I've got quite a few different juicers, always trying to find that "perfect" one. What I like to see in a juicer is one that of course does a good job at getting the juice out of the fruit, can work with lemons, limes, and oranges (bonus if it works with grapefruit). Is simple and easy to use. Doesn't "squirt" or otherwise make a mess, and one of the key things I look for is one which manipulates the skin of the citrus such that some of the essential oils in it get incorporated into the final product.
The common "mexican" juicer does most of this well, but doesn't really work with an orange, and usually they "squirt".
On my show, I am often seen using an Ebaloy juicer, which I got on eBay, which get's just about everything right, but really doesn't get the oils into the mix as much as I'd like. It also is an antique, and isn't made anymore, so it is difficult to tell folks who watch my show that they can't get it.
I've got a few other antique juicers which work reasonably well, but are even harder to find than the Ebaloy.
I recently ran across a "vintage" style juicer, which appears to work quite well.
Amco Vintage Citrus Juicer
It is a "tad" large (base is about 9" across), but not too bad.
Does anybody have other juicers which they think work particularly well?
What you want is an Orange-X Mid-Size Commercial Juicer.
I got one of these and never looked back. They squeeze everything from small limes to large grapefruits with ease. Easy to clean by rinsing out the removable stainless steel "squeezing cone." I often put a small fine strainer over the top of the mixing tin I use to catch the juice, in order to filter out any pieces of pulp.
More importantly, the company is absolutely aces. The shiny parts are all solid stainless steel. The enameled parts are cast iron. Of course, cast iron is sometimes flawed. When I had been using mine for around a month, the cast iron ring that holds the stainless "squeezing cone" snapped in half. I contacted the guy who sold to me to see if it was under any kind of warranty. "Sure," he said, "let me give you the email address of my contact at the company." I emailed the company rep, who asked me to send her a digital picture of the broken part. I did so, figuring she might send me a replacement part. "Yep, that's broken," she said, "give me your mailing address and we'll send you out a brand new juicer." Five days later I had a new juicer. I've still been meaning to see if I can find some way to replace the broken part on my original juicer, because other than that it's perfectly fine.
Once you get used to using one of these babies, you'll never want to go back to a handheld juicer. Using this juicer, it's even easy to juice several dozen grapefruits or oranges in short order.
Oh, I should hasten to add that I think having a juicer that "manipulates the skin of the citrus such that some of the essential oils in it get incorporated into the final product" is the exact opposite of what you want. That is what muddling or shaking with a strip of peel is for. You want a juicer that doesn't get any of the oils into the final product precisely because this gives you control on whether and to what extent you have oils in the drink. Personally, for example, I do not want any lemon peel oils in my Sidecar.
Samuel is correct - I have broken a number of the hand-crank juicers over the years, and the one that he shows is the best for day to day use.
We're a scratch bar, so we use our juicer for over 12 hours a day, 365, and we've broken THREE of the geared juicers...I forget what they are called. The one pictured, we did break one, bu it's held up far better than the hand-cranks with the internal gears as opposed to the hinged one, as shown.
Liberty Bar :: Seattle, WA :: Alcohology
I have to say I have a similar "press" type juicer as shown and I can't say enough great things about it. Not only can you squeeze all citrus, you can also juice pomegranates for grenadine with out breaking the seeds. It disassembles into four pieces that easily fit into the dishwasher and I can't really fathom the thing breaking unless you were to put it through a compactor. The juicer has also been used in a restaurant (both behind the bar and in the kitchen) 7 days a week for the past two years and no wear is visible apart from the fact that I'm guessing it's close to 50 years old if not more. On top of all this, I bought it off of ebay for 10.00, that's including shipping. While yes it's not the easiest thing to bring out to parties, it is still made of aluminum, thus it's not exactly heavy.
On a side note, does anyone happen to have a clue as to what this does? My curiousness is getting the better of me.
Claran, are those blades on the inside? It looks to me like a french fry cutter.
The Ra Chand juicers from Mexico are quite good, too. They're large and expensive, but highly effective.
http://www.southwestandbeyond.com/product.asp?productid=16403
If you have the space, I particularly recommend the XXLRG model, which handles grapefruits like they're lemons.
http://www.southwestandbeyond.com/product.asp?productid=16406
Seconding the Ra Chand. One of the best devices I own, and far, far superior to the similar-sized juicers that rely on gears. The simple lever action makes for blinding speed. Here's a picture, for the click-challenged:
Oh the Bartender is just like a mother to me / And I am his favorite child. --Slim Gaillard
David Wondrich: Seconding the Ra Chand. One of the best devices I own, and far, far superior to the similar-sized juicers that rely on gears.
Seconding the Ra Chand. One of the best devices I own, and far, far superior to the similar-sized juicers that rely on gears.
Yea, I don't understand why anyone would think that gears are a good idea. You end up putting all that pressure on one tiny tooth of the gear, which virtually guarantees it will eventually break.
And what are the gears for if not to slow down the action--like you want that.
The Orange-X that Samuel recommends looks like it is fairly similar in mechanics to the Ra Chand.
With the Metrokane being the "gear-action" type that I see in many bars which I believe Dave is comparing/contrasting the Ra Chand to:
Samuel Lloyd Kinsey: Oh, I should hasten to add that I think having a juicer that "manipulates the skin of the citrus such that some of the essential oils in it get incorporated into the final product" is the exact opposite of what you want. That is what muddling or shaking with a strip of peel is for. You want a juicer that doesn't get any of the oils into the final product precisely because this gives you control on whether and to what extent you have oils in the drink. Personally, for example, I do not want any lemon peel oils in my Sidecar.
I personally like the almost-unnoticeable extra bit of character that gets added to the citrus juice when some of the oils get included. Since you specifically pointed out the Sidecar, last night I went through a blind tasting, comparing lemon juice without any added oils, and one using the "Vintage Juicer" in the post that started this thread. And while the difference was just barely noticeable, the one with oils was just a little rounder. I look for my "sours" not to have a strong tang, but instead be a gentle balance of sweet and sour, hence my preferred recipe of 4 parts brandy, 2 parts Cointreau, and 1 part lemon juice. I could see where people with more of a desire for the sourness would prefer sans-oils.
Robert Hess: The Orange-X that Samuel recommends looks like it is fairly similar in mechanics to the Ra Chand. ............................................. With the Metrokane being the "gear-action" type that I see in many bars which I believe Dave is comparing/contrasting the Ra Chand to:
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Precisely. In general, I'll use the big juicer when I'm making more than a couple of drinks, and rely on hand juicers for anything less than that. I like the big ones because you can fit a mixing glass with strainer underneath and get a two-handed rhythm going, making it possible to produce a quart of juice in something like eitht minutes, including demptying glasses and unclogging strainers. Fast. Since I make a lot of Punch, I need that.
The vintage ones like the ebaloy are beautiful pieces of design, to be sure, and fun to use, but the fact that you have to either hjold them over the glass or continually empty them into the glass dooms them for me as volume-producers.
French fries do make sense though depending on the actual size of the device, those fries would be pretty big.
Robert Hess: Samuel Lloyd Kinsey: Oh, I should hasten to add that I think having a juicer that "manipulates the skin of the citrus such that some of the essential oils in it get incorporated into the final product" is the exact opposite of what you want. That is what muddling or shaking with a strip of peel is for. You want a juicer that doesn't get any of the oils into the final product precisely because this gives you control on whether and to what extent you have oils in the drink. Personally, for example, I do not want any lemon peel oils in my Sidecar. I personally like the almost-unnoticeable extra bit of character that gets added to the citrus juice when some of the oils get included. Since you specifically pointed out the Sidecar, last night I went through a blind tasting, comparing lemon juice without any added oils, and one using the "Vintage Juicer" in the post that started this thread. And while the difference was just barely noticeable, the one with oils was just a little rounder. I look for my "sours" not to have a strong tang, but instead be a gentle balance of sweet and sour, hence my preferred recipe of 4 parts brandy, 2 parts Cointreau, and 1 part lemon juice. I could see where people with more of a desire for the sourness would prefer sans-oils.
I don't think there's anything wrong with liking the citrus oils. I'm just on principle against something that takes away a level of control. If I wanted some lemon oil in my Sidecar, I'd much rather put a tiny strip of lemon zest into the shaker. Or, perhaps even better, I'd simply express a nice big lemon twist over the top of the drink at the end.
As a general comment, I would say that I don't find that citrus oils from either muddling or intensive squeezing produce a "rounder" flavor so much as they produce a "funkier" flavor, and one that can often have a hint of bitterness (especially grapefruit). That can be good in a lot of drinks, but again... I want to have that control. Also, if you end up juicing a dozen or more pieces of fruit because you're making punch or drinks in volume, intensive squeezing can sometimes result in a container of juice with a thin layer of bitter citrus oil on the top.