Stick blender
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Fun, Kitchen equipment | 14 comments
Back in the eighties I was given a blender. A large device that stood on a stand with an orange plastic cap over the hole in its lid. And, to keep it company, a nifty compact electric whisk
“These are essential in any kitchen.” I was assured.
Both rarely left the darkness of the cupboard to perform as I didn’t really cook. But I liked having them just in case I caught the cooking bug.
Many years later Danny reconstituted some semi solidified paint using the electric whisk with a slow and steady hand. The little white plastic dot on the base of the left hand whisk was stained yellow for ages.
Then we discovered a small stick blender on one of our Christmas Eve forays to John Lewis in Norwich. We bought the basic one and this little daemon is used constantly to make soup.
A couple of weeks ago I was sweating over four pints of béchamel sauce, trying to avoid lumps. Danny has a horror of these and has several gruelling tales of his mother’s battles with bobbly sauce.
“She even tried using a sieve once. Of course it didn’t work.”
Behind closed doors, I’d trifled with sieves myself.
Then I had a rare, fleeting moment of pure logical thought. If the stick blender makes lump free soup why not use it to make a smooth béchamel?
I shut the kitchen door and plugged in the device. It worked. Perfect béchamel that you could bathe in. A discovery almost on a par with the wheel.
I fired up the computer and discovered that almost everyone else in the world had been using their stick blenders to make lump free sauces except me. Perhaps the instruction manual, tossed unread into the compost bin, had pointed out this key fact.
Now our stick blender has two roles. I’m wondering what else it can a stick blender legally do?
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I had a similar moment of epiphany – not with a stick blender but with a whisk. One of those odd looking ones which is a hoop surrounded by curled wire that lies flat on the bottom of the pan. And which I used to look at and think – what exactly is that for? Well it turns out it’s for reasonably effortless smooth bechamel sauces.
don’t feel too bad. I didn’t think about using a stick blender to get rid of the lumps in a bechemel sauce, although, to my credit, i don’t often need to think about those lumps, as 99% of my sauces turn out lump free…
keth
xx
You can use it to make mayonnaise 🙂 IIRC, you put the egg etc. in the bottom of the narrow pot it comes with, and then pour all the oil in. Put the blender fully into the pot, touching the bottom. Switch on, and gradually draw the blender up through the oil so it pulls it in gradually. You must use a tall, narrow container for this to work.
I say IIRC, because I stupidly gave away my stick blender years ago and now have a conventional one. But I remember trying the above method with the stick blender as described in the manual, and to my amazement, it worked perfectly. The same cannot be said of making mayonnaise in a conventional blender; I tried this the other day and ended up starting again with another egg yolk and elbow grease instead of electricity 🙁
I love my stick blender too. I often whiz up a spread to use on toast etc. I use 2 cans of drained chick peas, small can of drained butter beans, olive oil, tomato paste, and bit of mayo to get the right consistency. Then afterwards add sunflower seeds and sesame seeds plus some herbs. Also grated cheese sometimes. This mixture goes into a batch of small jars and can be put in the freezer.
Thanks for your kind reply to my comment regarding loose dogs. x
I wouldn’t be without my stickblender although I am on my second one as the first one died eventually – I think it had something to do with having dropped it in the washing up bowl once when I was cleaning it. It was still plugged in too as I had given it a quick whizz in the water to clean the blades! Oops! I do lust after a Bamix stick blender but it just isn’t in my budget just now. I also have a Kenwood liquidiser as I like to add an avocado to my veggie juice and the stick blender just doesn’t get the right texture for that.
My girlfriend brought one of those home from John Lewis yesterday, so I’ll pass that handy tip on. Good timing!
I use one of these too, but have never tried it with bechamel. I don’t need to. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had many a disaster and have used seives in the past, but now I make it with olive oil instead of butter. It works every single time. (This because my other half has become lactose intolerant – so I also use skimmed milk. Luckily, he can still eat cheese!)
I have just used mine for bechamel before logging on tonight so that post made me laugh.
Mine lives plugged in on the bench almost all the time.
I use it a lot of course.
First thing most days for smoothies for the kids with their breakfast. For tomato pasta sauce. For bechamel. The list goes on…
My Wizz Professional blender lives on the bench top too. For grating, chopping & slicing. Just tonight i have made hummous & breadcrumbs in it. Must try making hummous with the stick blender.
I used to use my stick blender all the time but reading this has reminded me that it’s been stuck in a drawer for ages now. Time to get it out again 🙂
It can be used in soapmaking and papermaking, although for peace of mind one might want to invest in second stick blender for non-food uses, given the caustic ingredients sometimes used.
One doesn’t really need it for basic soap-making, but for “rebatching,” which can often turn out lumpy soaps, stick blenders are apparently the cat’s pajamas!
I don’t have a single stick blender, let alone two or three for different purposes, but it’s certainly on my list!