Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: Lady Ricey on November 23, 2010, 12:16:49 pm
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:-X have had my Thermomix for 3 days now, and had a major fail tonight making Butter Chicken from the EDC. The recipe says the chicken goes in last, pretty much, right? I added it through the hole in the lid, set the timer and went about my business. When the timer went off I opened the lid to find RAW CHICKEN sitting on the top!!! :-X :'( very hungry and unimpressed family. I managed to save the meal by pouring it into a saucepan and continuing to cook on the stovetop, but it was a good lesson: take off the lid when adding meat and push the meat down so it will cook. :-))
I'm not the only one to mess up am I? My confidence has taken a bit of a beating. :-[. Any other FAILs out there?
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Spectacular FAIL this evening - at a demo :'(
Host's husband can't eat mushrooms & we were doing a roasted veggie risotto. I've done it before & it's been fine. Had to cook it about 12 minutes longer & I still had crunchy rice & a burned bottom!!!!
Home to clean & repack for demo's tomorrow but feeling a bit shaken up. Never had such a thing happen to me before..........
Think Thelma is objecting. She's been working overtime recently, bit like a rock star, different night, different kitchen!!!
Ah well, onwards & upwards.
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Oh no JaneeZee! At least my fail was only witnessed by my family, poor you! Still, if a Demo can have the occasional fail, I don't feel so bad. :-*. Thanks for sharing!
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Not so much a fail as a rescue on the stovetop for me as well today. I was making some tomato relish and had it on reverse soft speed for 30 minutes to cook it down. Like you, I opened the lid to find reasonably raw onion and apple sitting on the top. I noticed during cooking that on soft speed when there's quite a lot of liquid in the bowl it doesn't move the stuff around on top AT ALL. I increased the speed to 1-2 and noticed that got things moving a little better. I was pressed for time and needed to get dinner on, so I just tipped the lot into a saucepan to finish reducing while I made risotto in my TMX. Thankfully risotto was a resounding success.
I think there are going to be some idiosyncracies that us newbies will learn as we go along. Lesson number 1 - don't just set and forget at first, keep checking to see what's going on there! That is definitely the lesson I learned today during my second day with my Thermomix.
Onwards and upwards :D
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if you have more than about 750ml in the bowl, it needs to be incorporated regularly with the spatula. This is what I've found, anyway.
I NEVER put ingredients in and then walk away.
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Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book) I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?
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Cornish cream, could you please pm me the recipe too. I've only tried the EDC one and would like to compare the two.
TIA
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Cornish cream, could you please pm me the recipe too. I've only tried the EDC one and would like to compare the two.
TIA
Have done.It should be waiting in your in box.
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Yep, slow speeds and plenty of liquid aren't a happy combination for adding new ingredients. Push them under and incorporate with spatula when you add them, or up the speed if you can. Then you can walk away ;D
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Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book) I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?
I think I accidentally PM'd you saying yes please! :D So that's a double yes please!
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Not so much a fail as a rescue on the stovetop for me as well today. I was making some tomato relish and had it on reverse soft speed for 30 minutes to cook it down. Like you, I opened the lid to find reasonably raw onion and apple sitting on the top. I noticed during cooking that on soft speed when there's quite a lot of liquid in the bowl it doesn't move the stuff around on top AT ALL. I increased the speed to 1-2 and noticed that got things moving a little better. I was pressed for time and needed to get dinner on, so I just tipped the lot into a saucepan to finish reducing while I made risotto in my TMX. Thankfully risotto was a resounding success.
I think there are going to be some idiosyncracies that us newbies will learn as we go along. Lesson number 1 - don't just set and forget at first, keep checking to see what's going on there! That is definitely the lesson I learned today during my second day with my Thermomix.
Onwards and upwards :D
True! :D Lesson one learned!
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Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book) I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?
I think I accidentally PM'd you saying yes please! :D So that's a double yes please!
Have done. ;D
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Hi Lady Ricey
I think it is a rare Themomix owner who hasn't experienced a few failures. It's a different way of cooking and it takes a little time to get use to it. I hardly ever use the ^^ function on my Themomix, even if the recipe says to. I usually use speed 1-2 and find this help with preventing things sticking to the bottom. Another trick I have is if I need to incorporate food I will sometimes turn the speed up (always on :-: so I don't chop the food to bits) to about 3-4 until it is all incorporated and then turn the speed back down. This usually only takes 1-3 secs. Keep on cooking and experimenting and soon it will be second nature. :) :)
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Lots of, only way to learn. Chooks love it .
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I don't think the fails ever stop as I like to try so many new recipes. I now know how to disguise them or fix them.
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You learn by your mistakes Lady Ricey and other newcomers but it is annoying as it delays the meal and wastes money if it is inedible (this rarely happens though). I have a torch in the window sill and rather than take the lid off to see what is happening I just use that to peek every now and then. It will show you if anything is not immersed in liquid and you can quickly remedy it. I also rarely use slow speed, minimum of speed 1 for me.
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I NEVER put ingredients in and then walk away.
Gawd, that's the best thing about a TMX. the only thing I hang around for is bread so it doesn't fall off the bench when kneading.
I agree about not using ^^ often.
I have 'cooked' soup without putting the heat on. That's a bit depressing at dinner time.
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I have 'cooked' soup without putting the heat on. That's a bit depressing at dinner time.
ROFL, am sure l am just one distraction away from doing that!
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I have 'cooked' soup without putting the heat on. That's a bit depressing at dinner time.
*sigh* TWICE yesterday in my rush to get things cooked for Festive cooking class last night I forgot to put heat on!!!! Not good from a consultants point lol :-)) :-)) You would think I would have learnt the first time!! At least it wasn't at the class or a demo :o
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LOL Kathryn, it's always when you're in a hurry isn't it - or distracted......... My other "episode" that I confess to is I was on the phone once & came back to puree my pumpkin soup - forgot to put the MC in & found it can reach 12ft high ceilings!!!
It was so embarrassing to have uncooked risotto at a demo & that's never happened to me & I really don't qualify as a newbie - that's like blaming my excess weight on my baby - except he's now 20!!!!!!!!
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Lol, JaneeZee wouldn't have wanted to be the one cleaning your ceiling. I too have forgotten the heat - not a good result, but easily enough done.
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sometimes i lose track of where i am in a recipe, and then i put things in earlier rather than later. I usually just proceed regardless and cross my fingers that it will all turn out in the end.
fortunatley for me my DH has an iron stomach and can just about eat anything - he also eats so fast that i'd be surprised if he could taste it so not much goes in the bin (only the real flops).
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My DH says he is an omnivore. But he can smell coconut at 30 paces and isn't too fond of cumin, and hates avocado.
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I NEVER put ingredients in and then walk away.
Gawd, that's the best thing about a TMX. the only thing I hang around for is bread so it doesn't fall off the bench when kneading.
I agree about not using ^^ often.
I have 'cooked' soup without putting the heat on. That's a bit depressing at dinner time.
Let me clarify. I put the ingredients in, incorporate with the spatula if necessary, check that everything is moving around, THEN walk away!
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I am yet to have a fail. Everything I've made so far has worked. There are some that I will improve but I wouldn't say they're a failure.
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Juices, I haven't had luck with making vegie juice so I am still using my breville juicer. The are tasteless and thick yuk.
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My custard came out really thick followed recipe except used low fat milk - is this why ? I was thinking either use full cream which I would like to avoid or less corn flour? Any custard suggestions?
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Custard, I use no cornflour and leave to thicken in the thermoserver for a bit (and cool down) or at the most use 5g.
Not sure about fails, have done the forget to reset the temp thing once and had a delayed dinner. But wouldn't call it a fail just a delay, lol
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My custard came out really thick followed recipe except used low fat milk - is this why ? I was thinking either use full cream which I would like to avoid or less corn flour? Any custard suggestions?
It depends on the size of your eggs, type of milk and the type of corn flour. If you use 100% maize corn flour you need less than using wheaten corn flour. Or at least that is what I think. Also if you are making the chocolate custard the cocoa adds to the thickening so you can use a little less corn flour. HTH
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I can now say I have had a failure. Made the TM mayonnaise last night while talking to a friend and it did not thicken. Think I was a bit hit and miss with the speed at which I added my oil. Still used it in my salad and have put the rest in the fridge and will use as a dressing in another salad. My DH said I just need to keep practicing. I have plenty of eggs so that won't be a problem. I used macadamia nut oil as I didn't have grapeseed oil so don't know whether that would have made a huge difference. It did change the taste a bit but I think it added to the taste in the salad.
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Lady Ricey- did you definitely push the temp button again after putting the chicken in?
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yeh roxy I tried the mayo a couple of weeks ago and complete failure - foolproof recipe welcome ;)
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yeh roxy I tried the mayo a couple of weeks ago and complete failure - foolproof recipe welcome ;)
Try this CP www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4595.msg57735#msg57735 i have not had a flop in over a year with this one and I make it all the time for demos ;)
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thanks meagan :-*
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Roxy - I had many a mayo failure and had given up on it until, during consultant training, Janine showed me how and I have not had a failure since. I make sure everything is at room temp (I don't keep my eggs in the fridge). I don't use lemon juice or garlic, and follow the EDC recipe. Instead of lemon I use white balsamic vinegar (1tbls) and when pouring in the oil I aim for the little depression in the MC lid. I let the pouring in of oil take about 3 minutes. I also like grapeseed oil as it doesn't hae much of a flavour. You can rescue mayo that has split by staring again with a couple of egg yolks and instead of adding oil add your split mayo instead. (This is on the 2011 calendar, and it doesn't say if you need to add more vinegar and mustard or not, but because it says to start again I think it would.)