Thermomix First Impressions Review

Recently, I attended my first ever Thermomix party.

In this post, I will share what I learnt at the Thermomix party, and what the food made in the machine was like.

Clipboards and snacks at the ready. Photo: Willunga Wino

Our Thermomix Demonstrator Natasha introduced us to the company.

The Thermomix was invented in 1971, has been in Australia since 2001, and 200,000 units have been sold since then, grossing $70 million in sales per year. 1 in 10 houses in food-mad Italy have a Thermie.

Then Natasha made us a 4 course dinner using the the Thermomix.

This allowed us to see & hear it in action, have a turn, and taste what it can do.

Natasha with the Thermomix. Photo: Willunga Wino

First impressions of the Thermomix:

It looks a bit like a UFO.

It has lots of attachments.

It has a cool display screen and light up green temperature indicators above the screen.

The Thermomix. Photo: Willunga Wino

Here is a list of the features of the Thermomix:

Made in France
It comes standard with an attachment kit that includes:
- 2.2 litre capacity bowl (compared to the Tefal at 2.5 litre capacity) – bonus – the lid works as a funnel that fits jam jars;
- Simmering basket;
- 3.3l steamer basket – made of very low BPA plastic;
- 100ml measuring cup sits in the lid – BPA free – bonus – lid and cup catches any overspill and tiny holes allow those ingredients to then drip through into the bowl for mixing;
- A spatula that never touches the table with an in built table rest, and never touches the blades as it is too short to reach them;
- Whipping tool sits on the blades attachment
- When the blades go one way, they chop, blend and grind.
- When the blades go the other way, they knead
- 20 patents on the blades
- Integrated scales to 5 gram accuracy (Tefal has separate scales to 1 gram accuracy)
- Recipe chip with more than 200 recipes, and a hardcopy book of the recipes (Tefal has a 300 recipe hardcopy book)
- Guided, automated or manual cooking modes;
The base is designed so that spills out of the bowl into the base unit run out the back, away from the electronics;
Maximum temperature of 120 degrees (Tefal goes to 130 by comparison)
Additional chips are available for purchase, theres also plenty of recipes on the net;
High resolution, multi line, touch display screen (unlike Tefal, which has a basic digital display)
1500 watts of power (Tefal 1550 watts)
Cost of $2089 (compared to Tefal at $1699).

Learning more. Photo: Willunga Wino

One thing I observed is that all of these machine demonstrations involve making risotto.

Why is that?

Why do they always make risotto?!

I think I have solved the mystery.

It’s pretty much the only dish that needs constant stirring for 20 minutes, at a fairly low temperature to get a good result. So it is a perfect demonstration dish for a machine that automatically mixes while being cooked at a low-ish maximum temperature.

So by demonstrating it in one of these machines, you see what a labour saving device it is. Clever.

Tasty gluten free bread. Photo: Willunga Wino

So, what was the food made in the Thermomix like?

The first thing we tried was a gluten free bread Natasha had made earlier from one of the Thermomix recipes (then obviously baked in an oven). It was on the sweet side and I really liked it. It had a soft and fairly dense texture with seeds and nuts like sunflower, pepita, and chia through it.

Next was a hummus made with tinned chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice salt and pepper. It came out really smooth and tasty.

Inside the bowl & patented blades. Photo: Willunga Wino

Natasha whizzed up a 30 second sorbet as a palate cleanser with berries (not Nanna’s or Creative Gourmet – fresh ones!) and ice plus a bit of the icing sugar we made earlier. It was cold and delicious and not too sweet.

I helped Natasha make a mushroom risotto.

The ingredients had been pre-chopped, so all I had to do was tip the ingredients in and press play.

Risotto making in the Thermie. Photos: Georgia Usher

The risotto was tasty but not as flavorsome as the Summer Veg Risotto made in the Tefal – now that’s a recipe worth keeping.

Mushroom risotto. Photo: Willunga Wino

Last on the list was a chocolate custard, cooked inside the Themomix. I don’t often eat custard – in fact I can’t remember the last time I had it! Actually I really enjoyed the hot custard which was a nice thick consistency, not too sweet and had a zing from orange.

Final Thoughts on the Thermomix

It certainly does everything you would want a cook processor to do.

It’s particularly good at grinding grains and pulses into flour, and it’s reverse mode of the blades stirs cooking without breaking up chunks of food.

It has a great guarantee, and being able to follow recipes along on-screen is handy.

Recent (August 2016) explosions of the Thermomix have caused injury to several customers, which is concerning.