You would think that if you own a food processor, a blender, and a stand mixer, you would not need an immersion blender, right? Wrong. A few months ago, I was invited to cook alongside an acquaintance who was hosting a full-blown, multi-course Indian dinner for a crowd. It was an endeavor that required planning and coordination beyond measure, as all of the food for 40 guests was being cooked in his home kitchen.
I was assigned to Chicken Tikka Masala, a dish designed to serve four to six people that I had to multiply by 10. It was easy enough to do the multiplication and the cooking, but when it came time to turn the warm sauce from its rough stages to a gorgeous tikka masala sauce, I was at a loss.
I had attempted to puree warm liquids in my own kitchen with disastrous consequences. Warm butternut squash soup had been known to leave a trail from blender to sink on more occasions than I care to remember. Vichyssoise had ended up all over the counter. It was bad enough to have these issues in my own kitchen, but I couldn’t fathom having this play out in someone else’s.
Suddenly, my host pulled out an immersion blender. “Use this,” he told me. I plugged in the unit, lowered it into my sauce and cringed while I turned the switch to on. What happened next astonished me. My sauce didn’t go flying on the ceiling. It didn’t leave me stumped as to how to transfer it to a new bowl. Within just a few minutes, I had a gorgeous sauce in the very pot I needed. I turned off the motor, put it in the next pot, and began the process again.
Since then, I have purchased my own immersion blender, and I find that I use it much more frequently than I would have imagined. It is perfect for blending the most difficult of items, whether hot soup or ricotta cheese, without creating a trail in my kitchen.
My dog is the only one who is disappointed with my purchase.
