You know me. I have a sweet tooth. My mouth just waters at the mention of macarons, chocolate cakes, dulce cheesecakes...
I just can't help it: I'm French. We are born with a gourmet attitude. We can discuss the best way to savour a croissant endlessly. Give us a chance and our lunches last for hours. WE stop everything to let the tastes play on our tongue. We look at a glass of wine lovingly, cherishing its perfume, its colour before even dipping our lips into it. We cherish taste.
Not all of us cook, though. I do not have much time for it but love to experience with herbs and spices. My kitchen shelves are full of gadgets, hardly ever use: pancake maker, sandwich maker, ice-cream maker... I'm old school: wooden spoons and electric beater.
So when my friend Jane fell in love with her Thermomix and wanted to show all it could do, I wasn't convinced. Gosh, another robot in the kitchen. That is so not the right tool for me. But well, it meant a girly night, a glass of wine and a good chat... Why not go for it, better to see and understand it before criticising further right?
The first thought is always - yeah, it will look all easy to use... when she will be doing it. Click, unclick, a few seconds only. And look at the number of buttons on that...Left alone, I would not find my way round. I just know it. And so, for the first 45mn of trying receipes, I prefered to watch. At some point, curiousity beat me. I just had to try. It is so straightforward that I did not need any guidance. A child of 7 could use it!
Really I'm not quite sure where to start. It does so many things it will replace all your other kitchen tools and free plenty of space in your cupboards. It weighs, blends, steams, crushes, grinds, mixes, simmers...
There are quite a few triks I discovered that night. Little things you never think about. Loce cupcake? Do your own icing? ever considered that icing sugar is just pulverised normal sugar? Well this machine will do that for you in seconds. Same goes for lentils... if you want to powder it and use it to thicken a soup or even for a baby puree. Do you have coeliac friends If so, like me you buy rice flour to bake cakes when they come for tea. Well, same again, this will grind normal rice in rice flour for you. Think of the savings!
The strengh of it is amazing. We tried to prepaper lemonade and the recipe asked to put the lemons, cut in quarters, whole with pips and rind. A few minutes later, there's nothing left but pure juice. Amazing. No waste at all. But all the vitamins are yours!
The secret is in the central four blades tool. This has been designed to blend, crush but not destroy. Think of basil leaves or a risotto for example. You want all the flavours but not a mush. It does exactely that. Strong but gentle at the same time.
See? Even crumbs for a grattin or a soup look lovely, not powdery:
What amazed me was the recipe for bread dough. I have always dreamt of having a breadmaker but am easily confused by the customers' reviews, each having a problem. I end up giving up. Jane made us try the book recipe using pumpkin seeds and her home made thyme oil. A few minutes and it was ready - it seems bread machines take 30mn to do the same thing. And you just had to turn the bowl over for it to fall down at the perfect consistancy - no stickiness on the sides. We left the dough to rise then baked it: heaven. I could live on this alone...
I could go on endelessly, of course. It can cook up to a 100 degres C. You can cook a soup and add a steamer on top to have lovely vegetables on the side. No space or time lost. Here: from chopped, to salsa, to simmered... Add some stock and let it cook to have the perfect soup!
And the cherry on the cake? Oh, just add some water, a few drops of washing liquid, put in on warm and mix for 30 seconds... Open just rinse quickly under your tap and that's it. It's ready to be used again... Yep that one is not likely to be put on a shelf and forgotten.
Of course there's a catch to such a magic machine. The price is £850. Argh! Being heavily pregnant, this is not the kinf of investment I can make at the moment. You also have the option to pay only half now then divide the rest in a number of months. Basically, the brand advises you are going to do so much more cooking yourself, and there is so much less waste with this machine (remember the icing sugar? The lemon? But also using the electricity of one machine only if you put the steamer on top rather than two?) that it would cover the repayment.
Jane also mentionned a few ideas:
- She sold all her kitchen gadgets on ebay
- Other people group to buy one, then keep it in turns. One week here, one week there.
- It's so easy to prepare cake mix with this that you could sell fab deserts at fairs or to colleagues. Mimimum effort but great value.
If you do get a chance, go and attend a demonstration (I'm happy to forward Jane's details if you are interested). It's free, it's delicious, there really is no obligation to buy it (most people take a few months to gather the money so it is no use to pressurise them during the demo). Even an old school cook who thinks real cooking should be made with pans and wooden spoons has to admit it gives you such an amazing consistency for, er, everything that it is heart-achingly desirable... No wonder it is the number one wedding gift in some countries (I gather the wives to be gather it is soooo easy to use that the husbands will be enticed into preparing lovely dishes... And the husbands probably think it is soooooo easy to use that their wives will never request any more help in the kitchen!)
And while it's cleaning itself, well... cheers to Thermomix!
