New to Themomix and struggling a bit

[AGGY]

Hi There, I am from Geelong Victoria (Go Cats!) and I have had a Thermomix for about 3 weeks.

I am struggling a bit with everything turning to mush! I think I must be a bit heavy handed on the cutting and stirring    I have great hopes of improving, and hope I can pick up some tips from this forum.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Hi Aggy. Welcome to the forum.

You are certainly not alone in turning things to mush in the first few weeks.  The TMX is so powerful that it takes a while to get used to.  I rarely chop things above speed 4/5 now (and check every couple of seconds) and I don't take much notice of the speeds and times of recipes from my Everyday cookbook (which isn't a new revised one).  Keep going with it and things will get a lot easier soon.
 

[cookie1]

Hi and welcome Aggy. Just reduce your times by quite a lot. You can always chop a bit more but it's hard if it's already a puree. (makes good soup) The times in the EDC book can be a bit way out too.  Perhaps try a recipe or two from this site. Let us know how it's going and good luck. We all do things like this at the beginning.
The Cats win was wonderful.

[Katya]

Welcome to the Forum - sorry to hear it's not going so well with your machine at the moment.

One of the tips I picked up from here early on was not to leave things to chop for the length of time specified, but to check a few times on the way through to see how small things had got.   If you find things are chopped too fine, then perhaps a lower speed might help.  

Also, don't forget to use   when cooking if things are at the right texture when you are ready to start the cooking process.

What recipes are you having particular problems with?

Please don't despair as it does take a while to get used to the machine and its ways - it is well worth perservering as you and your machine will become the best of friends very soon.

[AGGY]

Thanks for all the quick replies. Just noticed I spelled Thermomix incorrectly - oh dear!

I tried to make a mix for meat pies today. Minced the meat  coarsely, chopped the onion, garlic and carrot, and then put it all together with some wine and Worcester and let stir and cook down for about 40 mins.

I had the mixture  stirring on reverse on about 1.5. By the time the mixture was reduced it was very finely chopped, so I was wondering if reverse can also chop? It was OK in the end as we called them sausage rolls, but I  still need to be able to control the mushiness.

[judydawn]

Sorry to hear about your problems Aggy - it has happened to all of us in the early days and with incorrect chopping times in recipes, that doesn't help newcomers.  Take the advice others have given you and chop on lower speeds and for less time. Check and do some more until you are happy with it.  I don't want my onions etc mashed before sauteing them, I want them chunky. When you get it right, change the speed and time on your recipes so that you don't repeat the mistake next time. It took me ages to get it right but I got there and you will too.  Don't give up. Mince meals do tend to become very fine by the end of cooking though so perhaps only chop it until it is large dice and see how it turns out by the end of cooking.

[JaneeZee]

Aggy, have you spoken to your consultant?  She/he should be able to help you.
You don't say if you are having failures with the recipes from the Thermomix cookbooks or simply with things you are trying to do yourself.
Take the advice from here, but in addition, I would keep a notepad by your machine so that if you follow a recipe & something goes wrong note it down.  If you are converting your own recipes (which it sounds like you are & congratulations on being brave with that because it took me about 6 months!!) then adopt a "less is more" approach & again keep your notepad handy.  Ring your consultant if they aren't ringing you until you get the hang of things.
Partly it is getting used to different textures & consistencies as well as different flavours.
Personally I haven't had many problems with the recipes so, if you're not using them, try a few until you get some successes.
All the best with it.

[cookie1]

Aggy, I have to agree with Judy, mince dishes on the TMX do become very fine, more like sausage mince. So congratulations on your lovely sausage rolls. How are you going with custards and sorbets, have you tried those? Or even the strawberry foam on this site.
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1086.0

[Thermomixer]

Where is Geelong ??  just joking - Yeah Go Cats - As JZ says - contact your consultant - When you bought your machine, part of the cost was for a "little part of her/him" - may as well get your money's worth.

Usually just time, speed and temp issues.  Which recipes have you ruined?  SOme speeds and times appear too long

[Shayla]

When I use reverse I never go faster than spoon speed as I had the same thing happen with the first pasta dish made at my delivery demo. The pasta was cut into very small pieces. I also once made mush instead of coleslaw and then converted it into soup - fortunately had run out of mayonnaise and had used yogurt instead - it made a very good soup.
I find I can hear when something is chopped how I want it. Onions I never do higher than 4 as I like them in pieces and not grated. You will soon learn to know the times and the sounds of your machine.

[gertbysea]

Hi Aggy, We have all been there and done that. Creating and naming new dishes out of mush is quite a challenge. It is all part of the learning process so just take the advice on this forum and you will get there.
Gretchen

[cookie1]

We actually created a new term Mush soup.  I was asked what is in THIS mush soup, or can you remember this one as it's nice.

[AGGY]

LOL

I made the Thai red curry chicken tonight - success! Tasted delicious. I substituted evaporated coconut milk and NutraSweet so it was also low(er) calories.

[judydawn]

Well done Aggy (my Dad used to call my Mum that name). Success at last. Already you are substituting ingredients so things can only look up from here.  I had lots of failures when I first started and it was disheartening to say the least (especially with the cost of the machine) but once I learnt to question some aspects of the recipe instructions & then do my own thing, it all started to come together nicely.

[cookie1]

Great news Aggy. It can be disheartening when things aren't going well. I thought that I'd wasted $2000 at first. As the successes become more frequent and you become comfortable with a new way of cooking you will laugh at the first 'experiments'.