Hello Everyone

[cheriton]

Hello Everyone,
I have had my Thermomix for about 3 weeks now but I feel I am failing badly after having used a Magimix successfully for many years.
I feel that I may have made a very expensive mistake
My coleslaw turns to mush even though I followed the recipe carefully.
Some of the carrot had not been chopped whilst ,the cabbage was pulp.
When it was made at the demo I was impressed.
I cannot work out what I am doing wrong and have now attempted this and other salad recipes several times and have been unable to produce anything presentable.
When I made the stock concentrate the seal on the lid of the Thermomix retained a very strong odour, that would not go despite many washes and soaks in bicarbonate of soda.
The seal seems to absorb odours once it is subjected to heat.
My consultant has now changed the seal as it was affecting the flavours of the more delicate food.
There also appear to be other people having the same problem with the seal.
I am very impressed with the Forum, so many lovely recipes, and the friendly helpful members,

[judydawn]

Hi cheriton, welcome to the forum.  Sorry to hear you are disappointed at this early stage but if it makes you feel any better so was I in the early days before I found this forum.  Everything turned to mush, the recipes around at that time (2 years ago now) were not the best either in my eyes but things have changed these days and I rarely, if ever, make mistakes.  With coleslaw I put the harder vegies in first (some people slightly chop the carrot before adding anything else) and start off with 3 sec/speed 4 then check to see if it needs anymore time which, if it did, would only be done 1 second at a time as it can turn to mush in no time.  Remember, the motor is very powerful and less is best to start with.  Chopping onions, I cut the onion in half & chop for 2-3 seconds/speed 5 as I like a bit of texture in my onion, not mush.  The seal retaining odours is a bit of a problem but I feel all people can do there is to complain to their consultant or H.O. direct - I still believe if this is going to be an ongoing problem, the machine should be supplied with 2 seals, one for savoury and one for sweet.  I use the original black seals (have 3 of them) and have no problem whatsoever after all this time.  I do have one of the new seals in the second bowl I recently bought but would only use that for sweets.   Nice to see the forum seemed to be the highlight of your TMX experience cheriton but by bringing your problems out for discussion, let's hope we can turn that around and make the TMX an enjoyable experience too.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Hi Cheriton,

Welcome to the forum.  It is a very impressive forum - so many lovely people and great recipes and tips.

Don't loose heart.  Many of us had problems with over processing in the early days.  My advice is to take very little notice of the processing times in the cookbooks (with chopping salads especially) and check the contents of the bowl after every couple of seconds of chopping.  I rarely chop anything over speed 4 these days and find the results are much better.  Also with the coleslaw consider putting the carrot in first to chop for a 2 or 3 seconds before adding the other ingredients.  That will stop the chunks.  Remember that your consultant probably had lot's of practice to make it look so easy!

Keep practising and soon you will have lovely successes (as well as the odd failure).  

[cookie1]

Welcome Cheriton. I'm glad that you have found the forum. As others have said some of the timing in the EDC isn't the best. Perhaps you could try a couple of recipes from the forum and see how they go. I've had my machine for 2 years and 1 month and I still have to be VERY careful when I make coleslaw. I've had mush a few times.
Keeping trying and let us know how you go. We're a very helpful, friendly forum.

[Thermomixer]

Hope that things are working out. Hope your consultant is helping you too.