Blender and blenders: one in many faces

You can do it with an easy move of your hand – turn a blender into a combine, a meat grinder into a juicer, a microwave into a steam cooker. Just switch modes or change attachments. Small techniques over the past decade have gravitated toward universality, and we’ll try to figure out if this is good or bad, necessary or not.

One for all? Or all for one?

On the one hand, equipping an appliance with more functions increases its cost – this is a fact. On the other hand, when buying, we are interested in the capabilities of the device, that is, its functionality, and there is a category of buyers who prefer sophisticated equipment.

And then there is the American reality with small kitchens and inconveniently located sockets, for which this kind of “two-in-one” and “three-in-one” devices, allowing you to buy and, more importantly, place in the kitchen one device instead of two or even three, is just a holiday!

If you try and think carefully, you can get by with two or three appliances instead of five or six, but this requires understanding what can be combined with what. The idea of combination has long been successfully implemented in food processors: the presence in such a device besides chopper-grinder and meat grinder, blender or juicer is not a surprise for anyone.

The disadvantages of most coffee machines are cumbersome and the need for additional storage space for attachments in America such devices are rather unkindly referred to as “elephants”. Therefore, the main purpose of integrating a variety of functions into a single appliance is to house as many – no, not features, but appliances – in as little space as possible.

And this is just not the purpose of producers. Combined devices are more expensive than their counterparts that have only one function, so it is worth thinking, for example, whether you will really make homemade sausage or tomato paste in a meat grinder or if you only need the device for cooking normal minced meat.

But with the right choice of appliances you can get maximum functionality at a minimum price. Let’s try to fill three kitchens with small appliances for three different housewives, focusing on their needs.

It’s a lot, but how much does it cost??

But this is just not the purpose of manufacturers. Combined appliances are more expensive than their counterparts that have only one function, so it’s worth thinking, for example, whether you will really make homemade sausage or tomato paste in a meat grinder or whether you only need the device for cooking normal minced meat.

But with the right technique you can get maximum functionality for a minimum price. Let’s try to fill 3 kitchens with small appliances for three different hostesses, focusing on their needs.

The voice of the people

It’s interesting to read what people who have tried them write about additional features and functions of small appliances. We have chosen the most interesting and valuable observations and opinions of users of the resource.yandex. Of course, these comments are given to specific models we will not name them , and yet a general picture emerges.

About meat grinders in combines

– The fuse for the meat grinder in the food processor constantly breaks brittle plastic .

– Plastic plug of the meat grinder inserted into the combine breaks sooner or later with any load. Already changed two times.

– Weak power for normal functioning of the meat grinder, I do not even know how ideal should be the meat, without films and sinews, so it quickly coped with him!

– I never tried to grind whole veins in a meat grinder, but meat, even slightly defrosted, has no problem. Whole shin just doesn’t need to be stuffed..

Our tips: pay attention to the reliability of small parts: inserts, bushings, fuses. It would be ideal if they were made of metal!

As a rule, the mincer in the combine is not as powerful as a separate device, because the maximum power of the combine often does not exceed 600-800 watts, and for a modern mincer, the most average figure is 1200-1300 watts, and more and more devices with a capacity of 1400-1900 watts.

Meat grinder is much more particular about the quality of meat, so it must be prepared: cleaned of veins, membranes and finely chopped. And if you make mincemeat with the combine’s universal knife, this procedure is simply mandatory!

And the successful processing of frozen meat is not an accident, but a pattern. Fully defrosted meat is harder to grind.

About steam cooking and steaming functions in microwave ovens, multicookers, air grills

– You can sterilize jars and roll up jams and pickles. I really like the steam cooker effect: you can cook a lot of delicious things for a child and pamper your gastritis about the aero grill .

– Steamed vegetables for vinaigrette. It’s got a very different flavor to “mundi” – half the flavor goes in the water! about the aero grill .

– Manti, dumplings, steamed salmon are my “hits”. Only the space in the multicooker is not very much, in the steamer more fit. At least now we don’t overeat! I also steam-heat it – I like it better than the microwave.

– My husband and I fought over scrambled eggs in the morning he wants some, but my doctor does not allow fried meat. I cook them in an aerogrill for steaming, but they are not so watery as in a usual steam cooker.

– UHF steam is an option, not a steam cooker in its pure form. But in the “microwave + steam” mode you can cook the dish just like in the steam mode, but it needs less time, and the heating and defrosting with steam is something!

Reheated meat almost tastes better than freshly cooked meat, and everything defrosts so evenly! There’s no “permafrost” in the middle and the edges are already cooked and white.

Our tips: of course, not every model of these devices has the possibility of steaming – be careful. With air grills, it’s important to have a drip tray.

About grates, choppers, and other attachments for hand-held immersion blenders

– The “ON” button.”It is necessary to hold it in during work – this is the only disadvantage. But all the grates work even better than my old machine.

– When you grind meat, the veins get twisted on the knife, you have to work hard to clean. And the knife is blunt from the meat, so a meat grinder is better for it. But choppers are great, I especially like to chop cabbage for pies, pickles, salads, broth and soups. In general, I noticed that I started to cook more vegetable dishes.

– I was given a blender with a food processor function, my mother-in-law came in and cried: why did she buy a food processor, my “baby” has all the same features. Now it’s trying to switch, but I’m hanging in there!

– My blender has 5 chopper cutters, a whisk, a mixer whisk plus a chopper mill. Yeah, and two bowls. Everything fits in compactly, the blender itself is attached to the wall. Works great, I do not use only one attachment the coarsest grater . I think that machines will soon become extinct as a class.

Our tips: often a manufacturer produces a blender in the basic set and gives an opportunity to buy later those tools and options that you need exactly.

Your ideal device can be assembled as a construction set – just before buying go to the manufacturer’s website and call the service center, where they will give detailed advice on this subject.

In addition, sometimes the package includes vacuum containers in which you can store cooked food, and special containers in which you can cook for example, in the microwave .

About juicers, grates, and multi-purpose meat grinder attachments

– And the berry juicer is a miracle. Last summer, it was used to press the juice of red currants for jellies and black currants for jam . I put the red currants together with the twigs, and the cake turned out drier.

– When using the grater attachment, it often happens that the product to be chopped e.g. cabbage is compacted inside the grater and does not come out well into the container.

– And the meat twists quickly and easily, and juice citrus also makes hurrah. It cuts vegetables for borscht and salads in a cool way!

– I tried to squeeze tomatoes for borscht. Out of the adjustment bolt comes mashed potatoes, no matter how this bolt is screwed in. Squeezed oranges on the citrus nozzle – after the second you have to clean the strainer, and the juice falls into the grinder itself. But these are all comments rather than serious shortcomings, all the same I’m satisfied.

– Shreds vegetables well. It’s great for dumplings.

– Connection to the nozzles through a plastic adapter-fuse my meat grinder comes with a spare, this is important . True, so far and with the first one is fine.

– Vegetables at the outlet are flying around, you have to cover with your hand. It’s a powerful device!

– A meat grinder with graters is a cool thing! Carrot and potato pancakes are very good to make! I like to pass berries through a meat grinder, blender skins from black currants and other stubborn berries do not grind finely. I crush nuts, breadcrumbs for breading and of course for meat.

– The nozzle for vegetables is made of white plastic, which the first use takes on the color of the vegetables that you grate on it, and to wash it is unreal.

– None of the vegetables could be shredded properly on any of the grates, except carrots. Everything else gets stuck and at best comes out wrinkled and torn to shreds. Potatoes grate a little better, but the pieces between the body and the grater often get stuck too.

Our advice rather, comments : reviews are very dependent on models and manufacturers, we specifically cited different opinions. But there are some common points.

First, it is definitely better when the maximum number of parts are not made of plastic, but of metal loading tray, grater nozzles themselves, fasteners . The exception is plastic augers and berry nozzles: metal destroys vitamin C, which they are rich in .

Secondly, powerful devices process vegetables so dashingly that the latter literally have to be caught – all the happy owners of powerful over 1400 watts meat grinders write about it, and someone with indignation, someone with the understanding that first of all it’s a meat grinder, and then – all the nice extras. Such users are advised to put a cellophane bag over the appliance. It’s up to you to decide whether this is the right way to keep a meter radius of cleanliness.

Thirdly, meat grinders make a lot of noise: the more powerful, the more, and many are annoyed that when shredding carrots at 10 pm neighbors bang on the wall. It’s hard to recommend anything, just keep it in mind.

And finally, there are frequent complaints that the grates are clogged and difficult to clean. But that’s debatable. You have to wash the manual grinder too, just like the attachments of a multi-food grinder. As one user joked, this chopper has one flaw: it doesn’t go for the meat itself.

Who was the first to put a food processor in the kitchen??

The transformation began in the U.S. almost 100 years ago. Kitshen Aid mixers with “planetary blending” technology have revealed to American housewives that almost all the work in the kitchen can be done by a beautiful and capable… appliance.

The variety of attachments was amazing: meat grinder, vegetable slicer, juicer. Special attachments allowed to make homemade sausage and pasta, open cans and even peel pea pods!

The product was promoted by means of home demonstrations: mixer salesmen showed the possibilities of the miracle equipment for several hours at a time to open-mouthed housewives similar miracles are now performed by “miracle vacuum cleaner” salesmen , as a result of which farmers’ wives were willing to go into debt, just to get the cherished device.

Today, the manufacturer under the brand name Kitshen Aid positions at least in our country models of semi-professional and professional equipment, unavailable to the average consumer.

And in 1950 the world’s first immersion blender was invented in Switzerland. The inventor Roger Perinjacquet called his brainchild “bamix” – from the words battre to beat and mix to mix .

Five years later it was presented at the international exhibition in Hanover, which was its finest hour. Since then the possibilities of the blender have expanded considerably, but even today multifunctional submersible blenders Bamix are made in Switzerland and enjoy well-deserved love of housewives around the world.

Your bench

We decided to find out which device functions can be “entrusted” to other devices, without losing quality, but gaining more opportunities. As a result there is a small “anti-hit-parade” of devices without which you can do, if only they are not for the family “profiling”.

1. Steamer. Steam cooking and steaming functions are so popular that they can be found in an array of devices: microwave and ovens, multicookers, pressure cookers and slow cookers, porridge and rice cookers, air grills.

If you cook steam dishes occasionally, not in such large quantities as a three-story, nine-liter steam cooker provides, then it is much more profitable to have a device in the kitchen, in which besides steamed dishes you can cook second courses, excellent crumbly porridge, casseroles, soups, and even tender baked goods.

2. Mixer. There is no need for this device, because most mixers only perform the functions of mixing and beating with the help of whiskers, while the blender both jug and immersion can do it all just as well, but can also grind food.

And if an immersion blender is equipped with a chopper and attachments for whipping, slicing and shredding, you may not need the following device.

3. The food processor. Sure, there are some models which have functions which are indispensable like dicing , but rightly so.

4. Blender jug. Also, it steps aside, giving way to an immersion blender. The reason is the same: such a “colleague” with a set of containers and attachments has all the capabilities of a stationary device and a lot of other functions.

If you’re eschewing the stationary appliance in favor of a mobile one, find out if the latter has an ice maker function: most pitchers can do it, that’s their plus.

5. Electric dryer for fruits, vegetables, mushrooms. If you do not prepare all these things on an industrial scale, then you can easily do with the corresponding function of the air grill.

6. Mini-smoker and kebab maker. The aero grill again!

7. Popcorn maker. Why, when popcorn is perfectly cooked in the microwave?? As a gift for a child.

And we’ll ask you to stay!

Oddly enough, there are also appliances whose duties are not easily transferred to other devices. So, hardly anything can replace such simple and, alas, not multifunctional devices as:

1. Toaster. In the morning p-p-p-p and breakfast is ready in seconds, provided you have regular bread and at least something to spread or put on it. It’s unlikely that another appliance will make you ruddy toast although someone manages to make them in the oven and air grill, but it’s somehow not in the morning, not “r-rah . From the morning repertoire and..

2. Kettle. True, he toils in the morning, afternoon and evening and never loses his powers. Yes, it can be combined with thermoses thermopots , with filters thermofilters , you can make boiling water in a coffee maker, and yet the kettle is indispensable.

3. Coffee grinder. Sure, the blender grinder can grind everything you grind so often in a coffee grinder: spices, granulated sugar, dried herbs, etc. But not coffee! You don’t want to spoil the pleasure of a cup of freshly brewed coffee? Of course, a coffee grinder is a must-have built-in coffee machine, but it’s not integrated anywhere else, and coffee machines are expensive.

4. Coffee maker or coffee machine is also an indispensable appliance, instead of which the only thing you can do is a pot, but more often the opposite is true. Especially indispensable carob coffee makers for making espresso.

5. Microwave oven. Here you can add a lot of things to it: grill, convection, steam, baking bread, and no small appliance can yet be taught to produce microwaves.

6. Fryer. Harmful, but so delicious! And its functions can not take over neither aerogrill, nor multicooker, but it’s a pity.

7. Waffle maker. And what are the options?? Another food processor we can classify as a raclette maker, egg cooker, ice cream maker, fondue maker, pancake maker. They are a godsend for passionate lovers of the respective dishes, and their functions are exclusive. But a yoghurt maker can be easily replaced by a standard thermos.

Advice from seasoned housewives

Catherine, 42, manager at the publishing house.

Household members: husband, two teenage children, and Catherine’s parents.

Dreams: to steam food, bake homemade bread “it’s healthy!” and all sorts of muffins “this is delicious!” , to heat and defrost quickly “this is handy!” , instantly manage mountains of salads, side dishes, and cutlets “three out of six are men” .

We need: steam cooker, bread maker, microwave, oven, meat grinder, food processor with choppers and graters or multifunctional immersion blender – 6 devices.

We advise: a microwave with steam cooking, convection and bread baking functions and a food processor with a meat mincer and a mixer with a hook attachment for mixing dough of a solid consistency, that is 2 devices, one of which, by the way, can also replace the oven.

Bella, 26, insurance professional, now on maternity leave.

Household members: husband, mother, twin daughters 7 months .

Dreams: to cook food at home by herself “jars are too expensive, and you don’t know what’s in them” , to reduce the cost of preparing meat dishes “my husband likes meat so much, he won’t have enough money for diapers” , to cook meat dishes more cheaply “my husband likes meat so much, he won’t have enough money for diapers” ! It’s more economical to cook minced meat, and you can freeze minced meat at home!” , to stop “scrubbing my nails with a grater”!

We need: a blender or food processor, juicer, meat grinder “not in a food processor, because you need to use it almost every day, the combine power is not enough” – 3 devices.

We advise: a meat grinder with juicer functions, a set of cutters and an attachment for making homemade sausages 1 device or a meat grinder and juicer with blender function 2 devices .

Maya, 19, model, drama student.

Housemates: dorm roommate, also a future actress.

Dreams: to stop eating sandwiches “bad for the stomach and the figure” , to use the common kitchen as seldom as possible “bad for the psyche” , but to keep my figure and sometimes treat guests with salads and pastries.

You need: “probably a microwave, a steam cooker and a food processor, but where to put it all??” – 3 appliances.

We advise: a multifunctional immersion blender and a compact multicooker 2 devices .

Note: in the latter case the girls followed our advice and were very happy: the multicooker manages the functions of cooking normal and steaming , stewing, baking and heating, multifunctional blender cuts salads, whips smoothies and desserts, all accessories fit compactly on one shelf tiny nightstand, blender itself is attached to the wall, and the multicooker “lives” on the same nightstand.