Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments
by Cuisinart
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: CuisinartBrand: Cuisinart
Release Date: 2004-10-27
Model: CSB-77
Color: Stainless Steel
Product features:
- 200-watt immersion hand blender housed in brushed stainless steel
- Powerful chopper and whisk attachments provide added versatility
- Lightweight design; easy-to-grip ergonomic handle; simple push-button control
- 16-ounce mixing/measuring beaker and 2-cup mixing container included
- Measures 2-1/8 by 2-3/5 by 14 inches; 3-year limited warranty
- Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus Food Processor, Brushed Chrome
- Cuisinart CCJ-100 Citrus Pro Juicer
- Cuisinart DCG-12BC Grind Central Coffee Grinder
- Cuisinart WAF-R Traditional Waffle Iron
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments
Customer Review: Multi- vs. single-use appliances: reasonable expectations
Summary: 4 Stars
I received the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with whipping and chopping attachments for Christmas, two Christmases ago (xmas '07). It is still going strong, with almost daily use, and some specialized uses. I think it is a very good product. It's primary intended use is as a hand blender, and it excels at that.
The chopping and whipping attachments do work, and work well enough in a limited cooking context. I wouldn't expect them to be otherwise: the first two words in this product title, after the brand name "Cuisinart Smart Stick," are "hand" and "blender."
A caveat: I have a love/hate relationship with single-use small appliances (such as hot air popcorn poppers, rice cookers, hand blenders, George Foreman grill, etc.). There are a few important reasons:
(1) Single-use appliances (such as hand blenders) will always be much more limited than multi-use appliances (such as actual blenders). For example, if I want to REALLY crush ice and not worry about killing the appliance, then I would use a REAL blender, not a hand blender. If I need to whip a LOT of whipping cream or a LOT of egg whites, I'll use a hand mixer, not a Cuisinart Smart Stick. The full size appliances are up to the tasks. They are also SIZED appropriately for the tasks. They are also appropriately MOTORIZED for the tasks.
Single use appliances are limited in what they can do by their design. I'll allow that it is probably more than a little disingenuous to market a hand blender as a food processor or whipping cream whipper... because, at the end of the day, it's primary use is to be a hand blender. The other options are not to be the primary uses of this small appliance. If they were, it would be called the Cuisinart Smart Stick Whipper, Food Processor and Hand Blender. And it isn't.
(2) Single use appliances are usually far simpler to use than their full-use counterparts. Consider the size and design of a hand blender vs. a real blender. Or vs. a KitchenAid stand mixer. There's just no comparison.
The multi-use appliances have more removable parts, they're more complicated to put together and take apart, and -- contrary to Whispering Willow's objection to cutting up vegetables prior to using the Smart Stick Chopping attachment -- the foods usually require more prepping before you put them in. You don't just dump a whole cucumber or a whole carrot into a food processor to be chopped or slices, any more than you would try to put a whole cuke or whole carrot into the Smart Stick Chopper attachment.
But the complexity and more moving parts are why multi-use appliances can (for example) chop ice better than a hand blender: because they're built bigger, with bigger parts, stronger/faster/more variable speed motors, and with more complex design. There is a reason why the average blender has about 12 speeds (or more): because it needs to be able to not just mix or chop but also to, for example, frappe.
In other words, if you need to do more than blending, minor chopping, or minor whipping, you should probably use a blender, food processor, or hand mixer, not the Smart Stick. All blenders, food processors, and hand mixers have multiple speeds and switches that lock "on" to keep the motor going at a specific speed for long periods of time or to allow for measured, accurate, repeated bursts of blending/chopping/mixing.
(3) The single-use appliances like hand blenders are usually much easier to clean than their full-size, fully capable counterparts. You clean the one removable part and wipe the base or motor, and that's it.
On a real blender, you're supposed to take the bottom off, remove the blade, remove the rubber washer and wash the pitcher, the blade, and the bottom -- WITHOUT the gear attachment! -- in your sink or dishwasher. You can't put the motorized part or the gear attachments in dishwater or in a dish washer, unless you want to wet the motor (and probably kill it) and make the gears rust.
On the Smart Stick, because of its design, you can't put any of the attachments in a dishwasher or in a sink filled with soapy water, because they mesh with the base via plastic and metal gears at the top of each attachment. The only one you can put in the dishwasher is the whisk part of the whipping attachment (not the gear part of the whipping attachment).
Now, on to how the Smart Stick functions:
This hand blender is a little work horse with three major things going for it: stainless steel blades, stainless steel blender, and a good, fast motor.
You can blend soups with it, make smoothies (with ice cubes, frozen berries, frozen chunk fruits like mango, etc.), make shakes, mix drinks, crack ice. (Okay, don't do the latter. The manual says not to, and I didn't get that adventurous with it until after I'd had it over a year. And the cubes I'm cracking are from ice cube TRAYS, not the refrigerator ice maker. That said, it *can* chop ice cubes. You probably shouldn't, but it is possible, as long as the ice cubes aren't huge ones from your fridge ice maker or from store-bought bags of ice.)
It makes smoothies very well, but I've used it to make shakes (some of them quite thick, accidentally), and to whip eggs for omelettes or scrambled eggs. I use the BLENDER to whip eggs, not the whipping attachment. I froth milk with the blender when I don't feel like using my Melitta espresso maker to steam-and-froth milk. The Smart Stick makes a nice head on hot chocolate. It mixes horchata well. You can make faux cappuccino with cold or hot "frothed" milk by using the blender for a long time on the milk with your finger depressing the switch the whole time, and then pouring only the "head" of the milk into your espresso (which will be most of the milk, depending how long you blended it).
Now, to the attachments. This is where Whispering Willow's negative review has to be put into perspective, and Willow's and others' expectations of a HAND BLENDER need to be adjusted.
Yes, the measuring cup/mixer cup that comes with the Cuisinart is badly designed. It flares wider as it gets towards the top, so lifting the hand blender in and out like you normally would can splatter a lot. I don't use the measuring cup that came with this Cuisinart hand blender. I use the old one I have from my dead Braun hand blender: it's taller and has straight sides, so liquids don't splatter when you move the hand blender up and down the way you normally would, to do what a hand blender does!
However, the criticism of the lip for pouring is minor, I feel. Yeah, so it pours wide. I've experienced this with water pitchers, wine carafes, bottled juices... the solution to this problem? Pour from a higher height. You've seen waiters do this, but it's not a special talent. They do it for the same reason: some pitchers pour wide, so they must pour from a higher point to get the liquid thin enough in diameter to go into a water glass without splashing out along the sides.
Whispering Willow's criticism of the whipping attachment is valid. You can't pick it up out of the measuring/blending cup, or you'll splatter whipped cream (or eggs, or whatever) all over your counter, other appliances, and yourself. But you don't *need* to pick it up while it's moving... the whipping attachment circulates the liquid in the cup well while you're whipping. That is, if you're not over filling.
I have used the whipping attachment in bowls to whip whipped cream and to whip egg whites to be folded into cake batters or for meringues. It's not as good as a hand mixer, but it's not too bad. Just use a deep bowl. I have some stainless steel bowls in graduated sizes, and I use a smaller, taller bowl, and I don't lift the whipping attachment. For serious whipping, I get out a hand mixer. Which will also splatter if you lift it up out of the bowl while it's still on and moving, Whispering Willow. Huh. Who could imagine... (File under "Duh...")
Regarding the criticism of the chopping attachment: yeah, it's not a food processor... so it's not as versatile. For myself, I've easily used it to chop onions. I'm not expecting it to mince them, but coarsely chopped is fine.
You can chop finer than coarse, but do not expect to be able to mince anything with this chopping attachment. It's good, but it's not that good. In fact, nothing but a cutting board and a good kitchen knife really minces well. But you're using a hand blender to speed up the process of chopping. You're choosing speed over quality.
If it is so crucial to get something finely chopped, then you're probably following a recipe to the letter, and you need to do it the way Julia Child did: by hand. If you're not willing to sacrifice the quality of the chopping (or whipping) for the time you save, you probably shouldn't use a hand blender.
Most people's mistake is to overfill the chopping attachment: this is how you end up with some very finely chopped stuff, and some large chunks.
Instead, the best way to get the Cuisinart chopping attachment to chop things well is (1) don't over fill it (do large amounts of vegetables in two or three or more installments), and (2) shake it up and down while you are chopping, like you would to get an even grind in an electric hand-held coffee grinder.
Yes, so you have to cut vegetables into pieces before you throw them in the chopping attachment... so what? You have to cut vegetables and meat into pieces in order to process them in food processors, too.
I've used the chopping attachment to chop baby carrots into carrot slaw, apples into apple-slaw, onions, garlic, tomoatoes, water chestnuts, cucumbers for tzatziki (cucumber/garlic/sour cream dish, it's Greek), and I think you could easily use it for any "wet" type vegetable -- that is, things that are dry on the outside but wet on the inside, like carrots, zucchini, etc.
You can also chop fresh herbs well with this Cuisinart blender chopping attachment. I like to buy cilantro fresh, then chop about 2/3 of what I've bought coarsely and put it in single or double serving bags and freeze them. That way I have them all made up and prepared, and all I have to do is yank them out of the freezer, and empty the bag into the soup or salsa or beans or whatever I'm using the cilantro with. This summer I plan to do the same thing with our basil plants in the yard, because I love a good bruschetta.
Now the criticism that the Cuisinart attachments can't be put in the dishwasher is a valid one... if you think that dishwashers actually sterilize your dishes and kill all germs. Think again. I'm a registered nurse. Part of my job is knowing how to kill germs or at least remove them from my clothes, from equipment, etc.
No home dishwasher or clothes washer is ever going to be hot enough to kill everything. In order to do so, you would have to set your hot water heater's max temperature so high that you would be risking 2nd and 3rd degree burns from scalding whenever you turn your hot water on -- not practical in homes with elderly people or small children or both.
The max high temp most homes have their hot water heaters set to is NOT enough to kill all bacteria, viruses, and other infectious microbes. The only dish and clothes washers that can reach temperatures high enough to kill MOST microbes (and a LOT more than your home dish- and clothes washers) are industrial: in restaurants, hotels, and hospitals.
It is not just the temperature of the water. It is the amount of soap and the length of wash time. This is true with hand washing as well: washing your hands with soap and water may not get rid of all the microbes on them. However, wetting them thoroughly, using a generous amount of soap, and then washing with that soap for at least 20-30 seconds (long enough to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice) will remove MOST of the microbes from your hands. And this is why surgeons scrub for a LONG TIME and halfway up their arms prior to gowning and gloving for surgery, and with nail brushes, etc. -- to maximize the amount of skin exposed to the soap and to maximize the amount of TIME the skin is exposed to the soap.
So, for the Cuisinart hand blender, I would say, do what hospitals do with hard surface disinfecting, if you're really that worried about it: a bleach solution, sprayed on and allowed to sit for 30 seconds minimum, and then wiped off. The Cuisinart can take it -- it's stainless steel. Then, just rinse it before using.
Myself, I find it fairly simple to rinse the blender attachment off, or rinse the chopper attachment out, and the inside of the chopper lid (that attaches to the blender base). I have a spray bottle near the sink that is a mix of dishwashing liquid and water (thinned just enough so that it is sprayable). I wet the attachments with my hot water sprayer, then spray the attachments with the dishwashing liquid/water mixture, and scrub really well for half a minute or so with the scrubby side of a kitchen sponge, then rinse with hot water.
If you've made the mistake of letting the blender sit out and food has dried on it, simply fill up the blending cup with warm soapy water and soak the blender attachment or whipping attachment. After it's soaked long enough to loosen dried food or liquid, scrub as above, and rinse. Not a big deal.
If you know what a hand blender is for, and what it ISN'T for, this is one of the best out there, if not the best on the market currently. (I don't think the Braun Multiquick is still on the market.)
It's a great hand blender, it's an okay chopper, and it's a decent whipper.
More Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments reviews:
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Description of Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments
Cuisinart makes it quick, clean and easy to blend, prep and whip a variety of ingredients. Our Smart Stick Hand Blender includes Whisk and Chopper attachments to extend this blender's performance. Blends or whips in the bowl, pitcher or pot, to eliminate extra dishes, and with the Chopper attached, it turns into a handy mini food prep tool. The look is commercial, the performance is professional, and the ease of use is pure Cuisinart!Hand Blenders
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