tool, and you don’t need a silly infomercial from the 1980s
to tell you that.
Want a pitcherful of margaritas? The regular blender’s
your friend. Need to make two quarts of pesto? OK, pull out
the food processor. But for smaller, everyday blending
tasks, an immersion blender is the tool for the job. Ever get
annoyed at those ropy pieces of egg white you come across
when breading food? Blend the eggs for a few seconds, and
they’ll be perfectly uniform and smooth. You like froth on
your hot chocolate? Heat it up in the pot and buzz it to
create a luxurious foam. Lumps in your béchamel? All
gone. How about if you want to make just a few ounces of
perfectly smooth cauliflower puree or a half-cup of
mayonnaise? Yep, you can do that with an immersion
blender too.
The Braun PowerMax, which is only about $30, has been
performing admirably at least three times a week in my
kitchen for the past eleven years now. It’s the most reliable
sidekick I know. Unfortunately, it’s not widely available
these days, as I found out when stocking the kitchen at the
Serious Eats World Headquarters. So there we use the
KitchenAid Immersion Blender (about $50), which works
just as well. You can get it as part of a package that includes
a whisk attachment and a mini–food processor, but believe
me, those are dust collectors and you don’t need ’em.
- Food Processor
At a bare minimum, a good food processor should be able
to: