Forum Thermomix
Questions Doubts and Requests => Questions? Technical Issues? The Survival Guide => Topic started by: vivacity on May 14, 2009, 07:32:54 pm
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I'd really like to order an English TM book because I think that the recipes would be more interesting than the German ones. So I contacted the English Vorwerk rep and asked her which books are on offer. She kindly enclosed a list of available books and these are the ones that I find most interesting:
1. "Fast and Easy Cooking" book with 300 recipes, UK£19.95 plus UK£6.95
postage and packing to Germany
2. "Demonstrator Delights", 88 favourite recipes from our demonstrators,
UK£12.95 plus UK£4.95 postage and packing to Germany
4. "Everyday Cooking" - the Australian recipe book - a great companion to
"Fast and Easy cooking", £19.95 plus £6.95 post & packing to Germany
5. "Gluten Free, Wheat Free Cooking", £15.95 plus £4.95 post & packing to
Germany
6. "Healthy Eating with Cyndi O'Meara", 47 of Cyndi's healthy recipes,
£12.95 plus £4.95 post & packing to Germany.
Which of these books would you recommend? I know a lot of you have tons of experience cooking with the TM. Is the Fast and Easy Cooking book the same in English and German or are there differences? What is the Australian recipe book like? Can anyone recommend it?
Thanks for your help!
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the australian book has nice enough recipes in it but it quite badly written, so depends if you're ok with having to work out some improvements on your own.
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Thanks for replying :)
I just found an index for the UK basic cookery book and it is soooo much more interesting than the German TM book. In fact, while I was packing my TM 3300 today which I sold on Ebay, I flicked through the old book and saw that a lot of the recipes in the new book are simply reworkings of the old recipes. I'm a Brit living in Germany and I still believe (after 23 years of living here) that the British are more adventurous in their cooking ;D I'm thinking of buying the O'Meira book about healthy cooking, although I have absolutely NO idea who she is, but I read something about Bible bread in this forum and I would like to try her recipes.
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i suspect that the last 2 books are also australian (i have GFWF cooking, it's nice though i've only used a few recipes, i've used them a lot, not sure about cyndi's book though)
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There are other books - see http://www.thermomix.com.au/01-cookbooks.html (http://www.thermomix.com.au/01-cookbooks.html)
The contents of the Australian Everyday book is here: http://www.thermomix.com.au/tm31-contents01.pdf (http://www.thermomix.com.au/tm31-contents01.pdf)
The Vegetarian - although you may be a rabid carnivore, has some good recipes, as does the seafood one.
Australia will soon ?? not sure when - have a meat cookbook. England soon to have a curry book.
What sorts of foods do you normally eat??
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Can I suggest that you print recipes off the forum and make your own cookbook. That way you will get what you want. You do need the basic everyday cookbook. Help with a recipe is always available on this forum.
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I have both the Australian & English books. I think I prefer the Australian book - there are less recipes but we seem to do the whole recipe in the tmx whereas with the English book there seems to be a lot of non-thermomixing going on - stove top, in oven/AGA.
Having abandoned making yorkshire puddings years ago, I must say though that the English book recipe is a winner and we now have them weekly!
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Can you post that one Barb? Love Yorkshire puddings ;)
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Does anyone know where I could possibly get the Australian cookbooks and how much is shipping to the US?
The cookbook that came with my machine has a LOT of errors in it (missing ingredients, instructions, translation problems). And a lot of the recipes referred to in the forum are not in my book.
The ones from the UK are very expensive and so is the shipping.
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Can I suggest that you print recipes off the forum and make your own cookbook. That way you will get what you want. You do need the basic everyday cookbook. Help with a recipe is always available on this forum.
Judy, I have often considered asking MM if we could have a print button incorporated...then decided it would be too dangerous as I would print EVERYTHING. Now I just print as I make it and file it appropriately :D 8) I think there is more here on this forum (and growing daily) than we could ever hope to get from the books. I will probably get them (my aunt is in the UK at the moment....) because I can lol
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I have both the Australian & English books. I think I prefer the Australian book - there are less recipes but we seem to do the whole recipe in the tmx whereas with the English book there seems to be a lot of non-thermomixing going on - stove top, in oven/AGA.
Having abandoned making yorkshire puddings years ago, I must say though that the English book recipe is a winner and we now have them weekly!
Hi Hannah,
are we talking about the same UK book? Can think of things which need the oven (bread, cakes, yorkshire pudding), but can't think of anything at all which needs the hob? ???
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Thanks for replying :)
I just found an index for the UK basic cookery book and it is soooo much more interesting than the German TM book. In fact, while I was packing my TM 3300 today which I sold on Ebay, I flicked through the old book and saw that a lot of the recipes in the new book are simply reworkings of the old recipes. I'm a Brit living in Germany and I still believe (after 23 years of living here) that the British are more adventurous in their cooking ;D I'm thinking of buying the O'Meira book about healthy cooking, although I have absolutely NO idea who she is, but I read something about Bible bread in this forum and I would like to try her recipes.
Hi Vivacity. Whereabouts in Germany are you? I was a Brit living in Germany for 10 years, but moved back to the UK 3 years ago.
IMHO I think the UK basic book is the most useful to get, but I also love the Australian seafood book. If I were to just get one Cyndi O'Meara book I'd get the main recipe book (which isn't thermomix, but is available via thermomix, I believe) and convert the recipes myself (I have both books, and use both). That's the book the Bible Bread is from. Having said that, I have all of the books you listed, and like them a lot :) But the one I use the most, and really wouldn't want to be without, is the Fast and Easy UK book.
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Does anyone know where I could possibly get the Australian cookbooks and how much is shipping to the US?
I would have a look at the Thermomix Australia website which has our Australian TMX books listed and some other countries books (mainly Italian from memory) that are on sale. There is also a contact area where you can email the Aus HQ and ask them about prices and postage. I would imagine international postage from Aus to US would be quite expensive too.
Chelsea :)
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Hi CarolineW
I thought perhaps I was being a bit harsh about the UK cookbook so i have just had a quick flick through meat and poultry and found the following examples:
P116 Cashew chicken - Sauce made in TMX but dish cooked in saute casserole on hob for 45 minutes
P124 Lamb curry with mushrooms - Sauce made in TMX, meat browned on stovetop, dish cooked in oven 2 hours
P131 Chicken with a tomato and fennel sauce - Garlic chopped in TMX, all other ingredients (vegetables, herbs & chicken) sauteed then into oven for 15 minutes
P132 Red chicken curry - Red curry paste & rice made in TMX, rest done in pan on stove top
I don't think I'd be alone when I say that I seem to need to cook "whole meals" in my TMX. After all it is a THERMOMIX - not just a wimpy "food processor"!!! Things like creamy salami & tomato fettucine, curries, bolognaise, etc and varoma dishes (liquid in bowl, meat & veg in basket & varoma) which produce a complete meat & veg meal with sauce satisfy this need. How many of us have eaten almost raw vegetables because we are determined that they are going to cook in the same time as the things below the varoma? Or am I the only one!
All of the above recipes (which all sound quite appealling!), could have quite easily been done wholly in the TMX so perhaps the recipes have been amended already to reflect this. (My F&EC book has a 2006 date in it.) As they are I don't think they utilise the TMX"s versatility.
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Hi Hannah, that UK cookbook sounds weird. I have yet to see a Thermomix cookbook that doesn't do everything in the TMX. Like you, my vegies only seem to cook if I am using the varoma temperature which is sometimes too hot for the dish in the bowl. I love baf65's all in one dinner idea but if you are cooking a meat casserole in the bottom and want to do vegies up top, you can't have the temperature too high for the casserole (I hate cleaning a bowl with food stuck to it >:( >:() I often do the casserole then put it in the thermosaver and do the vegies separately. I cut them rather small so they don't take too long. Not all dishes come together as nicely as the all in one meal though. We always have leftover casseroles/stews so that leaves the TMX free just to do the vegies and I zap the meat dish in the microwave. It's all a matter of trial and error really.
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I would have a look at the Thermomix Australia website which has our Australian TMX books listed and some other countries books (mainly Italian from memory) that are on sale. There is also a contact area where you can email the Aus HQ and ask them about prices and postage. I would imagine international postage from Aus to US would be quite expensive too.
Chelsea :)
Thanks Chelsea. I think you are right, the postage will be high. I wish they would offer the books as a downloadable PDF. I think a lot of people would pay for that if the cost was reasonable. Anyway, no harm in asking, but the recipes here on the forum are very good.
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Hi CarolineW
I thought perhaps I was being a bit harsh about the UK cookbook so i have just had a quick flick through meat and poultry and found the following examples:
P116 Cashew chicken - Sauce made in TMX but dish cooked in saute casserole on hob for 45 minutes
P124 Lamb curry with mushrooms - Sauce made in TMX, meat browned on stovetop, dish cooked in oven 2 hours
P131 Chicken with a tomato and fennel sauce - Garlic chopped in TMX, all other ingredients (vegetables, herbs & chicken) sauteed then into oven for 15 minutes
P132 Red chicken curry - Red curry paste & rice made in TMX, rest done in pan on stove top
I don't think I'd be alone when I say that I seem to need to cook "whole meals" in my TMX. After all it is a THERMOMIX - not just a wimpy "food processor"!!! Things like creamy salami & tomato fettucine, curries, bolognaise, etc and varoma dishes (liquid in bowl, meat & veg in basket & varoma) which produce a complete meat & veg meal with sauce satisfy this need. How many of us have eaten almost raw vegetables because we are determined that they are going to cook in the same time as the things below the varoma? Or am I the only one!
All of the above recipes (which all sound quite appealling!), could have quite easily been done wholly in the TMX so perhaps the recipes have been amended already to reflect this. (My F&EC book has a 2006 date in it.) As they are I don't think they utilise the TMX"s versatility.
Do you know, I'd never noticed any of those! I have to agree with you. I thought I'd pretty much read the book cover to cover, too. Still, the majority of the 250+ recipes are TMX, but yes, why not just do it all in the TMX for these recipes, it's totally possible. Perhaps the texture isn't quite so good or something? I know that the people writing it are real gourmets, and quite perfectionistic. Part of why it's good on the whole, of course ;D But I agree, I'm one who would rather do it all in the TMX if it can be done. For the same reasons :)
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Thanks Chelsea. I think you are right, the postage will be high. I wish they would offer the books as a downloadable PDF. I think a lot of people would pay for that if the cost was reasonable. Anyway, no harm in asking, but the recipes here on the forum are very good.
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Ohhh Aunt Annie that is a brilliant idea ! I for one would certainly pay the "copyright" cost so to speak of a pdf downloadable recipe book from other countries - actually not even international ones - even the ones from HQ here in Oz...think of the paper we would save if we bought ebooks for the TMX ;D
We buy ebooks all the time.
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Just incase any Aussies are interested in buying the English tmx books - these were the prices I was recently quoted from the UK HQ:
"Fast and Easy Cooking" has 300 recipes and costs UK£19.95 plus UK£12.95 for postage and packing to Australia.
"Demonstrator Delights", 88 favourite recipes from our UK Demonstrators, UK£12.95 and an additional £2.00 for post
& packing if shipped with "Fast and Easy Cooking".
Depending on the conversion rate you are looking at about $100AU (which includes postage) for the two books. That doesn't include any bank or credit card fees however. International bank transfers and cheques are over $30AU now from memory, so credit card is probably the best option (have to fax or phone through details though - not email).
Chelsea :)
P.S - I agree - if only they did them as ebooks!!!
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might be worth doing a group order from here, then sending them out from here.
i would be willing to do it but can be somewhat unreliable about remembering to send things quickly LOL (ie: you'd get them but possibly not for a few weeks ;))
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That might not save any money either Karen speaking from my ebay experiences. If their international postage is the same as ours (where it is based on weight) then by the time you get a heavy parcel here and then the cost of resending it out again to everyone here (Aussie Post isn't exactly cheap either lol!) I think you would be lucky to save any money. Don't know if Royal Post have a website where you could do some homework like our Aussie Post does. You would just need to know how much the books weigh each - PDF PLEASE lol ;)
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That might not save any money either Karen speaking from my ebay experiences. If their international postage is the same as ours (where it is based on weight) then by the time you get a heavy parcel here and then the cost of resending it out again to everyone here (Aussie Post isn't exactly cheap either lol!) I think you would be lucky to save any money. Don't know if Royal Post have a website where you could do some homework like our Aussie Post does. You would just need to know how much the books weigh each - PDF PLEASE lol ;)
Their website is here http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinder?catId=23500532&gear=pricingcalc (http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinder?catId=23500532&gear=pricingcalc)
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Any of you have an "in" with the Powers That Be in Thermomix HQ? Tell them we did a poll and want .pdfs and ebooks. Maybe they just haven't thought of that yet. Too busy doing amazing engineering stuff.
:P
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Caroline, would you be so kind and let us know the weights of the books so we can do the maths. ;)
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Caroline, would you be so kind and let us know the weights of the books so we can do the maths. ;)
Book with packaging, as weighed on TMX, is 770 g
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Is that for both the Fast & Easy Cooking and the Demonstrators Delights Caroline? You are a treasure ;)
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That was for Fast and Easy. I'll try and remember to weigh Demonstrators Delight next time I'm around it. It can't possibly be much. About the same as the Cyndi O'Meara Healthy Eating, I would expect.
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Right, just weighed it and the Demonstrators Delight one is 140g