There’s been a lot in the media over the last week or so about the exploding thermomix in Perth.
(If you’ve been under a rock, see here, and here, and here).
This is obviously terrible for the woman involved and I wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.
There has been a lot of debate as to whether it was a machine fault or user error. Obviously, machine error would be a scary thought for the many hundreds of thousands of us that use these machines everyday (there are 80,000 thermomixs in Australia alone).
Some thoughts on avoiding ‘exploding’ machines or hot sauces
- Cool before blending
In my experience, with the Bellini Intelli Kitchen Mixer, the majority of the hot cooking is done at speed 1, with some at speed 3. Then if you are making a soup, stock or sauce (something that needs to be blended), you cool the mixture down a bit before turning up the speed. This is something I’ve always stuck with, and seems to me to be a very sensible safety measure even if sometimes the time to cool it down does grate.
- Turn speed up slowly
The other recommendation is to turn the speed up slowly, making sure the machine can handle it before hitting high speeds. Many of the recipes also call for higher speeds than are really necessary – so before you go straight to speed 9, think about how ‘pureed’ you really want it to be.
- Lock measuring cup
Often when cooking the measuring cup will be on loosely to release steam. Once you’ve cooled down your mix, make sure to lock the measuring cup back in place before pureeing.
- Cover machine
Finally, as additional protection, place something over your machine before pureeing. Suggestions include, the steamer unit, a tea-towel or flexible silicone mat. This gives you some extra protection if something does go wrong.
Remember, whenever you are cooking at high temps there is a risk involved and its always worth being a little extra cautious.
Just remember your four steps:
- Cool before blending
- Turn speed up slowly
- Lock measuring cup
- Cover machine
Don’t forget to check out my collection of recipes for the thermocooker – set up to be very easy to use from your phone or tablet. iPad, iPhone or Android via Kindle