Kitchen Garden Forum

It is the time for making lots of soups and I'm finding it to be a bit of a chore moving everything in batches into my food processor for blending so I rather fancy buying a hand blender.

I've spent all day looking at reviews of different models etc. and am now cross-eyed

Has anyone got one that they would recommend or definitely not recommend?

My wife swears by her blitzer for making soups - Braun 600 watt Turbo it says on it but I can't spot a model number, looks like the current Artiste (we've had it a few years).

We have a Braun 300 Watt (no name, no serial number, about 5 years old) and I use it a lot, for soups, desserts etc. Much quicker and more convenient than a food mixer and you can use it in the container the stuff has actually been cooked in, of course.

Can highly recommend it.

Must be Braun day, just had a word with cook and she uses a Braun 500watt turbo and says it is very good too.

Mine is a Kenwood Wizzard. Just the bog-standard blitzer, no attachments or anything.
I only use it for soups, but I love it, and don't know how I ever managed without it!

The Mouse wrote:Mine is a Kenwood Wizzard. Just the bog-standard blitzer, no attachments or anything.
I only use it for soups, but I love it, and don't know how I ever managed without it!

Mine too.It's one of my favourite kitchen thingys (a culinary term)

weve recently got a kenwood 700 watt thingy it has a tri blade bigfoot attachment... exactly the same as the normal triblade blender end but twice the diameter.. about 4 inches... makes short work of a saucepan of chunky soup...... lot faster than the twin bladed cheapo thing we had before.

We have a Braun Turbo - the one with a steel shaft and different speed settings. It also came with a selection of attachments like whisk and graters. It's an excellent piece of kit and gets far more use than any of our other gadgets apart from the breadmaker.
The Rolls-Royce in the world of blenders though is the Bamix. This is a tough swiss-made professional quality machine with a 10 year guarantee. DD has one and swears by it.

John

Dear Gallotments,
do make sure that the blender is suitable for boiling hot foods as when I bought mine not all of them were. The blender is also useful for delumping gravy and other sauces.

Recipe for instant icecream.
Put 8-12 oz of frozen raspberries into a plastic bag and beat with a rolling pin (or other suitable beating instrument).
Put into a deep sided bowl with 1/2 pint of milk and blend.
Add 1/2 pint of double cream and about 2-4 oz of sugar and blend again.
Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
You should end up with a soft icecream which can be either eaten straight away or frozen for a short time if the consistency is a little too soft.
This does work with other fruits but they may need a little defrosting first to allow the blades to bite. Otherwise you can end up picking berries out of nostrils etc. If you add more milk but less cream and sugar then this can be an acceptable milkshake mix as well.
Regards Sally Wright.

Hi Glallotments,
I have a Philips 600 watt turbo which is an amazing piece of kit. Mine is an HR 1363 but it hasn't got a whisk attachment. I bought one for one of my daughters and she wanted the model with the whisk attachment but the number of which escapes me.
They really do what it says in the blurb!
I must confess that I do not use it with absolutely boiling hot things but leave a while and whilst still very hot I do the blitzing.
Very easy to clean and very easy attachment changing.
I really cannot find any fault with it and can only give it the highest recommendation.
JB.

Dear Glallotments, somehow i don't think we have really helped.

It will come as no surprise that this is yet another of the things we haven't got at Refail - along with no mobile phone, no dishwasher, no microwave, no iPod, no Satnav -- the list goes on............

Dear Alan, i suppose you do get the same desired effect with a large wooden mallet!

On the contrary OH it has been helpful in that it confirms that these gadgets are as useful as I thought and if I stick to one that someone has recommended I should be OK.

John - I have seen the stuff on the Bamix and they are ultra expensive so no wonder they are good.

I thought Tigger may have recommended the James Martin Wahl version.

I also spotted a Phillips cordless one which sort of sounded to be a fair idea until I saw the price.

Anyway I'm going to wait 'til after Christmas and then take the plunge.

No-one seems to have come across one that is completely hopeless yet!

Hi Glallotments,
Philips Hand Held Blender with Whisk Attachment HR1366.
Argos price £32.59.
JB.