That can assist you kind by way of these questions, I’ve give you some issues to ask your self when choosing between some frequent pairings, particularly when sources or shelf house are restricted. They’re blenders and meals processors; hand mixers and stand mixers; and sluggish cookers and multicookers, i.e. Prompt Pots. (If you wish to find out about cast-iron versus nonstick skillets, read up here!) You might have considered trying or want each gadgets, or neither. Like I mentioned, the choice is completely yours.
Blender vs. meals processor
On the floor, these two kitchen mainstays appear to have lots in frequent. They break down or puree meals. They each use a blade. Ask your self:
Do I wish to make frozen drinks? In the event you’re in it for the smoothies, frozen cocktails and milkshakes, a blender is the way in which to go. Producers usually don’t advocate breaking down ice in a meals processor.
What if I would like one thing to assist with baking? Whereas stand mixers get a number of the eye, meals processors are unsung heroes in baking. A meals processor could make pie crusts and cookie dough. It may possibly knead bread or pizza dough. It additionally makes a creamy, steady whipped cream.
Which one makes nice soup? For easy pureed soups, both equipment will work nicely. Due to its sooner pace, a blender will usually provide you with smoother outcomes with fewer specks. A high-powered blender, such because the Vitamix, excels at turning even the hardest elements — fibrous greens, nuts, beans, and so on. — silken very quickly, with no additional straining required. A meals processor, although, may also help you much more within the early phases of prep, as a result of you need to use the heartbeat perform with the blade to cut or slice greens.
Which takes up much less house? It is a little bit of a wash. Except you’ve gotten a number of house underneath your cupboards or tall cabinets, you’re most likely going to be storing each forms of home equipment in two items — the bottom and the jar/bowl.
Which prices much less? It actually relies upon. If I needed to make a sweeping generalization, I’d say that blenders usually are inexpensive than meals processors, excepting the high-end fashions. In the event you don’t have the house or cash to put money into full-size fashions of each, particularly if you’re a family of 1 or two, you might take into account pairing a very good blender with a mini food processor or a full-size meals processor with an immersion (stick) blender.
Hand mixer vs. stand mixer
Regardless of their vastly completely different sizes and styles, these baking instruments can really accomplish a number of the identical issues — however not all the time and positively not on the similar value. Ask your self:
Do I would like one thing to make bread? With only a few exceptions, you can’t knead bread dough with a hand mixer. They’re simply not highly effective sufficient. That’s not to say you can’t knead bread dough if you don’t have a stand mixer — you’ll be able to knead on the counter, in a meals processor, in a bowl with periodic folds, or in no way (i.e. no-knead breads). However if you’d like a mixer that does it for you, stand is the way in which to go.
What can I take advantage of to make muffins and cookies? The excellent news is that a number of your on a regular basis baking may be accomplished in both sort of mixer. Cake and fast bread batters, together with muffins and loaves, are not any drawback. You may cream butter and sugar in each, for muffins or cookies. In the event you’re doing a cookie dough that’s significantly dense or loaded with add-ins (chips, nuts, and so on.), you might want to modify to stirring by hand with a versatile spatula or wood spoon towards the top to keep away from overtaxing a hand mixer. I love to do a remaining stir by hand anyway, even with a stand mixer, to verify all of the elements from the underside and sides of the bowl are nicely included.
Do I’ve bodily or mobility limitations? A hand mixer reduces the quantity of handbook work you need to do, however it nonetheless requires holding the equipment above the bowl and shifting it round. That may be difficult when you’ve got arthritis or different circumstances, so if you actually need a hands-off choice, go together with the stand mixer. Do understand that a stand mixer could be very heavy, so account for house in your counter when you don’t suppose you’ll be able to simply relocate it each time you want it.
Which takes up much less house? Hand mixer, arms down.
Which prices much less? Once more, hand mixer, by a protracted shot. In the event you’re hoping to attain a stand mixer for much less, begin scouting for costs across the vacation season, significantly close to Black Friday/Cyber Monday. The previous few years, I’ve seen excellent sale costs on KitchenAid mixers at Goal, and Costco usually reductions them, too. Another choice: Refurbished. You should buy refurbished KitchenAid mixers by way of the corporate itself or different retailers.
Learn extra: Don’t underestimate your hand mixer. Here’s how to put it to work for you. | How to knead bread dough without a stand mixer
Sluggish cooker vs. multicooker (i.e. Prompt Pot)
Whereas digital multicookers, significantly the Prompt Pot, have gained a passionate following in recent times, strain cookers and sluggish cookers have been round for generations. Each have improved through the years and now characteristic some, however not whole, overlap in features. Ask your self:
Do I wish to cook dinner quick or sluggish? Stress cooking, the most well-liked perform of multicookers, quickens cooking by making a sealed surroundings during which water boils at 250 levels as a substitute of 212 levels. This helps put dinner on the desk in a flash, ideally suited for people who find themselves brief on time or planning. Sluggish cookers go the wrong way, working at decrease temperatures for lengthy, no-rush recipes that may stretch in a single day or from earlier than to after work. In the event you desire sluggish cooking, don’t assume you’ll be able to simply depend on that perform on a multicooker. Most multicookers have one heating ingredient on the backside of the bottom, whereas some sluggish cookers additionally embody a band across the sides. That, and the truth that multicookers have much less floor space than a typical sluggish cooker, can result in inconsistently cooked meals when utilizing the slow-cook perform in a multicooker. The Prompt Pot, specifically, has a fame for operating sizzling on the slow-cook setting.
What forms of dishes do I wish to make? You may cook dinner a number of the identical forms of meals in sluggish cookers and multicookers — meat, beans, oatmeal, broth, soups and stews. The variations are the way you get there and the elements you would possibly use. Due to their form, sluggish cookers can accommodate massive, robust cuts of meat, braising them over many hours to tender perfection. A multicooker can even tenderize harder meat, although it might require slicing it into smaller items to suit. Due to the sealed surroundings and shorter cook dinner time, you usually want much less liquid in strain cooking, or else you danger soupy, bland dishes. Stress cooking is nice for slicing the cook dinner time of elements equivalent to agency greens, beans and grains, whereas it might probably wreak havoc on extra delicate ones, equivalent to seafood, fast or rolled oats and dairy. Resolve what sorts of dishes you’re probably to make use of your equipment for and let that assist information your selection.
What number of features do I would like? Multicookers supply an array of prospects. Past strain cooking and sluggish cooking, you might get features for yogurt, rice, steaming, sauteing and sous-vide. Some sluggish cookers have settings for steaming and making yogurt, however they’re largely single-use home equipment that allow you to select a warmth stage and time. Sauteing isn’t a typical perform both.
Which takes up much less house? Sluggish cookers are inclined to have a bigger footprint, with their elongated oval form, whereas multicookers skew tall and slim. Nonetheless, the distinction isn’t sufficient to present a transparent benefit of 1 over the opposite. Consider your cupboards and counter house, and resolve the place a sluggish cooker or multicooker would possibly match finest.
Which prices much less? As with dimension, there may be not a transparent winner right here, which means I might base your resolution largely in your cooking fashion and what you propose to make. For lower than $100, you should purchase a well-performing mannequin of both sort of equipment, although the worth of extra souped-up choices can creep towards $150 or extra.
