Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
to clean.

Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???

Lynn from Fargo
Who wants to puree with the rest of you

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Lynn from Fargo wrote on 01 Apr 2006 in rec.food.cooking

> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
> Lynn from Fargo
> Who wants to puree with the rest of you
>
>

I have a braun stick blender and a (16 qt) 4 gallon stock pot...They work
together well. My Idea would be measure the inside wall of your deepest pot
and get a Stick Blender that can be immeresed to that depth...My Braun was
well under $50...more like $39.

--
-Alan

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

On 1 Apr 2006 19:38:34 -0800, "Lynn from Fargo" >
wrote:

>I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
>reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
>to clean.
>
>Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???

Mine was $49.99 at Target, so I'd say yes. (Mine is a Kitchenaid, and
I love it. Its stick is metal, and it's a breeze to clean.)

serene

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Lynn from Fargo wrote:
> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
They are all about the same size, so far as I've noticed. My Braun was
a special at $20 at Costco. I later saw the same one for $30. But
that's been a couple of years so they may have gone up. I suspect they
are the sort of thing that varies at different places, so shop around.
Mine came with a long tall container that is perfect for making the
fastest mayonnaise you've ever seen, and with a whisk attachment. Both
are very useful. It also came with a mini-chopper attachment, which I
use surprisingly often. Newer ones come with two speeds, which may be
a good thing but I haven't missed not having that feature. -aem

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Steve Wertz wrote:
> BTW: Stick blenders are notoriously easy to clean. I rarely do
> anything to it except rinse it off right after use.

Okay for light use, but I use mine twice a day for protein shakes and
the dynamics of the swirling leave deposits up near where the
driveshaft enters the stick. Normally I run it in rinse-water, and
every few days i get in there with soap and a scrubbie and get that
ring out.

This would not be sufficient for the health department, though...

--Blair

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Lynn from Fargo wrote:

> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
> Lynn from Fargo
> Who wants to puree with the rest of you
>

Here, prices seem to depend on brand and on extra gadgets. Gadgets can
include whippers and choppers. Something to think about when you buy
one. I have a "plain" stick b;ender. Wish I had the extras. They can
save you from having to assemble the fp and are quicker to clean.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Judith Umbria wrote:

>>>Here, prices seem to depend on brand and on extra gadgets. Gadgets can
>
> include whippers and choppers.<<
>
> Same here. I bought a super powerful motor Braun, which has a handle
> more like a hand mixer to which you can affix a stick blender
> attachment. It does loads of jobs incredibly well, but has the fault
> that it isn't as easy to fit into, say, a stock pot.
> OTH, I don't need a mixer or mini-chopper because it has those, as well
> as dough hooks. When squeezing into a kitchen half the size you're
> used to, it's a good thing.

European kitchens are smaller, aren't they? At least that is my experience.

I have a hand mixer with an attachment that is a stick blender. I wish I
had a stick blender with the extras instead. The hand mixer is too slow,
IMHO. So I haven't got rid of the other hand mixer, which is much faster.

I also own an FP and a blender. The blender never gets used anymore. I
wish I had a small chopper because the fp sometimes requires more
assembly time than I can be bothers with, especially because I rarely
need large quantities of chopped food.

Somewhere in there I have one appliance too many. Well, two
I just can't decide which one to get rid of. The blender would be the
only candidate. But it has sentimental value. If I had acquired all
those appliances at the same time, I probably would have got a hand
mixer with stick blender attachment and extra gadgets plus the FP.

BTW Judith, on a different note: I *love* your blog (which I saw posted
in the UK ng on Women's Day). The writing, the recipes and the links.
Your blog has caused me hours of www browsing through various foodie
sites. I now check it regularly for new entires.It's the first blog ever
that I've done that with. Thank you for that.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Lynn from Fargo wrote:
> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
> Lynn from Fargo
> Who wants to puree with the rest of you

Lynn, I don't know how deep that pot is but as far as I can tell they are
all about the same size. I got one at (believe it or not!) Walgreens
Drugstore for $10 that had two attachments (one a blade attachment, the
other a small uh, whirring disc.) Not a wire-whisk, but hey, when I want to
whisk I use a whisk. It has held up just fine as I use it to puree cooked
vegetables in soups; it works perfectly for sauces, too. So before you go
fancy, try the cheap version and then see if you really want to invest in a
fancy stick blender.

BTW, my brother bought me a fancy Braun Stick Blender for Christmas about 5
years ago and it never did work. I didn't have the receipt so I couldn't
take it back to the store to exchange it. I think it's still sitting here
in a box someplace. Anyone want to by a high priced stick blender that
doesn't work? I'll be selling it right next to the teeny tiny never seen
before pine-cone I found at my front door, on e-Bay. Look for it! LOL

Jill

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Lynn from Fargo wrote:
> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>

Different brand loyalty here. I had a Braun, lasted about 3 years
before the motor started to make a terrible burning smell when I used
it. Repolaced it with a Phillips brand, which I absolutely adore. It
came with a stick blender, whisk attaachment, mini-chopper, and a 4-cup
blending container with a lid. COst me $39.99. It also has 4 speeds
(I'm always in a hurry, I use high speed 90% of the time, but it's nice
to have options!) I've had it for at least 5 years and never had a
problem with it.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

>>Somewhere in there I have one appliance too many.>>

Put the blender under the stairs and get it out once a year for frozen
daiquiris! Mine is the Braun 350 watt with attachments. It's clean
and easy and does each thing fine. I too have a FP, old and trusted.
Thanks for the compliment. I wonder how it ever got on UK Women's Day?
I didn't even know there was one... Have you tried any of the dishes?

I do think I know the coolest cooks. Diva is fab, David L in Paris is
wonderful.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

"Lynn from Fargo" > wrote in
ups.com:

> I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> to clean.
>
> Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
> Lynn from Fargo
> Who wants to puree with the rest of you


Okay cooks illustrated rated stick blenders in the March/April 06 issue

Their comments is as follows

1. Kitchenaid $49.99 - few extras, good as traditional blender
2. Braun Multiquick $34.95 - Great $ and performance, plastic shaft can't
be used over heat.
3. Braun Multiquick Pro $34.95 - More attachments no more performance.
4. Cuisinart Smartstick $69.99 - Trouble with chunky pesto.
5. Hamilton Beach Turbo-Twister Mixing stick $19.99 - good value, don't
like plastic housing
6. Proctor-Silex $12.99 - Blade cage cramped leads to occaisional
clogging.
7. Oster Hand Blender w/Blending Cup $23.99 - vibrates and loud.
8. Farberware Special Select $24.99 - Refused to puree broccoli soup,
bulky handle.
9. Cuisinart cordless $49.95 - Loose joints between components and lack
of guts trumped cordless feature.

YMMV




--

Charles
The significant problems we face cannot be solved
at the same level of thinking we were at when we
created them. Albert Einstein

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Charles Quinn wrote:
> "Lynn from Fargo" > wrote in
> ups.com:
>
> > I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
> > reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
> > to clean.
> >
> > Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
> >
> > Lynn from Fargo
> > Who wants to puree with the rest of you
>
>
> Okay cooks illustrated rated stick blenders in the March/April 06 issue
>
> Their comments is as follows
>
> 1. Kitchenaid $49.99 - few extras, good as traditional blender
> 2. Braun Multiquick $34.95 - Great $ and performance, plastic shaft can't
> be used over heat.
> 3. Braun Multiquick Pro $34.95 - More attachments no more performance.
> 4. Cuisinart Smartstick $69.99 - Trouble with chunky pesto.
> 5. Hamilton Beach Turbo-Twister Mixing stick $19.99 - good value, don't
> like plastic housing
> 6. Proctor-Silex $12.99 - Blade cage cramped leads to occaisional
> clogging.
> 7. Oster Hand Blender w/Blending Cup $23.99 - vibrates and loud.
> 8. Farberware Special Select $24.99 - Refused to puree broccoli soup,
> bulky handle.
> 9. Cuisinart cordless $49.95 - Loose joints between components and lack
> of guts trumped cordless feature.
>
> YMMV

Yup, every one of those home maker thingies is essentially mickey mouse
crap. The only reason I haven't purchased a commercial immersion
blender (and I would need one for the quantities of soups I make) is
because I don't like pureed soups, I prefer chunky. For the few times
a year I need to puree a few cups of something my contertop blender
works fine. Even the best most expensive immersion blender can't out
do any ordinary home maker style countertop blender... immersion
blenders are to countertop blenders what those tiny whirly coffee bean
pulverizers are to real burr grinders... both those over process way
too much before everything is processed. Commercial immersion blenders
are actually liquifiers... those stick thingies are incapable of
pruducing a puree, before it produces a *homogenious* puree most
everything is liquified. There's a big difference between liquified
and pureed, pureed has substance, liquified does not. Even countertop
blenders cannot produce a perfect puree, but they come somewhat close.
For a real puree only a food mill will do... everything passes through
but once. When I make my own tomato sauce from my crop I pass gallons
and gallons through my Foley food mill, I know a motorized blender
would be much quicker and entail far less effort, but then I may as
well buy jarred because I would have produced crap. The Food mill
produces a perfect puree, nothing else can.

Sheldon

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Here is more info on various handheld "immersion" blenders at
epinions.com:
http://www.epinions.com/Blenders--re..._type_handheld

I have an older model stick blender with a metal shaft, but I don't see
a brand name anywhere on it... it's fairly heavy, brown on the cord
end, cream on the bottom, and came with some bowl-like attachments for
doing nuts and things (which I never used). At the time I think it
cost about $20-25 ....it doesn't have a full "guard" all the way around
the blade, just a few metal "fence" areas.

As for use, I LOVE mine. It doesn't feel plastic-y like some I've seen
with the really cheap ones, and it's been plenty strong (...enough to
pulverize anything I've ever tried), but haven't owned another one to
compare actual use. Hope the darn thing lives forever.

Nowadays, I use it primarily for two things (frequently):

....pulverizing just parts of a soup or a stew to thicken them, or a
whole soup ...for example, when I fix bean soup or beef stew, I stick
the whole wand into *one side* of the pot right on the stove and whirr
away --I used to remove part of the food and blend in a separate
container but found I didn't need to do that, and didn't want the extra
hassle. That leaves most of the beans or carrots, beef, etc., intact,
but purees about 1/3 of it (I then stir everything back together).

....making small smoothies as bedtime snack from homemade yogurt
Since I add frozen fruit (cut into small chunks) along with some sugar
to the yogurt, sticking the wand right into the paper coffee cup which
is holding the other ingredients works out great.


Checking epinions again, looks like some of the differences between the
blenders mostly have to do with number of attachments, number of
speeds, and motor power.

For example, some of the slightly more expensive ones come with up to 9
speeds or so, as opposed to the 2 speeds most have... some of the
motors are a bit stronger than others, but most are strong enough to do
most jobs (except perhaps to crush ice --one unit which was supposed to
crush ice was disliked by its owner though because after awhile,
crushing ice broke the plastic of some part which messed up the whole
blender).
There was one important difference, with the Hamilton Beach I think...
its reviewer said it had too short a guard around the blades and
scratched up her pots --definitely not good!

Might want to check out Customer Reviews at amazon.com too.


Diane B.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Sheldon & Pastorio are probably correct. I should get a
commercial/restaurant model BUT:
1. Absolutely cannot afford even a hundred bucks.
2. I am a rather small (under 5') person and I have small hands, so
using a smaller home type would be easier.
3. Measured my pots and the big ones are way too deep even for a
commercial stick.
4. I will look at Kitchen Aid and Braun and let you know how it all
turns out.

Thanks much for all your help!
Lynn in Fargo

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

>>Do things in smaller batches. I did last X-mas season for 150 people -
"cream of" soup, coulis as a nappe for plates, mushroom sauce,
zabaglione, etc.. The Braun keeps chugging along.

My experience, too. You do move the thing, after all. I do many
purees with it, it isn't all soup. The idea of a commercial stick
blender is ludicrous in a home kitchen. Plus, all big pots are not
tall pots. That said, I do not use mine in my stock pot, which is tall
and narrow. If I want to use the Braun, I use a wider pot.
It will not grind meat. Period. The stringy bits get caught and cause
extreme stress to the machine, but that's not what it is for.
The mini-chopper does pastes of garlic, ginger etc. for Indian dishes.
It finely minces herbs. It can do coffee badly, so don't bother.
A food mill works much better on tomatoes for passata or grapes for
juice, because skins and seeds don't get ground up in it. Does great
tomato soup, though.
There are many things which it can do but which you shouldn't do-- like
mashing potatoes, which will end up wallpaper paste.
The shaft is plastic, but that's never been a problem. I'm not tempted
to puree something when it is at a rolling boil! Nothing else has
affected the materials.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Judith Umbria wrote:

>>>Somewhere in there I have one appliance too many.>>
>
>
> Put the blender under the stairs and get it out once a year for frozen
> daiquiris!

You are absolutely right I shoudl put it away somewhere. Will make some
space in the closet as soon as the new second hand shop in the
neighborhood opens up and I can leave the things form the closet here.
I've been waining for them to open, I think tomorrow is the day.

Mine is the Braun 350 watt with attachments. It's clean
> and easy and does each thing fine. I too have a FP, old and trusted.
> Thanks for the compliment. I wonder how it ever got on UK Women's Day

I've answered this elsewhere :)

> I didn't even know there was one... Have you tried any of the dishes?

No, I haven't. But Ive read quite a few of the recipes and really enjoyed.
>
> I do think I know the coolest cooks. Diva is fab, David L in Paris is
> wonderful.

Those are some of my favorites. Plus Clotilde.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

Sheldon wrote:
> Yup, every one of those home maker thingies is essentially mickey mouse
> crap.

The Braun models are completely solid, Sheldick. I've used mine
literally a thousand times in the last two years, and I see no evidence
of degradation in it. Get off your google and try out the real world
some time.

--Blair

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

> It will not grind meat. Period. The stringy bits get caught and cause extreme stress to the machine, but that's not what it is for. . . The shaft is plastic. . . <

I would amend this just a bit to say that it can depend on what's being
pureed, and which wand blender is being used.

My old model (the one without a visible name) pulverizes beef stew
easily and well, but there the beef is only floating around among the
other things, there's plenty of liquid, and the beef is well cooked and
bite-sized.

(Mine is one with a metal shaft, and they seem stronger than the at
least some of those with plastic shafts. Also, there isn't a complete
"fence" around the blades on mine, just partial fences, and that may
help in avoiding caught-strings too).


Diane B.

Buying a hand/stick blender . . .
 

"Steve Wertz" > wrote in message
...
> On 1 Apr 2006 19:38:34 -0800, "Lynn from Fargo" >
> wrote:
>
>>I think I'm going to buy a stick type blender. I need one that will
>>reach the bottom of a pretty deep pot. It should be pretty tough, easy
>>to clean.
>>
>>Do you think I can find one for under $50 ???
>
> Braun, with their mini-chopper attachment, are only $25 and
> well-worth it.
>
> -sw
---------------

That's the one that I have (came with a hand mixer, too!). We love it and
use it constantly!!
--
Syssi