Blenders, meals processors and electrical mixers — freestanding or in any other case — are all small kitchen home equipment whose core operate might be distilled right into a easy idea: to mix. But all of them independently exist, with totally different designs and seemingly for various functions.
When you discovered your self eye-rolling on the headline right here, ask whether or not you may really delineate every of their distinctive traits and the way they really do what they do. And in case you’re a cooking and baking beginner with little thought to start with, welcome in.
When you’ve ever needed to justify the necessity for myriad home equipment (maybe with somebody like a roommate or partner who shares kitchen area with you) or in case you’re newly outfitting a kitchen and questioning what could be obligatory and what would possibly find yourself being merely ornamental in your cooking repertoire, moving into the nuance of those home equipment is vital.
For the needs of kitchen relationship concord, then, or to allow you to justify one other small equipment buy — to your self or anybody else — here is an examination of the distinction(s) between a blender, meals processor and stand mixer.
Blender: How does it work?
A blender is a real energy machine, whipping elements right into a advantageous consistency however with little management or precision.
Blenders usually encompass a heavy base with a motor and a plastic or glass jug with a set of rotating blades on the level the place the jug connects with the motor. The blender combines no matter elements you add with a singular objective: to liquefy. The historical past of the blender, in truth, begins with its operate as a milkshake maker. A vortex created by the fast rotation of the blades creates a vacuum that pulls no matter is within the jug towards the blades, pulverizes it, then funnels it again up, advert nauseam, till you hit cease.
Our favourite small smoothie blender, the Ninja Tornado, is subsequent to a full-sized mannequin.
When you’ve ever put numerous parts within the blender and had the combination rapidly come to a standstill, clinging desperately to the edges of the jug out of the attain of the blades, the catch-22 of a blender’s operate is that it normally wants just a little liquid to start with with the intention to successfully kick off the liquefaction. Sure stable gadgets which might be gentle or have small items, equivalent to nuts or bread cubes, might be put within the blender; nonetheless, on this case, the blender’s operate is to grind.
Excellent for the blender: smoothies, shakes, cocktails, sauces, gravies, fluid nut butters, moist batters for pancakes, crepes or coatings.
Blenders are finest for mixing elements right into a clean consistency. They are not nearly as good for course mixtures like pesto and salsas.
Splendid meals to make in a blender
- Smoothies
- Protein shakes
- Frozen drinks
- Soups
- Sauces and dips
- Nut butters
- Child meals
- Pancake batter
Meals Processor: How does it work?
Meals processors are just like blenders however provide extra precision and even mixing of coarse elements.
Like a blender, a meals processor typically depends on blades, however may additionally make use of discs or different inserts particular to the job you are asking it to do. The container in a meals processor is extra of a bowl or cylinder than a jug, and liquid and gravity are much less vital to its correct operation. Whereas it may be thought of an equipment that mixes numerous elements — as with salsa or hummus — it usually does so by chopping the whole lot collectively, although not as finely as a blender, and may also be used strictly for that goal on a single merchandise.
A superb meals processor could make recipe prep a lot simpler.
Numerous meals processor attachments may additionally permit you to shred, slice, julienne, or juice, with a large entry channel that lets you add elements and push them via the attachment, which is often mounted on the prime of the bowl. Some fashions may additionally embody inserts that connect to the motor base that whip or knead. Although a blender usually ends in extra of a advantageous puree than a meals processor can do, a meals processor is extra versatile when it comes to the assorted shapes and textures which might be doable with its use.
Excellent for the meals processor: grating or chopping stable elements equivalent to greens or cheese, chunky or thick sauces equivalent to pesto, hummus, or salsa, thick nut butter, pasta or pastry dough.
For exact management over a combination’s consistency and coarseness, a meals processor is good.
Splendid meals to make with a meals processor
- Chopped greens for sofrito, mirepoix, and so forth.
- Pesto and sauces
- Hummus and dips
- Shredded cheese
- Nut butters and nut flours
- Cauliflower rice
- Vitality balls and no-bake treats
- Breadcrumbs
- Floor meat
Stand mixer: How does it work?
Stand mixers are a baker’s finest pal, however these machines can do greater than combine dough and batter.
Stand mixers are strictly mixing units that may mix elements, however do not break them down into smaller items through blades. On a stand mixer, a heavy base holds a bowl in place whereas a motor rotates an attachment equivalent to a paddle, dough hook or whisk. (Hand mixers carry out the identical operate, however your palms are each the component that retains the bowl in place, and that which holds the motorized attachments.)
GE Profile launched a sensible stand mixer in 2023 that weighs elements as you add them.
At greater speeds, a stand mixer can even introduce air into the combination. The motion of a stand mixer is gentler and simpler to regulate than that of a blender or meals processor, making it ideally suited for cake batters that require minimal mixing, the place the objective is just to mix. Armed with a dough hook, nonetheless, the mixer can even strong-arm gluten improvement for crusty breads.
Stand mixers may additionally have numerous attachments out there to extend their utility, together with ice cream makers, pasta rollers, meat grinders, spiralizers, juicers, and even choppers that begin to creep into meals processor territory.
Excellent for the stand mixer: dough for bread, pizza, pasta, and cookies, all batters, icing and frosting, meringue or whipped egg preparations, whipped cream.
If kneading dough is your least favourite a part of making bread, a stand mixer will step in gallantly.
Splendid meals to make in a stand mixer
- Bread and yeast doughs
- Cake batter
- Cookie batter
- Whipped cream
- Meringues
- Frosting
- Mashed potatoes
- Pasta dough
- Shredded hen or pork
- Pizza dough
Crossover use between them: The mashed potato experiment
Mashed potatoes might be made creamy with only a few seconds within the meals processor.
Naturally, there are issues that may very well be completed in any of those home equipment, given desired outcomes. Egg whites or cream might be whipped, batters might be combined, and sure doughs might be shaped in all three of them. This isn’t a case towards a stand mixer, nonetheless. Although its operate tops out at “combine,” it’s nonetheless the required equipment for sure sorts of cake or cookie doughs. To not point out the shortage of blades and its stainless-steel bowl, which makes it a lot simpler to wash.
I made mashed potatoes in all three
Making mashed potatoes illuminated every machine’s strengths and weaknesses.
To finest illustrate the outcomes of those numerous home equipment when given the identical job, I selected mashed potatoes, which might be efficiently achieved by both liquifying, chopping, or just mixing its parts. Potatoes had been cubed and boiled, after which (as a result of I am not a monster) put to the take a look at together with a splash of milk and a dab of butter.
- Meals processor: required only a few pulses to show cubed potatoes into mashed potatoes. I like them with just a little texture, however a number of extra pulses would provide you with a clean puree.
- Stand mixer: requires probably the most time however permits probably the most quantity. You will by no means get a silky puree if that is what you are going for, and it’s possible you’ll find yourself with some bigger chunks, however this methodology may most simply feed a crowd with out the elbow grease of hand mashing.
- Blender: required further milk with the intention to get going, and in very quick order turned cooked potatoes into one thing that extra resembled pancake batter than mashed potato, a powerful consideration in case you’re really making gnocchi.
