The right way to use a blender


The right way to use a blender
You may well have a blender in your own kitchen. You know, that useful gadget that allows you to liquidize stuff at high speed into a smooth liquid. Of course, the most obvious use that comes to mind is for soups: if you have boiled some vegetables in water, with just a quick blast of the blender, you'll have a smooth, creamy soup.
21 K 5/5 (13 reviews)
Grade this page:
Last modified on: May 31th 2017
For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend
The right way to use a blender
At this point, we really ought to distinguish between the 2 different types of blender: "stick" and "classic".

Stick blenders (the sort professional cooks sometimes call a "giraffe") are hand-held and are designed to be plunged directly into the bowl or pan when making soup, compotes, etc. They are usually simple machines and relatively cheap. They look like this:

stick blender




The other type are a little more complicated and designed to stand on a worktop. The main difference is that the food is put into the blender's own bowl or goblet (glass or plastic). Then you need to put the lid on before switching the machine on. They look something like this:

mixer



Stick blenders are fairly self-explanatory. For the second type, there's one trick it's important to know.

When blending, there is often a mix of different textures – a liquid ingredient being mixed with a more solid one – even if the end result is more or less a liquid. When making homemade pesto, for example (which, it's worth saying in passing, is far superior to what you find in the shops), you will be blending liquid olive oil and lemon juice with solid pine nuts and basil leaves.

And this is where knowing the trick comes in: you should always put the liquid into the goblet first and only then add the solid ingredients. If you do it the other way round, your ingredients may well not mix together properly, with the liquid staying on top of the blended solids. You will be obliged to stop the blender several times to poke at it and stir with a spoon, or – even worse – you might be tempted to try and intervene with the blender still running, which is highly dangerous.

To see this in practice, here's a photo taken while making a flognarde (a sort of egg custard from France's Limousin region). One stage of the recipe involves blending the eggs with a mixture of flour and sugar:

flognarde



You can see how the eggs (liquid) go in first, with the flour and sugar added on top. This ensures rapid and even mixing, as you can see here:

flognarde



This goes for all blenders, even the most sophisticated ones that heat and cook, such as Thermomix.

To sum up: when blending different foods, always put the liquid ingredients into the blender goblet first, before adding the solid ones.

Lasts posts
A drizzle of olive oil
A drizzle of olive oil
Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13th 20255795
Always secure your cutting board
Always secure your cutting board
When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1st 20257925
Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?
Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?
When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29th 20257875
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19th 20252,418 15
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".
April 25th 20252,1285

Other pages you may also like
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
Don't throw away your pizza crusts
You've probably already noticed that at the end of a pizza meal, at least half of the participants have left the crusts in the boxes or on the plates that many don't eat. Naturally, one would tend to put them "to the birds", or worse, to throw them away, and it's a shame because they are in fact...
April 22th 20237,1164.9
Sausage broth
Sausage broth
I've already talked to you about vegetable cooking water, which becomes a precious broth after cooking that would be a shame to throw away. Now let's look at the special case of meat cooking broth, and in particular sausages, which are often poached.
June 28th 20238,6885
Always secure your cutting board
Always secure your cutting board
When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1st 20257925
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7th 2017129 K 14.1
The "caves" in the bakery and pastry shop
The "caves" in the bakery and pastry shop
Maybe you've already done this? You want to make a brioche or a cake with fruit inside, you decide to proceed with your usual recipe, but also to add in the dough pieces of fresh and raw fruit, or whole fruit, for example pieces of apples or pears, good idea. When you bake it, everything seems to...
March 27th 20219,1594.9
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page