Always by hand.
Be it dough, noodles, vegetables, meat, sauces, etc.
Always by hand.
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My default for egg whites, emulsions, slicing, chopping, grating, blending, ricing, pureeing, kneading, etc. is manual, but I use the FP for extremely wet doughs and hummus. I am sure Iāll try hummus in the new larger mortar and pestle. I have used manual and electric for coffee. I loved the charm of the old cast iron Spong, but the speed of the Baratza Sette 270 and the ease of grind adjustment have won me over. As for the actual espresso, I love my ancient lever machine. My wife loves the KA and the FP.
I use that for eggs. I hate scrambled eggs that arenāt well-mixed. This one works.
Absolutely. I guess if I were having to prepare Mass Quantities, Iād go the machine route, but otherwise, nope, manual. I have a old rotary egg beater; before the availability of home kitchen immersion blenders, Iād use it to partially purĆ©e split pea soup. You must be careful, however, to keep the beater well-submerged, or you will experienced the dreaded flying split pea soup spray. And no, I didnāt have a food mill ā¦
Usually not, but maybe sometimes?
how fine you chop/crush/mince/slice garlic has a pretty direct effect on how much of that sharp āraw garlicā flavor you end up imparting to a dish (more cell damage = more allicin, the compound that makes garlic pungent). It also depends how you plan to cook it. Bigger pieces can sit in the heat longer without getting burnt and bitter. For pasta aglio e oleo (garlic and olive oil) some folks will tell you to crush or microplane the garlic for super punchy garlic flavor. Others say use MORE cloves of garlic per serving, but slice them and let them sit in the oil toasting for longer. This gets you a mellower, deeper sort of flavor. Crushed or microplaned will also disappear into a sauce more or less instantly. Larger chunks might add texture, depending on how long they cook.
A lot of the same rules apply to ginger. Iāve never tried microplaning lemongrassā¦
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AKA- The Blair Effect
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Yup. Never microplane garlic or ginger (I use a knife to slice or mince). My main use for this pup is citrus zest.
I was thinking about that ā¦ this is why I make yellow split pea soup. 
See, I <3 my microplane for ginger when Iām doing fried rice. It gets all up in the oil and things move fast enough that it never has a chance to burn. and it means I donāt have to worry about peeling it either. the peel just magically comes awayā¦
Sometimes you want crunchy ginger matchsticks or coins, and thatās fine tooā¦
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Most of the time, by hand. Mostly I just do not have high volume tasks that need machine. It just seems faster to beat an egg or two with a whisk than with an immersion blender. Many machines/applicants can also take awhile to clean too.
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I dont even own a FP so all of that is by hand. Im faster with a knife than dorking around setting up and cleaning the FP anyway.
I love kneading dough so usually do it by hand (by feel!) Exception is whole grain doughsā¦they need the extra oomph feom the KA
Egg whites depend on the volume. 1 or 2 Ill do by hand, 3-6 ish Iāll use a hand mixer, angel food cake is baloon whisk on the KA
Minced or grated garlic and ginger go on the microplane.
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I bake a lot of bread and I really like using the mixer because I avoid sticky dough on my counter, and even though I am accustomed to working with fairly tacky dough, I will always add more flour by hand than if I mix by machine. Of course there are times I just donāt knead at all. But lots of breads, particularly soft and fluffy Asian sandwich breads really are best with the kind of intensive kneading that a mixer provides. Not to mention doughs like brioche and derivatives like panettone that I make come Christmas and that Iāve made by hand at some point, but really are best done in a mixer.
In fact, I killed the gear on the KA making bread and I donāt have much use for it otherwise. I just use my hand mixer for pretty much all cakes and cookies. Iām planning on getting a Bosch Compact because the size is just right for the cakes I make these days and more importantly because itās by all accounts a workhorse for bread.
I donāt enjoy chopping garlic, which is very sticky, so most times I use a press.
I use a Japanese grater for ginger. I avoid using this or a micro plane for garlic because it can be extremely pungent to the point of unpleasantness, though it matters more if youāre only cooking it briefly.
I like my food processor so Iāll go with it for a lot of shredding or slicing tasks. Sometimes Iāll use the mandoline, but often Iāll julienne with a knife.
My immersion blender gets a ton of use, though rarely for mayo because I scarcely bother to make it.
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I whisk my stuff, mostly. No stand mixer. Might be a near future purchase.
Mayo- coil whisk
Bread- hands
Sliced Potatoes -knife
grated- box grater
Always like kneading the bread with hands.
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