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Nothing bigger than a bean! Help please

J

jmoney7269

Guest
Almost very comp we go to has either pinto beans or chili as jackpot Categeories. I saw on here a while back someone posted a little contraption that makes a fine dice of onion. I have tried to the large peices to easily pick them out for the judging cup, but I would love to be able to just scoop it up and just put it in the cup and close the lid. I currently chop my onions by hand and sometimes still get a little chunk larger than I like. Although we have never been dq'd from beans, I would love to not have to sift. Any suggestions or links would be appreciated.
 
this?
4189813653801p.jpg
 
A food processor works well.

I have never done it for beans, but I will run my salsa through a food grinder when making large batches. That may give you the results you want as well
 
landarc said:
this?
4189813653801p.jpg
Click to expand...

That's him! Now how well does it work? I used to be the bartender at Chilis and eventually became the kitchen manager due to my love for cooking I would love to have one if the big dicers from wasserstrom and have no problem paying that much for em, but they are bulky and not logical to keep in our already full overhead cabinets of the Motorhome for comps. A quick chop at home is acceptable but not for comps when $$$ is up for grabs. I will take the convenience of a contraption over knife skills any day. I have a large cuisinart food processor but I hate getting it out and really hate cleaning that monster
 
It is the Vandalia chop wizard!
first thing I get out when making chili.

If you watch ebay you can generally find a two for one sale.
 
The Chop Wizard might give you uniform width cuts but not length. If you watch the video in the link tnjimbob posted you will see it. I am a fan of the food processor for jobs like this. If you don't want to lug your big one out here is a mini that should do the job.[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DLC-2ABC-Mini-Prep-Processor-Brushed/dp/B0000645YM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364479258&sr=8-1&keywords=small+food+processor"]http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DLC-2ABC-Mini-Prep-Processor-Brushed/dp/B0000645YM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364479258&sr=8-1&keywords=small+food+processor[/ame]
 
tnjimbob said:
The Vidalia Chop Wizard website appears to still be selling these machines.
https://www.chopwizard.com/

Price? You guessed it - $19.95 + S&H.
Click to expand...

That looks really similar to the progressive onion chopper. As of right now, I'm leaning towards "the alligator" based on comparison of reviews on amazon and YouTube. I'm gonna pull the trigger Friday, so many choices lol
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000H7AFSI/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1364485015&sr=8-1&pi=SL75"]Alligator 11-1/4-Inch Dicer with Collector:Amazon:Kitchen & Dining[/ame]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What about one of these? I use it all the time at home.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-Pro-Food-Chopper-Black/dp/B0000CFD0W"]Amazon.com: KitchenAid Pro Food Chopper, Black: Kitchen & Dining[/ame]
 
I had a slap chop like that a while back till somehow it got stolen. Worked good for garlic.
 
I throw my onions, jalapenos, garlic cloves, rotel tomatoes etc in a blender at the house. Then pour it in a container and take with me to the cookoff. Dump in with beans and other seasonings and your good to go. Keep it simple.
 
hcj3rd said:
I throw my onions, jalapenos, garlic cloves, rotel tomatoes etc in a blender at the house. Then pour it in a container and take with me to the cookoff. Dump in with beans and other seasonings and your good to go. Keep it simple.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a idea, I just don't want the beans to be grainy everything being all blended up. I usually go for a thinner broth, kinda like a bean soup.
 
Great thread.. now I just need to find a basic bean recipe and get cookin. Last time I tried to make beans I farked them up pretty good...:mmph: You would think it would come easy to this Texican...
 
Most people fark em up by puttin too much in em. Especially cumin tomatoes and chili powder
We have several 1sts in beans biggest being 140 teams. And I'm serious when I say simple.
2 lbs pintos
1/2 cup fiesta pinto
1/2 cup caldo de pollo y tomate (knorr)
2 jals cut in half seeded
1 Vidalia onyawn diced
8-10 cloves of finely chopped garlic
Cilantro to taste (1/2 cup packed leaves)
Adjust salt at the end with lawrys season salt.
We do not use tomatoes or rotel.
Some other things I do but that's basically what we cook everytime.
We have a specific meat we use to make the stock but can't give it all up.
 
Thanks J$, you mean fiesta pinto bean seasoning right? I was trying to make some simple pinto beans and it turned out the black course pepper wasn't really course at all... I used a bunch too.
 
We don't use any black pepper, I use jalapeño powder from mild bills if the 2 jals used are really mild.
 
Due to my MIL buying darn near everything that is sold on TV, we have one of those Onion Choppers pictured.

Because I know how to use an 8" Chef's knife fairly well, I do not use it. I will admit when we first got it, I did try it out for a few things of chili/soup/etc.

It comes with 2 or 3 different sized blades. You need to prepare your product to be cut so that it fits in the square. What you also want to make sure you do is slice your vegetable to be diced the same thickness as the dimension of the square in that particular sized blade. This makes all of your dicing the same size and aesthetically pleasing.

The chopper is extremely durable in my experience. If I didn't tear it up or break it, it should hold up fairly well.
 
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