Thermomix - Now you're cooking!

The thermomix is an odd looking kitchen appliance. A largish base, a stainless steel bowl, black lid, and a funny looking attachment that can go on the top. What can a thermomix do for me, I hear you say.

I already have a blender, food processor, coffee grinder, rice cooker, yoghurt maker, bread maker, juicer, and mixer, so I have no need for anything else, let alone any room to keep it.

Well, get ready to have a yard sale for all the aforementioned appliances, because the thermomix is all of those in one appliance.

• I can cook dinner almost one-handed, with a fractious baby on my hip.


• I CANNOT BURN ANYTHING! Even with the aforementioned fractious baby distracting me.


• It can clean itself, just add water and detergent and turn it on.*


• I can turn out tasty, healthy meals, very quickly.


• It makes me look like a fabulous cook....Yay!


• I can make fabulous healthy(ish) treats for my kids, no more supermarket junk.
  

*Ahem, just don't add too much detergent......speaking from experience here...

It can....

Chop, dice, puree, mix, juice, grind, knead, steam, crush, whip, stir, mill, mince, cook and weigh.

You can make sauces, dips, main meals, drinks, sorbets, slushies, ice-cream.

You can crush ice, grind coffee beans and mill your own wheat.

You can whip cream, knead bread dough, steam fish....just about anything.

Check out the Thermomix in Australia blog for some ideas of recipes.

Visit a Thermomix Forum for all sorts of recipes, ideas and thermomix chat.

And another Aussie Thermomixer blog, Australians love their thermomix!

Now, if you CAN'T cook, thermomix is perfect for you.

It comes with a book of many different recipes and each recipe is written as a series of precise instructions. For example bolognaise sauce. After the ingredient list telling you exactly how much of each ingredient to use come the following instructions:

-Place onion, garlic, carrot, celery and bacon into TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 5-6.

-Add oil and saute 3 minutes at 100c on speed 1.

-Add mince and cook for 10 minutes at varoma temperature (maximum) on reverse+speed soft.

-Add tomato puree, paste, salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes at varoma temperature on reverse+soft speed.

Done! You CANNOT fail!

One of the benefits of using the thermomix is it is very easy to create those items we are often inclined to buy because they are fiddly or time consuming to make.

You can very quickly make your own....

- Soup, no more tinned or packet soup.
- Stock, liquid or concentrate. Perfect for the above mentioned soup.
- Salad dressings and mayo.
- Sauces and custards.
-Dips, made fresh on the day you need them.
- Bread dough and pizza dough.
- Pasta dough and fresh pastry.
- Cake batter, yogurt and fresh ice-cream.
- Fruit leather.
- Slushies for the kids.
- Chocolate mousse, yum

Cut out the preservatives, colours, flavours, high fructose corn syrup, msg, enhancers, emulsifiers, humectants, food acids. Cut back on salt, sugar and a host of other additives. Use organic ingredients. Make your food low GI. Go Healthy!

An overview of commonly used additives and preservatives.

Read about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup.

You could make these delicious cinnamon scrolls using your thermomix and it would take you so much less time than doing it by hand!

The thermomix 31 is the 2005 model.

It's usually about ten to fifteen years between models so based on that, we would be expecting a new model to appear perhaps around 2015 at the earliest.

Each model is patented for twenty years and the parts for each model are available for at least twenty years.

There is a twenty four month warranty against faulty parts and workmanship when you use your thermomix in a domestic environment, and a twelve month warranty against faulty parts and workmanship when it's used in a commercial environment.

What if my machine breaks down?

A couple of weeks ago I went to use my beloved machine and it sounded like it was working but nothing was being mixed or chopped. I looked in as it was going and it appeared the blades were moving, and no error messages were coming up on the screen. What was going on?

After pouring out my woes to a thermomix blogger, who just happens to be a thermomix consultant also, we (she) concluded the bearings in the blades had worn out. Through the thermomix in Australia website, I sent out a plea for a consultant and one was duly given my email address and promptly contacted me, offering to bring her thermomix to my house so we could further diagnose the problem.

After concluding that yes, it was the blades that were the problem, she filled out a service request, I paid for the parts (new blades) and a week later they came in the mail. And the consultant rang me to check they'd arrived and that all was right in my little world again. Gotta love after sales service like that.

If the screen on the machine had given an error message that wouldn't disappear after being turned off for a while, my mixer would probably have needed to have been packed up and shipped across the country to be diagnosed and repaired.

Thankfully, it was a minor problem. Moral of the story, don't overload your thermomix. Follow the guidelines in the manual.