs.
When making cakes or cookies, add the dry ingredients last. If the recipe calls for any chopped dried fruits or nuts, do these first and set them aside. Chill the fruits before chopping, and process them with some of the flour from the recipe.
The processor makes dry cookie or bread crumbs efficiently. Break the ingredients in pieces. Run the motor in 15-second spurts until the crumbs are as fine as you want.
Caution: Always push food down the feed tube with the plastic pusher not your fingers. Never open the work bowl until blades have completely stopped. When emptying the bowl, hold the metal blade in place with a spatula or spoon, or remove it just before tilting the bowl.