An Honest Review from a New TM5 Owner (#thermomix)

When I had lunch with G and AO on 4/12, G inquired whether I had made up my mind to buy the Thermomix. Little did G and AO know that I had my thermie for slighltly more than a week already (then)! Sorry girls, my post was not published yet at the time. Mum’s the word 😜

By the way, AO owns the 1996 version, the TM21. I asked her what she had cooked in her thermie. She said lots! She named all the yummy stuffs, which I could only drool… BUT why in heavens did AO stop cooking with her thermie???!!! She said it’s a mundane task having to clean the separate parts of the thermie after each use and the little robot was on the loud side! It jiggled and groaned on her kitchen work top! Ha ha …

Now, if you, look at the evolution of the Thermomix, from 1961 to the latest TM5 model, you can tell the VKM5 (1961), TM3300 (1982) and TM31 (2003) have lived through a decade or more before a newer version took to the market. 

  
In my post here, I wrote about the couple who immediately placed an order for the TM5 after the demo at F‘s place. If you are wondering if the couple had jumped the gun without even using their heads, not at all! They were the brainiacs! They have owned the 1982 version, the TM3300 for 30 years!!! It’s as brand new looking as ever! The wife’s an Italian and the thermie is fondly called Bimby in Italy and Portugal. This is due to the fact that the name “Thermomix” was already in use by another home appliance in both countries and therefore could not be registered by Vorwerk.

Here’s their 30-year old Bimby. F was at their place to give a demo of the TM5 for their daughter.

  
 

Personal launching of my TM5

My TM5 was delivered to me on Wed 25/11. I did not use it until Friday evening on 27/11. I must confess that I don’t usually cook dinner on weekdays. It’s such a hassle and furthermore, hubby does NOT eat warm in the evening.

But not THAT evening! Could it be the kitchen robot that made him say ‘yes’ to dinner all of a sudden?

Oh by the way, if someone were to ask me what was the first recipe I have cooked in my thermie. Well, it’s got to be something simple, fast and easy.

This mixed lime/orange/lemon-ade became the inaugural ice-breaker! Done in 2 seconds! Yes, you read it right the first time. 2 seconds flat! The simmering basket was used to strain the citrus juice leaving the chopped peels, piths and seeds in the TM mixing bowl.

  

After removing the residue, I rinsed the bowl and continued with preparing tagliatelle all’arrabbiata. This was the recipe I had at the demo at F‘s. She used penne, hence, the choice of pasta is endless, and I added a bit more chillies to the dish to spice it up even more😊

   
  

Remember this photo from my previous post?

  
 

Well, I made a BIG mistake in pre-supposing everything said and written by some websites that we have to use only that spatula and nothing else. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I was so down when I inadvertently sliced off a part of my virgin spatula on my first try-out cooking a main course in my thermie, by scooping the pasta out from the bowl with that spatula *sob*. I told F about my misfortune and she said any type of spatula or wooden spoon can be used to scrap foods off the blades.

Lesson learnt: Always read between the lines and think out of the box. 

Hint: The 4 blades are extremely sharp! Use your head! 😬

Obssession

After getting the hang of using my thermie, I was starting to show signs of obssession. OMG!!😱😱

I was looking up TM recipes and trying to adapt my own recipes to TM instructions.

You see, Saturday lunches which used to be simple one-dish meals, became experimental gastronomic meals. Thanks (or no thanks) to my new kitchen ‘slave’. LOL!

Here’re our first 6-course Saturday lunch of healthy broccoli salad with pine nuts, followed by creamy mushroom soup, chicken with creamy vegetable sauce, tropical fruit sorbet, grapefuit juice and hot chocolate!

  

 

And by the way, my older son made the hot chocolate! Easy peasy, he said … with some whole hazelnuts in the cuppa😳

   

My itch for cooking in my new thermie did not stop. I wanted to expriment with more TM recipes for Sunday lunch, but alas, I had an appointment elsewhere on 29/11, hence I told my guys that I would cook a curry lunch for them in advance in my thermie. I showed my guys the recipe book and let them choose one of the 2 curry recipes in the TM Cookbook. Hubby wanted Chicken Garam Masala while my older boy wanted the Thai Chicken Curry. In order to arbitrate the 2 choices, I created a mix of both the garam masala and Thai curries, and here’s the result, using freshly ground garam masala with fresh coriander and garlic!

  

Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!

After a few bouts of my inquisitive experiments the last 2 days, I adapted some of my own recipes to the TM way of cooking. Boy, was that a BiiiG mistake!!! There’s a local saying that goes “we should not run when we only started to walk“. The price I had to pay was unpleasantly hefty. I imagined a scrumptious plate of fried rice but I ended up making an extremely sticky risotto-like mass and furthermore, I burnt my TM bowl base!! 😱😱😱

  

   
 

No matter how I have used the self-clean function, nope, the stain remained. I then used a kitchen cloth with some detergent, nope, did not work. Soft sponge? Nope! Brush? Nope! Those were some of the actions I read on the internet on how to clean your TM bowl. I was really frustrated to the point of wanting to claim a new thermomix. Afterall, my order is still under warranty, right? I whatsApp’d my ‘guardian angel’, F to ask her if my TM bowl could be replaced. She answered with a firm, No!  

Ooo la la… Don’t play-play with sifu ah.. He he …

She said, “Use CIF with steel wool“. I had neither, so I ended up finding my own way to clean my TM Bowl.

How I cleaned the stains: Use white vinegar, some detergent and a soft sponge! 

Et voilà!

  
 

Never ever again in the evening in Winter!

It was Tuesday, 2/12. I got home after work and I was itching to use the chicken breasts in my fridge to make homemade chicken stock paste in my thermie. It was 9pm. Another BIG mistake!

Hint: It’s winter season. The windows, doors and shutters are down/ closed, so you can imagine the smell of leek, onion, garlic, celery lingering in our kitchen, living room and garage! Hubby was disgusted the next morning smelling leek in his car!! Yuck!

While F was sending me photos of what she was cooking in her thermie daily, I was actually guilty for not using mine. I told her I have to compensate my cookings in my thermie on weekends. Well, now you know the reason why I don’t cook in the evenings on weekdays 😝

Weekend Batteries Charged with my Creative and Smallest Kitchen!

Here we go again… the weekend has arrived!

Our Saturday lunch on 5/12 of Brussels sprouts, granny smith and carrot salad with walnuts, followed by courgette soup, steamed jasmine rice, stir-fried snowpea and carrot, steamed tofu with squid, prawn and shiitake stir-fry. Incredibly appetizing, I must say.

  
  
 

If you’re wondering …. did I cook all those in my TM5? Yup!! And I’m NOT kidding!

Oh, yes, hubby said I have been cooking up a storm and way too much eating lately. He said we would end up being roly-polys in no time at all. Having said that, he was falling in love with my Sunday lunch on Saint Nicholas’ Day on 6/12. I made pumpkin soup, cauliflower cheese bake, pork tenderloin with mustard and porto sauce, steamed/ boiled potatoes and the grand finale was the most scrumptious Tiramisu with rum! Yum Yum!

  
 

Transformation

Remember the failed fried rice I cooked on 2/12 which turned out a sticky mass? I was about to thrash the entire thing, but hey, “Eureka!” I know my boys eat with their eyes as much as the taste of the foods, hence, by transforming the supposedly fried rice into a mashed potato-like portion, worked immensely well.

  
 

Waste not, want not. The failed fried rice was a silent winner after all *wink*

What have I learnt and what needs to be known (Note all comments in this post are solely mine based on my personal findings and experiences)

1. Never cook in the evening during the winter season when all your windows, doors and shutters are down, unless you have a huge separate kitchen from the rest of the building, OR if no one minds the smell lingering in the room, HOWEVER, there appears to be no issues where baking is concerned 😊
2. Patience is key. The TM bowl functions as a cooking pot or pan. You need to wash your bowl if you are cooking a completely different category of recipes. For example, if you are making sambal or savoury and pungent stir-fries in your TM, wash and dry the bowl before cooking your dessert. You won’t want your tiramisu to smell like sambal belachan. LOL!
3. Only wash the TM parts thorougly at the end of your cooking. It is infact not necessary to wash the bowl with detergent after every use in between cooking different dishes if you are in the middle of a marathon of cooking. Make sure the category of recipes do not in any way jeopardize the taste and flavour. You decide.
4. Any stubborn stains in your TM bowl need to be scrubbed and removed thoroughly when you’re completely done with cooking for the day, in order not to undermine your equipment and subsequent cookings. 
5. The maximum capacity of the TM5 bowl is 2.2L. That means most of the recipes are meant for 2 big eaters or 4 medium eaters or 6 small eaters. This TM5 is brilliant for my family of 4, with no leftovers to spare, though…

Buzz the Buy Knob if …

• you like to cook
• you like to experiment with a different kind of cooking technique
• you don’t mind cleaning the equipment (inside and out) at the end of the cooking
• you like having a clean work area (most of the time with very limited utensils)
• you can afford (I think of it as a long term investment)
• you want to have a relaxed moment and yet want to eat tasty and healthy dishes (this is done while you’re doing something else while waiting for the audio signal from your thermie 😜)
• you have a family of max 4 to 6 (small to medium eaters)
• you don’t mind a quick “slow-cooked” dish (hint: stewed meat will be cooked in 90 minutes or even less than an hour!)
• you like fresh ingredients in your meals

Do Not Buy if …

• you only want to keep appearances because so and so has one
• you can’t cook or won’t cook or simply, do not like cooking
• you have an army of a family or big adult eaters (note: the simmering basket is really quite small. Steaming rice in there is probably enough for 3 to 4 people)
• you are using TM for the sole purpose of having big parties or guests over (okay for the dips, perhaps breads and cakes, but definitely not the mains or soups in one sitting)
• you are too lazy to clean your thermie and the work area
• you do not have time for cooking
• you prefer to eat out
• you prefer grilled and deep-fried foods (although you can prepare the marinade in the thermie and marinate your meats prior to grilling/ deep-frying or baking)
• you can’t afford the Thermomix 
• you cannot/ will not want to get away from the traditional cooking method of constantly stirring your foods 
• you have all the time in the world to wait for your stewed meats to cook in 3 to 6 hours 
• you won’t mind chopping, slicing, kneading and mixing with your hands
• you prefer ready-made and microwaveable meals
• you are a hardcore “canned” eater, ie if you prefer canned curries to freshly made ones. Get the point?

One for the Road

This was how my work area looked like when I used my TM5 last weekend. While waiting for a dish to be cooked, I found the time to clear all clutters and washed the dishes. My kitchen top has never been that spic and span. 

   
  

I am a happy bunny, yes…. because I have fulfilled all 9 bullet points in the “Buzz the Buy Knob if …”

If you have not, please do NOT jump the gun. Check and identify if you fall within the second category “Do Not Buy if …”

Did you know?

The concept of Thermomix began when a mother in Germany wanted to make her own baby food but was unable to find an appliance capable of grinding food into small enough pieces with the ability to cook at the same time.

And the rest is history!!

Remember: Don’t jump the gun
Happy days!

Cheers!