Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I've read most of the reviews at CI, Productopia, and Amazon but your real world experience is just so much richer; hell, I'll even consider creative fiction

I really wanted a Vita-mix. Really. But I just couldn't justify the expense, so I bought the very highly rated Kitchen Aid blender instead. It's OK, but I should have bought the Vita-Mix.

Wino,

I strongly recommend the vita-mix. In fact, if our Cuisinart ever broke, we wouldn't replace it, we'd get a vitamix. Otherwise, it's waiting until we have a bigger kitchen and/or more money.

Our in-laws have one, and I've used it to make dressings, crepe batter, pesto, peanut butter (be careful with this, it can strain the motor), flour, and curry paste. Works great and is very easy to clean, much more so than a food processor.

Get a kit with both large and small pitchers; you'll want the small pitcher for small batches of stuff like salad dressing. The only shame is that you can't get the metal pitchers anymore.

I use my Vitamix much more than my FP. Many things I make with it are ground so fine that I don't even have to strain them anymore. FI, the other night I puréed a soup, with eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, all with skins and seeds, and just to show somebody how this thing ground all that up, I poured it through a medium mesh strainer, and ended up with just about 1 tb finely ground up red skins, probably the peppers, out of almost 4 qts of soup! In an old blender, all of those seeds, as well as much of the skins would have been left too large to pass through. Now, I don't even bother, with things like this, or Mexican sauces, another instance where I used to strain all the time.

As Fuzzy noted, peanut butter and the like can strain the motor, but in my experience it makes them so fast that it doesn't overheat in the least. Just don't make several batches in a row! I also make tahini in it - something I could never do in a regular blender.

I have made Thai curry pastes in it, and while they come out totally smooth, I have had to add some water to it, as they get simply too thick to circulate, and this dilutes them some. You just have to keep this in mind while using them.

And one time recently, while baking something that gets a glaze after baking, made from confectioner's sugar, I realized, as I had no 10x sugar in the house! In desperation, I put some sugar in the VM dry pitcher, and blended it for about 3 min., with a bit of tapioca starch, and came up with the closest thing to 10x sugar you can imagine, and it worked great! Still, I bought some the next day, as it is not something I will be using it for, normally.

Dave

I got a VitaMix last year, and quite simply could not live without it at this point. I make sauces in it all the time...my current favorite being Mojo, although a non-traditional one.

Amy

Thanks, gang!! Dave, I'd read all of your contributions @ CI and I really appreciate your additional thoughts here. Fuzzy, thanks for the 2 bowls idea! Paul, I had just ordered the KA from Sears as they had an ugly color on for 1/2 price when my wife slapped me upside my noggin' and put some sense back into me. I cancelled the order and have the VM ordered. Now, Amy, if I only had a good mojo recipe to try in it . . .

Ask, and you shall receive...

Ancho chili mojo

1/4 cup of ancho chili paste (recipe follows)
6 cloves of roasted garlic
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of sherry vinegar
Kosher or fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the ancho paste, roasted garlic, paprika, cumin, and cayenne in your brand new VitaMix.

With the VM running, add the olive oil, drop by drop at first to keep the mixture smooth and prevent the oil from separating.

When you've added about half the oil, add the remaining oil in a very slow, steady stream. Add the sherry vinegar and blend until smooth.

Ancho chili paste

4 Ancho chilies
1 sm Onion; peeled and chopped
1 Clove garlic; peeled and chopped
1 Jalapeno; chopped
1 Serrano chili; chopped
1 Chipotle chili; chopped
1 sm Bunch fresh cilantro
1 c Chicken stock (use homemade)


Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Pour into VM and puree until smooth.

Dang!!! Can your wife have a word with my wife??? That is good stuff.

Someday that KA will die and I'll be all "oh, lets buy a vita-mix this time", especially now that she makes smoothies quite a bit ...

Yeah, the only thing I'd miss my FP for if I had a vita-mix is occasionally I use it to grate potatoes for latkes or potato pancakes. 3-6 russets is a bit much to grate by hand.

I just bought a Vita Mix at Costco....I have been lusting after one for years and cannot wait to use it. I have packed up my blender, and my slushy maker and thinking about packing the ice cream machine also, but I first want to try making it in the Vita Mix before the ice cream machine goes in the garage sale pile.
ilene