How to use a blender - analysis of basic functions and rules of use

A blender greatly reduces the preparation time of many dishes and helps to significantly save space in the kitchen. In fact, it is a compact and multifunctional mini-processor that can replace bulky, inconvenient meat grinders, mixers and other rarely used kitchen equipment. Many housewives know how convenient it is, but some still wonder how to use a blender correctly. Let's figure it out.

When using a blender, it is important to follow safety regulations and the manufacturer’s recommendations for operating the device.

The name “blender” literally means “mixer” (from the English blend - mixture), but in practice a blender can not only mix products, but also grind, beat and chop. The number of possibilities and how to use the blender correctly depends on the model and the configuration of the device with various attachments.

The main types of blenders:

Stationary (the engine is placed in a stand on which the bowl is installed).
Submersible (the motor unit is attached to the chopper or connected to replaceable attachments).

Blender device

There are stationary, immersion and combination blenders.

Stationary ones consist of a volumetric bowl, which is mounted on a special stand with built-in knives for chopping food.

Immersion blenders are a handle with various attachments attached to the end for chopping and beating products. Typically, an immersion blender comes with a tall measuring cup/cup, a whisk attachment, and a chopper attachment.

Combined. Such models represent a competent synthesis of the two previous categories, combining the capabilities of a blender and a chopper.

They usually come with several attachments, closed bowls, and some even have a vacuum pump. With its help, you can pump out all the air from the container, thereby increasing the shelf life of food.

How to turn it on

Any blender runs on electricity. Points to pay attention to before starting work:

If the device has been disassembled, before turning it on, make sure that all parts are well connected and screwed in.
If the device has been previously washed, it should be allowed to dry before turning it on.
Before turning on, load the contents into the stationary blender. If the model is submersible, lower it into the container where you plan to beat or chop the products.
Be sure to select the required operating mode. The speed change button is located on the body or on the handle.
You can start the device with one click on the Power button.
Never leave the device running. After turning it on, monitor the work process.

Basic functions of a blender

The basic functions of a blender include chopping, beating, and mixing.

The functions of a stationary blender differ from the tasks performed by an immersion device. The first one will do an excellent job of preparing cream soups, sauces, and smoothies. Thanks to the knives inside the bowl, the consistency of the finished dishes is perfectly homogeneous. It is much more difficult to achieve the same effect with an immersion blender, because its attachment cannot grab food from the sides of the bowl. In addition, the power of immersion blenders is usually an order of magnitude lower.

However, the purpose of an immersion blender is broader than the purpose of a stationary one. Depending on the attachments, it is capable of not only mixing, grinding, whipping, but also performing the functions of a grater or shredder, as well as solving a number of other tasks.

But let's take a closer look at the three basic functions of a blender, regardless of its type.

Chopping
A very important function that allows you to cook many different dishes. But whether a blender can grind this or that product directly depends on its power and the number of attachments available.

All models of blenders are capable of preparing drinks from berries, soups, purees from soft vegetables and fruits, and dishes based on cottage cheese. To grind nuts, coffee beans, ice, you need special knives, high power and sometimes even special attachments. Some devices are capable of grinding meat, resulting in soft minced meat.

You can make puree soup using any blender.

However, there are a few tricks that will help make your dish even tastier:

it is important to choose the right nozzles
following the recipe is the key to success
you need to beat WARM products, not too hot or cold products
products should not be tightly compacted
if the food is too dry, you can add a little water at the very beginning
start grinding at minimum speed, stopping the device from time to time.

Do not blend too hot ingredients in the blender bowl. Firstly, the mechanism may be overloaded. Secondly, due to high temperatures, the quality of the material from which the bowl is made (mostly plastic) may become worse or even deform.

Vegetable and fruit purees
Fresh vegetables and fruits are undoubtedly very healthy. But some people, due to different diets or a number of other reasons, are not recommended to use them in their usual form. Purees come to the rescue.

For pureed vegetables and fruits, unlike pureed soup, a chopper or potato attachment is used. The shape of the blades allows the processed product not to accumulate and thoroughly mix the puree so that at the end of the procedure there are no lumps left and the consistency is pleasant.

Meat

An immersion blender will do a better job of chopping meat.

Do not forget about the rules for handling the device: in no case should you overload the bowl, because otherwise the knives (and the space near them) will be clogged with meat fibers, which are very difficult to separate, and even rotate and perform their direct function due to The knives will not be able to overload the bowl.

Of course, there are very powerful blenders that are capable of grinding large pieces of meat, but it is better to still prepare the food, cut it into small cubes to speed up the processing time of the meat and extend the life of your blender.

By the way, for working with tougher types of meat (pork, beef) there are special attachments:

grinding type, suitable exclusively for preparing minced meat;
molded, which are useful for quickly slicing meat for dishes that require firm meat that holds its shape;
shredders, which cut meat into thin long slices. These are used, for example, when preparing Beef Stroganoff.

Minced meat
To prepare minced meat with a blender, you need to load meat, onions and seasonings of your choice into the bowl and turn on the device for a few minutes.

Pork, beef, poultry, and fish are processed this way. The main thing is that there are no bones in the meat that you put in the bowl, otherwise this may lead to equipment failure.

Smoothie

What other unusual things can you prepare in a blender? Cocktails and smoothies! Dairy, fruit, low alcohol.

Mixing various drinks occurs using a whisk or standard attachment.

If necessary, you can pre-chop the fruit, making the drink not only very tasty, but also as healthy as possible. You just need to change the attachment, and then continue preparing a delicious cocktail in the same container.

Coffee beans
The reason why a blender is a dream for many... Versatility! Of course, just imagine: a blender can even replace a coffee grinder, because its blades can grind coffee beans of any size.

However, you need to work in this mode carefully, following the basic rules:

if you grind large grains, it is recommended to regularly stop the device and shake the bowl so that pieces of grain do not fall into the space between the knives;
if there is a pulse function, be sure to use it;
Even if there are no visible malfunctions in the operation of the blender, it should still be turned off periodically, because after 5-6 minutes of intensive work the knives will begin to get very hot, and the grains will absorb the metallic smell.

How to use the attachments

Attachments allow you to diversify the number of functions of the blender. To change the attachment, you must first turn off the blender. Then remove the previous nozzle. And finally, just install a new one. Attachments that are common among housewives:

whisk This assistant perfectly beats milk and eggs until fluffy. It requires careful handling. Although the whisk is metal, its rotating tip can easily be damaged if used for other purposes;
attachment for making puree. It has very durable and sharp blades. However, you can puree foods only by boiling them first;
chopper This attachment copes with very hard products (cheese, nuts, chocolate, onions, etc.);
hook attachments. They are designed for kneading dough. But, as a rule, manufacturers warn that a blender will not be able to handle excessively stiff dough.

History of the electrical appliance

In order to understand why a blender is needed, let’s dive into the history of the device.
It will be clearer this way. The blender appeared much earlier than almost all household appliances that many housewives have in their kitchens today. Before him, only meat grinders appeared. These are the ones that are screwed to the table, you start turning a huge handle, and you get minced meat. They appeared in the 19th century in America. And later they migrated to us. And only 25 years after them, in 1922, the first blender was born. Again in the United States of America.

Stephen Poplawski is considered the inventor of this device. He did not make it so that today we could grind food with it. He needed it to mix water, carbon dioxide crystals and syrup. Simply put, he wanted to use it to flavor soda fountain drinks. We know them as soda with syrup.

The first devices looked like a bowl on a special stand with a rotating propeller blade. And all they knew how to do was mix. Well, in principle, this is exactly what they were developed for.

And what is very interesting: they were immediately delighted not by the children, who could not live without sweets, but by the bartenders. And that's why. At that time there was Prohibition in America. But people wanted to drink. And this influenced the fact that in most establishments alcohol was sold in non-alcoholic cocktails. This was done to hide the sale of the forbidden drink from the police. Imagine what it’s like to constantly shake a shaker to mix a cocktail for each visitor. And all the visitors wanted a drink. This is precisely why the invention caused such joy among bartenders, who by that time had already managed to pump up their hands a little with shakers. They rushed to buy the invention with such excitement and zeal that they promoted it almost to the scale of a national idea.

But this is not the end of the story. 10 years after this, another American citizen, Fred Osius, refined Poplawski’s idea and became the creator of the stationary blender as we know it now. That is, he expanded the capabilities of the original invention, equipping it with special knives for chopping, chopping and pureeing products.

Further development of the unit continued in Switzerland. In the 50s of the last century, Roger Perinjac received a patent for a device that we call a hand or immersion blender. Then he called it “bamyx”. It is a combination of French words that mean whisking and mixing. Then he demonstrated it during an exhibition in Hannover. After that, it began to be used all over the world, using the immersion blender to chop, puree and grind a wide variety of foods.

He was immediately appreciated by professional chefs, and he appeared in each of them in the kitchen. Without it, modern dishes would definitely not be as interesting.

And then it was refined and improved, coming up with various attachments. And now we have a universal device that can replace almost any appliance in the kitchen.

Tips for Newbies

Do not load hot foods

Even the best quality knife will deteriorate over time if you chop high-temperature foods.

Clean the blades with the blender turned off

We are talking about your safety here. Therefore, if you do not want to get an electric shock, be sure to unplug it before cleaning the device.

Do not add large foods to the blender

This will cause the knife to become dull. Grind them to at least the size of an apple slice.

Do not knead too stiff dough

This will lead to the blender working at the limit of its capabilities, and as a result, its working life will gradually decrease.

Don't get carried away with turbo mode

Frequent use will lead to overheating of the motor, which over time may fail, which is why you will need to contact a repair center.

Care

The main rule of caring for a blender is to wash it immediately after use. Dried-on food remains will be much more difficult to remove. To clean, do the following:

Unplug the plug from the socket.
Remove the attachment from the immersion blender. And for a stationary one, take out the bowl.
Wash the attachments and bowl with a sponge and regular dishwashing detergent.

Never wash the housing where the motor and control panel are located. If necessary, simply wipe with a damp cloth.

Sometimes leftover contents may become tightly wrapped around the blades or get caught in the rotor. Then carefully remove them, turning the knives slightly by hand. If the residue cannot be removed, you will have to remove the upper housing and casing to remove the rotor and remove the obstructing residue.

In the case of a stationary blender, you can use this cleaning method:

Fill the bowl about halfway with warm water.
Add a few drops of dish soap.
Turn blender on medium speed.
After a couple of minutes, turn off and open the bowl. Now the dirt can be easily washed off under running tap water.

It is better to store the blender unassembled, in a dry place. Do not leave the device in the dish dryer. Otherwise, its parts may rust and the motor will become unusable.

Using a blender does not require much effort. And maintenance is not as difficult as caring for an entire food processor. When used correctly, the device can last a long time. This means that cooking will now only bring joy.

Types of device

Today, household appliance stores offer a huge number of blenders from various companies and with a range of various functions. Housewives' eyes widen when choosing them.

A blender today is not only a device in the classical sense, the function of which is mixing, but also a tool for beating eggs, preparing all kinds of cocktails, crushing ice and vacuum packaging food.

In fact, blenders are divided into two types:

Stationary. It is very easy to recognize it on store shelves: the device has a stable base that stands firmly on the table surface. The electrical appliance is capable of crushing even the hardest products, including ice. It can also be used for shaking, mixing ingredients, and making cocktails and desserts. Safe and practical, it copes well with the proposed work and has a number of positive features, and a closed container with a tight lid and a chopper buried deep in the bowl helps to avoid splashing when mixing. This blender has another convenient function - a self-cleaning mode, which gives an additional bonus to a busy housewife, reducing the time it takes to clean the device.
Immersion blender. A convenient and inexpensive device can be seen in almost every home today. It is surprising in its compactness: it will not take up much space in the kitchen. The device kit includes a plastic handle equipped with metal buttons, ideally suited to the size of the hand; it does not slip and fits snugly in the palm. The handle with the nozzle easily drops into any dish, crushing the necessary ingredients in a few seconds. The set is complemented by all kinds of attachments, with which you can prepare even the most complex recipe, from vegetable soups, sauces, side dishes, desserts to preparing minced meat or chopping onions and carrots.

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What should you not do with a stationary model?

In order for your unit to serve for a long time and properly, you need to use the blender correctly:

Do not place foods that are too large or too dense with a small amount of liquid into the appliance. Grind them so as not to damage the knives or the motor.
If the instructions for the blender do not indicate that it is capable of crushing ice, there is definitely no need to experiment.
Do not place hot food. Neither the plastic nor the glass bowl is designed to work with them. High temperatures also have a negative impact on chopper knives. Wait until the food has cooled to at least 70°C.
Do not keep the motor running for a long time. Modern blenders are powerful enough to grind a kilogram of product in a couple of minutes. If you have to work for a long time, say, for autumn preparations, do not forget to let the engine cool and rest.
Long-term and continuous operation can easily damage the equipment. If you plan to actively use the blender, pay attention to models with automatic overheating protection.
Do not use for kneading thick dough - yeast, dumplings, puff pastry. The blender is only suitable for liquid mass, medium-thick dough. A consistency that is too thick and viscous will simply damage the motor.