My first stand mixer was a Braun. Lovely to look at - it's included in the permanent exhibit of outstanding industrial design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York - it had some features that I really didn't like. So when I remodeled my kitchen in 1990, I gave it to my niece and treated myself to a new KitchenAid stand mixer. Less beautiful, more practical.
But I still had problems with the design. And the capacity wasn't quite big enough for some of my major baking projects. But it worked fine and I was quite willing to live with it indefinitely.
A few years ago, while browsing at Sur la Table with my Dearly Beloved, we happened across the Kenwood display. I knew of these English powerhouses, but they were way beyond my budget when I bought my KitchenAid in 1990. Nevertheless, I drooled over the big guy.
Fast forward a few years to last Christmas. My DB, who forgets literally within a minute of picking up the mail where he put it down, remembered my lustful gaze - the one I'd bestowed on the Kenwood, not him - and surprised me with the biggest, hugest, strongest, most powerful model they make, the Major Classic KM800. I was ecstatic, and remain so to this day.
No, this isn't put out by Sears; that's KenMORE. KenWOOD is the English company, known for their audio equipment. For reasons unknown to me, they also make kitchen appliances, including the strongest and best-designed stand mixers in the known world. And now I'm the proud possessor of one.
FEATURES
The body is brushed chrome, the better to stay clean.
The controls are the essence of simplicity: a single knob that you turn to control speed.
The mixer head tilts back at the press of a lever for easy and complete access to the bowl.
The bowl is made of stainless steel and has a 7-quart capacity. But since it's highly unlikely that you will ever fill it that full of liquid, here are the capacities for the more commonly used substances:
• Cake: 10 pounds
• Yeast dough: 3-1/4 pounds of flour; 5-1/4 pounds total
• Soft continental dough: 5-3/4 pounds of flour; 11 pounds total
• Pastry: 2 pounds of flour
• Mashed potatoes: 6-1/2 pounds
• Egg whites: 16
• Whipped cream: 4-1/2 pints
• Fruitcake batter: 10 lbs.
It has ten speeds, numbered from one to ten on the control knob. A turn in the opposite direction gives you the pulse option.
I don't know how many horses are under the hood, but it has 650 watts of power.
It comes with three implements: a K-shaped beater, the one you'll use most often; a balloon whisk; and a dough hook. It also comes with a plastic spatula. All the implements attach and remove easily.
It comes with a spatter shield, a clear plastic gizmo that slips over the implement-holder and fits snugly over the bowl when the head is tilted down for use. It's very handy for when you are using a quantity of flour; it keeps it from billowing up all over the kitchen. One side of the shield is hinged, so you can add ingredients while the beaters are running, without having to turn the machine off.
It uses planetary action; the beater spins while revolving around the bowl.
It has three outlets on the top, one for high-speed accessories, one for low-speed, and one for the citrus juicer.
The optional accessories include:
• a 1.5 liter "liquidiser," that looks like a blender container
• a food mill, that comes with four glass jars and lids
• a high-speed slicer and shredder with 6 disks
• a standard mincer with attachments for sausages, kebbe, and cookies
• an extrusion pasta-maker, with measuring cup, pusher, and cleaning tool
• a slow speed shredder and slider, for parmesan, nuts, and chocolate, with four drums
• a large mincer, for sausage-making
• a grain mill with 6 settings for coarse or fine milling • a juice extractor
• a citrus press
• an ice cream maker with freezing bowl, paddle, lid, spatula, and separate bowl
• a colander and sieve for pureeing, baby foods, clear soups, etc.
• a potato peeler
• a can opener
• a bean slicer
• a cover
I, however, am of the opinion that the more functions a gadget performs, the less well it does any one of them, and I already have a
Cuisinart food processor, a Vita-Mix blender, an Atlas juicer, a
coffee mill, a wand blender, a citrus juicer, a
hand mixer, a good potato peeler... so I have no interest in any of these attachments.
The machine has a overload protector. If it starts to overheat - hard to imagine, but I guess it could happen if you try to mix concrete in it - it switches itself off. The reset button is under the head; just tilt it up, wait a few minutes for the machine to cool off, and push the green button.
The machine comes with a one-year warranty.
SO WHAT DOESN'T IT HAVE?
Not much.
The only thing I can't find is a spec sheet. So the following information comes from one of the websites that sells this monster.
• Dimensions: 13" long
x 5" wide x 13" high.
• Weight: about 26 pounds.
• UL approved;
110 volts; 650 watts.
• Materials: top cover, pedestal, and body are die-cast aluminum.
• Designed, engineered, and manufactured in the
United Kingdom.
• One-year mfg. warranty,
As you can see, it's pretty heavy, so I don't like to lift it by the head, even when it's locked down. So I keep it on my kitchen counter on a piece of clear plastic so I can pull it out from under the cabinets when I want to use it.
The only other slight disadvantage, and this is common to all mixers with tilting heads, is that with the head tilted up, you can't open your upper cupboard doors. So you need to use it clear of your upper cupboards. Big deal.
I am one of those horrible people who makes fruitcakes at the holidays - 48 minis, to be precise - and gives them to my hapless friends. That's the bad news. The good news is that my fruitcake recipe, developed over many years of experimenting, is reeeally good and even confirmed fruitcake-haters love it.
So why am I telling you this? Because with this mixer, I can whip up a double batch of fruitcakes with no trouble. Ditto for my Austrian lebkuchen recipe, which includes a lot of honey and is probably the stiffest dough on the planet.
This mixer is more than equal to the task. All those little horses galloping away in the guts of this machine make even the stiffest doughs and toughest mixing jobs a breeze.
These mixers retail between about $350 and $400, but DB got his from an Internet retailer and paid a little less. I'm sure there are mixers for which you can pay more, but in terms of value for money, it doesn't get any better than this. A lot of my cookbooks show the author with one arm draped over a Kitchenaid, but as much as I liked my Kitchenaid, I'll take this Kenwood any day. And I have it on pretty good authority that this machine is found in most of the big-deal kitchens. So now I'm cooking with the Big Kids.
I don't know anything about Kenwood audio equipment, and I don't know how this company came to specialize in two such disparate product lines, but I'm glad they did - this mixer is stupendous. When I opened the box and started squealing and raving over it, my stepdaughter, who is getting married in a few months and to whom I offered my still perfect Kitchenaid, declined the offer in the hope that she would get a Kenwood like mine as a wedding gift. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it took me 30+ years to work my way up to this baby!
As an added treat, and to thank you for wading through yet another of my endless reviews, here's my Lebkuchen recipe. Enjoy!
LEBKUCHEN
Lebkuchen is an Austrian Christmas specialty. It's usually made with candied citron, but I've never liked those hard little cubes of chemical fruit, so I adapted several recipes and came up with this. The most important thing to remember about this recipe is that you have to make it at least a week before you want to serve them. They need at least that much time to ripen after baking; longer is better. They keep for several weeks in an airtight bag or tin, so this is a good recipe to make early and get out of the way. If you eat them too soon, they have no flavor. A week later... yum!
INGREDIENTS
Cookies
¾ c. honey, boiled and set aside to cool ¾ c. light brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 T. lemon (1) or orange (2) juice
1 t. grated lemon (1) or orange (2) peel
2½ c. flour
½ t. soda
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
¼ t. ground clove
1 c. diced walnuts
1 c. minced mixed dried fruit
Lemon Glaze (1) (for the
lemon cookies)
½ T.
lemon juice½ T.
whipping cream1 c. powdered sugar
(This makes enough for one lebkuchen recipe.)
Chocolate Glaze (2) (for the orange cookies)
2 T. white corn syrup
2 T. water
½ stick sweet butter
4 ozs. semi-sweet chocolate
(This makes enough for one lebkuchen recipe.)
PREPARATION
Beat sugar and egg and blend in lemon juice and peel.
Sift together the dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture alternately with cooled honey. Blend well. Dough will be VERY stiff.
Stir in nuts and fruit.
Wet hands and roll the dough into 1½"
balls and put 3" apart on greased cookie sheet. Keep wetting hands as needed so dough doesn't stick.
Flatten slightly with spoon dipped in cold water.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.
Glaze while hot and store in an airtight container (tin or zip-lock bag.)
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
To make the lemon glaze, blend the ingredients and brush over warm cookies.
To make the chocolate glaze, boil together the corn syrup, water, and butter. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate. Cover and set aside for five minutes. Put the pot into a pan of ice water and whisk for five minutes.
Amount Paid (US$): 400, approx.
Cooking with the Big Kids 
