Cutting onions in the Thermomix

[judydawn]

No, mine doesn't smell like onions after using them at all.  My consultant said the bowl was made out of surgical steel and therefore you can cook a savoury dish, wash it out and cook a custard or something and the small or taste isn't transferred to the next dish. I have put mine in the dishwasher occasionally, just to give it a damn good clean but not on a daily basis. Be interesting to see if others have this problem but certainly give Bron's suggestion a try to see if you can get it back to 'as new' again.

[brazen20au]

perhaps try leaving some bicarb in it overnight?

[MrSpock]

I'll try those ideas and I'll let you know. The smell stays on the plastic cover, not on the steel parts. Thankfully, the taste doesn't seem to transfer to other meals, but the smell is very strong.

[Thermomixer]

Make the liquid detergent for washing and it will soon smell nice!!!
Guaranteed! And really shiny! Just like new again!

The lemon in the dishwashing liquid should help - somewhere there is a post about cleaning under the lid.  I know one idea involved using lemon.  Another was to put it in the freezer - lid that is overnight.

Try washing with lemon juice and leaving in the freezer overnight ? 

[brazen20au]

you can do the freezer and bicarb thing combined actaully! (works for tupperware too by the way )

or bicarb all over the lid and leave in the sun for a while.

[UnConundrum]

I rarely have to take my TM apart to clean.  I just use the self cleaning method, filling it half way with water and a small squirt of dish detergent.  Let it process for a minute or two at a relatively high speed (making sure it doesn't overflow). 

I find that sometimes when I cook something in it, the bottom of the bowl will have some residue, and then I use a plastic scrubbie.  Otherwise, only pasta dough seems to be too dense to clean with the self cleaning method....

[I Love Bimby!]

I take mine apart fairly regulary to ensure that there is no food build up between the seals under the blade.

..

[bron]

I take mine apart every time! Unless its lemonade! It seems to get bits under the blades always!

[brazen20au]

i take mine apart every few times, unless i've made something with gluten in it - i take it apart everytime i cook with gluten

[UnConundrum]

That water spinning in the opposite direction must really affect things down there    When I first got mine, I too took it apart each use.  Pretty quickly I noticed that the self cleaning did a great job unless there is a cooked on coating on the bottom...  I haven't poisoned anyone yet   Made the barley risotto tonight.  Love that recipe!

[Thermomixer]

Hey Warren - bron (Amanda) is on the same (wrong) side of the world as you  .  I don't pull apart every time, but like Warren, it does sometimes get bits stuck - risottos, eggy things, that need a bit of a scrub.

PS Barley risotto is one of my favs - may be related to comfort food -mum used to make lots of soups with pearl barley.

[kent]

I wasn't home last night to see this, but my Wife said she tried chopping onions in the Thermomix to save a bit of time when she was making a chicken dish.

She said that she followed the directions in the Thermomix EDC (speed 7 for 5 seconds) and it ended up as mush.

Does anyone have the ideal speed and time to chop an onion and retain the texture (i.e: no mush)?

I also asked her whether she quartered the onions, she said she just halved them.  Not sure if this makes a difference?

[judydawn]

That really annoys me Kent with those chopping times in recipe books.  I do 2 sec/speed 5 and cut large onions in quarters.  You can always add another second if the onions are not chopped enough but I like a bit of texture in mine.

[Merlin]

Unfortunately 7 sec at speed 5 is far too long for my liking as well. I quarter large onions and halve smaller ones before they go in. If I want a chunkier cut onion I use 1-2 sec at speed 5 , otherwise about 4-5 seconds at speed 5 gives a nice chop.the other inportant thing is to manually check after a second or two and scrape down the sides of the bowl. When you no longer hear the onion flying around in the bowl you pretty much know its done. Sometimes it's better to ignore the instructions in the EDC and go straight to the forum for advice especially with tweaks on certain recipes.

[kent]

Thanks for your responses, much appreciated.  I'll give it a go next time :-)