The recipe booklet offers a good spread of recipes – jam, chutney, risotto, smoothie, nut milk, curries and soups. This is ideal for mastering the equipment. You can strip the process back to basics if you like but we feel the usefulness of this product has the potential to grow and grow as you become more familiar with it. There’s a high setting for bringing liquids up to the boil and a simmer setting which is a lower temperature and ideal for simmering soups. If you want to stir, you need to press the slow stir button. Will I be giving up my traditional method of cooking soups?
If you use water straight from the tap, you may find some vegetables aren’t quite cooked when the soup’s ready, especially if the vegetables are cumbersome or tough. A blender does a better job at blending and will give you a much smoother soup. Getting a smooth soup is possible with an IB but it involves a fine mesh and a lot more of your time. In my personal and professional opinion, I’d say ditch the two-in-one blender/soup maker and spend the same amount of money on a quality blender. I’ve never used the above product, but I’m going to guess that you’re paying extra for what is basically a very small pot to re-heat soup. My favourite ever recipe with the soup maker has to be my homemade tomato sauce.
The best thing about soup makers is how hands-free soup making can become. Instead of having to boil vegetables in a pan, then get out the blender or the cuisinart pots and pans set food processor, it can all be done at once in one small sized kitchen gadget. Next, adding diced root vegetables required the use of the stir function.
Your setting that you choose on the soup maker will then give you either chunky or smooth soup. If you have visited recipethis.com before then you will know that we love our kitchen gadgets. We have all the famous ones including an air fryer, 2 electric pressure cookers, blender, 2 slow cookers, a bread maker, ice cream maker and of course a soup maker.
But my husband got me this Cuisinart for Christmas because he thought the concept was awesome. So I smiled and said Thanks and had him put it on the counter. A couple of weeks later I felt like I should use it. None of the soups in the book it came with appealed to me. I followed the instructions and it felt like there were a lot of steps. But I really think it would have been easier to cook it on the stove.
It can sauté, cook, simmer, stir & blend & with a non-stick cooking plate. Many of the latest designs offer settings that let you choose the consistency of your soup, be it chunky and textured or silky and smooth. Also, look for a manual blending mode that allows you to tailor the finish to your taste should you want to create something in between the two.
Need to dice carrots, onions, and celery for minestrone? Leave ’em in, add some oil, and turn the knob to low. Basically, you can cook an entire soup in the 48-ounce capacity unit (56 ounces if you’re using it with cold items like smoothies or shakes) with minimal prep.
Add the curry powder, salt and pepper and cook, using the stir function occasionally, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add the stock and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, using the stir function occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Using a towel, hold the lid down and blend on the highest setting until the soup is silky in texture, 1 to 2 minutes. Above the display sits a dial for controlling blending, which gives four speed options and a pulse, as well as a separate button at the side to operate the machine’s stirring function.
The company is a full-service culinary resource with a wide array of products, preferred by chefs and favoured by consumers. From small kitchen appliances including knives, coffee makers, air fryers, food processors, blenders, cookware, bakeware, grills, and more, Cuisinart has any kitchen covered. The “stir” function will work better if your vegetable pieces are smaller.