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rewind Posts: 2,637 Forum Member ✭✭✭
20/11/11 - 11:27 in Food and Drink #1
I own a Kenwood FP108 food processor and in the recipe book there is one for a mushroom soup. I am thinking of buying a soup maker but what is the difference between the food processor and the soup maker? My processor was £20 but the soup blender is £90.
So, is it worth me buying the separate soup blender? From looking at the recipes it looks as if you have to cook the mushrooms first. Do you not need to do this with a soup blender?
Thanks.
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Hobbit Feet Posts: 18,798
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20/11/11 - 11:30 #2
Buy a stick blender for soup, cost about a tenner, pop it in the pan and blend away.
Let the soup cool down a bit first though, they do melt and yes I know this from experience :eek:
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Pretzel Posts: 7,858
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20/11/11 - 11:45 #3
Soup blenders/makers are blenders with a heat element. I think that Hobbit is right the easiest way to make soup is with a hand blender and saucepan but you can also use your kenwood to mix the recipe and then heat the soup separately.
They certainly seem to be the current 'must have' kitchen gadget, like juicers a couple of years ago, but honestly think that unless you make a lot of soup, a soup maker is not really worth it.
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Sigurd Posts: 26,610
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20/11/11 - 11:51 #4
As Pretzel says, at least some of the soup makers actually cook the soup, for example:
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/13356/Cuisinart-Soup-Maker?src=gpelc&gclid=CMTpjKSSxawCFQsb4QodFDNpqA
At £129.99, though, I think even the most dedicated soup cook could easily get by without it. I suspect they're devices for people who don't know how simple it is to make soup and think they need something to help them out.
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rewind Posts: 2,637
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20/11/11 - 11:56 #5
Yeah it is this one I am looking at: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002901&langId=-1&productId=1501061413 (only £79.99 at Best Buy). The benefits to me are the fact I can just come in from work and shove everything in the maker and let it do everything. As I understand it I wouldnt need to chop or heat anything up.
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ejm Posts: 3,515
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See AlsoGet Those Mushy Vegetables Out of My SoupSoup makers - do you really need one?10 Reasons You Should Buy A Soup MakerMorphy Richards Soup Maker – Top Tips20/11/11 - 12:04 #6
rewind wrote: »
Yeah it is this one I am looking at: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002901&langId=-1&productId=1501061413 (only £79.99 at Best Buy). The benefits to me are the fact I can just come in from work and shove everything in the maker and let it do everything. As I understand it I wouldnt need to chop or heat anything up.
You could do exactly the same with a pan and a hand blender.
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molliepops Posts: 26,830
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20/11/11 - 12:07 #7
Well a soup maker no matter how much you pay for it won't chop or peel your veg/meat really it just cooks it (which you can do easily in a pan) and blends it (which you can do with a food processor).
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burton07 Posts: 10,874
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20/11/11 - 13:26 #8
Soup is so easy that I make it for dinner when I can't be bothered to cook.
Peel and chop vegetable, Sweat them for 10 mins in a little oil. Cover with pint and half of stock. Simmer till soft. Then either serve up, or blend with a hand blender, or pour into a liquidiser or mash with a masher.
Hand blenders do melt if you put them in hot soup. I now pour some of the soup into a jug then blend with the hand blender , then pour into a clean saucepan.
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lemoncurd Posts: 57,778
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20/11/11 - 14:31 #9
I never even knew such gadgets existed! Seems so pointless. We've been making soups for hundreds of years with pans. Are we suddenly so inept that this is no longer a suitable way to go about it?
As others have said, if you want smooth, blended soups (though, to be honest, I prefer soup chunky), just get a steel-ended blitzer for about £20. Here's a good-quality one.Options
[Deleted User] Posts: 3,811
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20/11/11 - 14:46 #10
I love making soup. I even freeze it in ice cube trays, so I can use as much as I need, whenever I want. I can imagine a soup maker being one of those gadgets that I use once, then gets put in the back of the cupboard, because it's a pain in the bum too clean. I have a ten pound hand blender, and that does the trick for me.
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molliepops Posts: 26,830
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20/11/11 - 14:46 #11
burton07 wrote: »
Soup is so easy that I make it for dinner when I can't be bothered to cook.
Peel and chop vegetable, Sweat them for 10 mins in a little oil. Cover with pint and half of stock. Simmer till soft. Then either serve up, or blend with a hand blender, or pour into a liquidiser or mash with a masher.
Hand blenders do melt if you put them in hot soup. I now pour some of the soup into a jug then blend with the hand blender , then pour into a clean saucepan.
I have never found that but I guess I ladle the soup into the blender so it is cooler which may be saving it.
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Sigurd Posts: 26,610
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20/11/11 - 14:51 #12
I've been sticking a hand blender into pots of almost boiling soup* for several years now, and it never occurred to me that it might melt. The one I have is nothing special either, just one made by Braun and mainly plastic in construction.
*By which I mean that it has been boiling, I pull the pot off the heat and stick in the blender, so that the soup can't be much below boiling point.
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burton07 Posts: 10,874
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20/11/11 - 15:47 #13
Sigurd wrote: »
I've been sticking a hand blender into pots of almost boiling soup* for several years now, and it never occurred to me that it might melt. The one I have is nothing special either, just one made by Braun and mainly plastic in construction.
*By which I mean that it has been boiling, I pull the pot off the heat and stick in the blender, so that the soup can't be much below boiling point.
I did that because I had a cordless blender and I thought it was brilliant because I could blend the soup while it was still in the pan. However, when it stopped working I guessed it was because I had done that!
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bardiffi Posts: 295
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20/11/11 - 15:56 #14
Got no idea, one sounds like it would cover all the bases, but the point is this - there's a food mixer being advertised on tv now that is £300! :eek: No way would I pay that for something relating to food!
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phill363 Posts: 24,313
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20/11/11 - 16:08 #15
best to buy a hand blender with a metal bottom they don't melt., got mine for £20 with a wisk and food prossesor atatchment.
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degsyhufc Posts: 59,251
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20/11/11 - 18:48 #16
I've got a hand blender with a plastic bottom and have had no problems at all with blending hot food.
I assume this trend of soup makers is mostly because of one comapany using David Tennent as the voiceover on the advert. Just because he's took payment doesn't mean it's a good investment.
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whackyracer Posts: 15,786
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20/11/11 - 18:56 #17
You could just chuck it all in the slow cooker and blitz it with a hand blender when you get back from work. I wouldnt spend £80 on a special machine for it!!!
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whackyracer Posts: 15,786
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20/11/11 - 19:04 #18
degsyhufc wrote: »
I've got a hand blender with a plastic bottom and have had no problems at all with blending hot food.
I assume this trend of soup makers is mostly because of one comapany using David Tennent as the voiceover on the advert. Just because he's took payment doesn't mean it's a good investment.
Yea, mine's never melted either and it was an inexpensive Braun one. I stick it straight in pan mostly to blend my curry sauces.
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whoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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20/11/11 - 19:05 #19
The difference is flexibility.
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c4rv Posts: 29,890
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21/11/11 - 00:13 #20
I think my stick blender is braun as well, been using it for years in hot pans and hasn't melted yet.
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PhoenixRises Posts: 2,607
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21/11/11 - 01:21 #21
degsyhufc wrote: »
I've got a hand blender with a plastic bottom and have had no problems at all with blending hot food.
I assume this trend of soup makers is mostly because of one comapany using David Tennent as the voiceover on the advert. Just because he's took payment doesn't mean it's a good investment.
It's probably more to do with that fact that people like things that "do everything for you" (which is not often the case with these thing) because it seems easier.
I know when I thought of making soup I thought it would have been a hard thing to do so a soup maker that you just put your ingredients in and flip a switch would have appealed to me, however I worked out that it is quite easy to make a soup and the maker doesn't actually do much work.
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big_hard_lad Posts: 4,077
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21/11/11 - 09:35 #22
Bloody pointless if you ask me. Both my wife and I would make at least one big pot of soup a week. And we do it in a big old saucepan that has a lid and with a Tesco Value hand blender that cost £6.99 2 years ago.
As others have said, these soup makers are just the latest in a long line of nonsense gadgets. Speaking of which, I really must throw out that smoothie maker that has been gathering dust for about 5 years!
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stud u like Posts: 42,100
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21/11/11 - 11:03 #23
big_hard_lad wrote: »
Bloody pointless if you ask me. Both my wife and I would make at least one big pot of soup a week. And we do it in a big old saucepan that has a lid and with a Tesco Value hand blender that cost £6.99 2 years ago.
As others have said, these soup makers are just the latest in a long line of nonsense gadgets. Speaking of which, I really must throw out that smoothie maker that has been gathering dust for about 5 years!
Charity shops would love a smoothie maker.
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