Cook’s Review: Magimix Cook Expert Road Test

Magimix Cook Expert Road Test – A Cook’s Review

Magimix.

To me, it’s always been the blender that everyone wants in the kitchen. Beyond that, I didn’t know much about their version of a cook processor.

It was a great opportunity to road test a Magimix in my home for six weeks.

Magimix looking smart with metal bowl. Photo: Willunga Wino

About the Company

The Magimix Cook Expert is Made in France. 

Ooh la la! 

In Europe, the Magimix brand is known as the king of the processor – or blender. Magimix blenders are found in commercial and domestic kitchens throughout Europe.

First Impressions

This is a quality, built-to-last machine. The steel components are solid and strong.

There seems to be a lot of attachments, and it soon becomes clear that there are two main components into which the attachments fit.

1. First, the steel induction cooking bowl, and;
2. Secondly the plastic food processor. 

 

Ooh la la! Look who has arrived for their test drive. It’s a Made in France @magimix_australia and boy does it come with lots of parts. Figuring them out now to make a not-chicken chowder for dinner. #sponsored

A photo posted by Louise Rhodes @ Willunga Wino (@willungawino) on Jul 18, 2016 at 1:25am PDT

Key Features

• Made in France
• RRP $2099
• It has a large, 3.2l metal bowl that cooks with induction heat, chops, stirs, purees and rinses itself.
• It also has a food processor with three plastic bowls, interchangable blades and discs.
• Sturdy, heavy base.
• Cook temperatures up to 140 degrees – allowing for toasting nuts or frying off onion – with 1 degree increments – allowing for sous vide cooking.
• The unit comes with stand alone scales.

Magimix on the bench. Photo: Willunga Wino

What was food made in the Magimix like?

Great! 

Creamy soups, chunky soups, cakes, stock paste, mushroom pate, smoothies, pasta sauce, risotto, frozen-banana ice cream and much, much more.

Try these recipes:

• Magimix Zuchini Corn Fritters with Goat Curd
• Magimix Vegan Stock Paste COMING SOON
• Magimix Vegan Banana Choc Ice Creams COMING SOON
• Magimix Mushroom Pate COMING SOON
• Magimix Vegan Choc Orange Cake COMING SOON

Not-Chicken Stew made in the Magimix. Photo: Willunga Wino

How quiet is it?

Surprisingly it is pretty quiet.

The fan whirrs softly when cooking in the metal bowl.  The blades make a grinding sound when processing food.

The lower the turning speed, the quieter the sound.

At the end of a program a fairly gentle but easily audible single beep is sounded. 

Where the unit becomes noisy is when using the faster turning speeds in the metal bowl, the rinsing / self clean cycle on the metal bowl, or the grater / slicer / food processor functions on the plastic bowls. The plastic bowl processing is quieter than my old Breville processor (and there are more attachments that can do more!).

Magimix small chopping bowl. Photo: Willunga Wino

How easy is it to clean?

The metal bowl has a self rinsing program that takes care of much of the trouble of cleaning. I usually scrape out food using the supplied spatula, run the rinse program, then pop the metal bowl and lid into the dishwasher. Easy peasy. 

The plastic food processor components can often be rinsed clean in hot water when using neutral flavoured fruit & veg. For more rigourous cleaning, I pop the components in the dishwasher. Again, easy! 

Once or twice I caramelised my cooking on the bottom of the metal induction bowl. This was easy enough to remove with a little kitchen scrubbing brush after running the rinse cycle.

Clear glass lid to see what’s cookin’. Photo: Willunga Wino

What can it do?

Here are some of the things the machine can do which I made use of:

• Chop or puree small amounts of food at a time by using the smallest, plastic bowl.
• Grate or slice large amounts of veggies in seconds. 
• Grind whole grains or pulses into flour in seconds – I love this, being able to make chickpea flour or almond meal instantly.
• Make vegan fruit based gelato and sorbet in seconds.
• Whip eggs or cream.
• Steam large amounts of food, even two different foods at once, and even while cooking a third item below in the metal bowl.
• Make soup from scratch in one bowl.
• Make a whole meal in one bowl.

Magimix with its plastic bowls. Photo: Willunga Wino

What can’t it do?

While the machine is a great shortcut in your kitchen, you will still need to:

• wash, peel and prep your fruit & veg prior to putting into the machine;
• use a frypan – while I became good at browning onions or veg in the metal bowl, for obtaining crispy skin on fish, or crunchy potato roesti, or fritters, you will need to use your frypan on the stove.

What did I love?

• It shortcuts the preparation time for every meal or baking project. I usually use this extra time to have some cheese and crackers plus a glass of wine with my husband. Bonus!
• How easy it is to clean. A self rinse and into the dishwasher and the components come out like new every time.
• How easy it is to use. I mostly use the expert program to control the time/duration, speed and temperature of using the machine. Set and forget and then dinner is ready.
• Being able to make basic ingredients now that I don’t need to buy in the shops, like stock paste, unusual flours, cashew cheese, pesto. 

Veggies in the Magimix. Photo: Willunga Wino

What are any downsides I observed?

Not many, but these are mine:

• The small plastic bowl becomes slippery when wet and can be tricky to pull out to then access the larger bowls for using the grating / slicing discs or the large processor & bowl. 
• Food spills out into the larger bowls when chopping in the small plastic bowl. This means you’ll need to clean all three bowls. 

Could be user error:

• When trying to shortcut the food prep process by tossing roughly chopped veg into the metal bowl, I find it hard to get a chunky dice. I’ve tried a few different speeds, but my veg ends up very finely diced, not chunky. 
• It can be a little tricky to serve food out of the metal bowl. Scraping around the blades while holding the bowl one handed is the challenge. Still, the spatula that comes with the kit is shaped to help, and survived my use of it fully intact!

Do the Numbers Stack Up?

$2099 is a large investment. 

I think it certainly stacks up, particularly if you are setting up your kitchen for the first time, or afresh. You avoid the need for a food processor, Kitchen Aid type mixer, smoothie blender, stick blender and slow cooker. That would be a significant saving that would get very close to the purchase price. 

Time saved is significant, as well as saving bench space and dishwasher space after a cook up. 

Would I buy one?

Yes! I’ve loved test-driving the Magimix Cook Expert in my kitchen. I’ve given it a work out and it performed wonderfully. 

Magimix on the bench. Photo: Willunga Wino

Magimix Australia sponsored this post. Magimix Australia also loaned me a machine for 8 weeks. As always, I only ever write my honest opinion.

Read More About Cook Processors:

• My impressions of the Tefal Cuisine Companion from a VIP demo;
• My impressions of the Thermomix,
• My Comparison of Thermomix vs Tefal Cuisine Companion vs Magimix Cook Expert.

Pinnable Image:

Comments make my day – Have your say below!