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I've seen a useful tool on some food processors before, where they have a small hole in the feeder tube that is perfect for making mayonnaise. If you fill the feeder tube with oil, the oil will fall through the hole one drop at a time, taking all the difficulty out of starting the emulsion by hand. I had a couple questions regarding this tool:

  1. What is the right terminology for it? I always think of it as an "eyelet dropper" but I have no idea if that's an accurate term.

  2. Is there anything special about the hole's construction that slows the oil to a single drop at a time? Or is it something about the viscosity of the oil that does it?

I enjoy making homemade mayo, but doing it with my blender is a real pain and I'd prefer to not have to upgrade to a larger food processor to automate starting the emulsion. I was hoping to just 3D Print a plug for my blender's lid that would include one of these holes, but I figured I'd ask first and see if the hole needed some special properties to work the same way...

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    I just realized that I have one of these on my food processor and never understood what it was used for... I figured it was intended to provide a small amount of ventilation to avoid pressure buildup when working with hot ingredients or something. Neat!
    – logophobe
    Oct 30, 2015 at 18:52
  • A 3D printed smaller plug - sounds ingenious! Let us know how it turned out, please!
    – Stephie ♦
    Oct 30, 2015 at 19:14
  • I use mine all the time that way, but the oil does not flow through one drop at a time, rather, it flows in a narrow stream. As you say, perfect for mayo. One drop at a time is not necessary, a slow, steady stream is fine.
    – moscafj
    Nov 29, 2015 at 20:21
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    rather than 3D printing, you can use a paper cup with a little hole in the bottom, and put it in/over the feeder tube. adjust size as necessary to get the right stream. dispose of properly.
    – rbp
    Nov 30, 2015 at 17:27
  • RBP, that's an excellent suggestion (I was struggling with how to deal with non-food safe plastic, measuring it, etc)! Could you convert it into a full answer so I can flag it as the accepted answer?
    – bgottfried91
    Nov 30, 2015 at 20:50

1 Answer 1

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From the cuisinart manual parts description section(emphasis mine):

  1. A small removable pusher that fits into a central tube in a large pusher. The small pusher is for processing food like single carrots or cucumbers, for continuous feeding of small, hard food like garlic, onions and chunks of cheese, and for adding liquid while the machine is running. A funnel helps when adding dry ingredients like flour and sugar through the small feed tube.

So it looks like you are using it correctly. I am going to have to try using this when adding milk or butter milk to my biscuits.

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  • I think that's referring to the insert itself, which is a cylindrical fitting, about 3cm wide, that fits into the larger half-moon-shaped pusher. If I'm interpreting the OP correctly, they're actually referring to a tiny hole (maybe 1-2mm across?) at the end of this insert, which is presumably being used to drip oil into the work bowl if the insert itself is filled. Which is pretty smart design if indeed intentional.
    – logophobe
    Oct 30, 2015 at 20:03
  • Logophobe is correct, I'm referring to the small hole inside the insert itself. I have no idea on the measurement of the hole itself, but the fact that the manual just says "for adding liquid" implies (to me at least) that the slow speed of the oil comes from properties of the oil and isn't something special about the hole itself. If you try using it when adding milk or buttermilk, could you report back on how quickly it drains from the hole? I'd expect those liquids to act more like water and drain in a constant stream, which would help confirm it's something about the oil itself.
    – bgottfried91
    Oct 30, 2015 at 20:25
  • I always assumed the little hole in the food pusher insert was to help the piece dry when placed in the dishwasher, not to actually dispense liquid into the work bowl. I'll have to try this out to see if it works. I've always removed the insert and slowly added my oil through the opening while the blade is spinning. I would worry that, due to the high viscosity of oil, the rate of dripping through the hole would be too slow to make a batch of mayo.
    – Kevin Nowaczyk
    Jan 21, 2016 at 19:01

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