ThermoFails, anyone?

[Lady Ricey]

  have had my Thermomix for 3 days now, and had a major fail tonight making Butter Chicken from the EDC.  The recipe says the chicken goes in last, pretty much, right?  I added it through the hole in the lid, set the timer and went about my business.  When the timer went off I opened the lid to find RAW CHICKEN sitting on the top!!!     very hungry and unimpressed family.  I managed to save the meal by pouring it into a saucepan and continuing to cook on the stovetop, but it was a good lesson:  take off the lid when adding meat and push the meat down so it will cook.   

I'm not the only one to mess up am I?  My confidence has taken a bit of a beating.   . Any other FAILs out there?

[JaneeZee]

Spectacular FAIL this evening - at a demo 

Host's husband can't eat mushrooms & we were doing a roasted veggie risotto.  I've done it before & it's been fine.  Had to cook it about 12 minutes longer & I still had crunchy rice & a burned bottom!!!!

Home to clean & repack for demo's tomorrow but feeling a bit shaken up.  Never had such a thing happen to me before..........

Think Thelma is objecting.  She's been working overtime recently, bit like a rock star, different night, different kitchen!!!

Ah well, onwards & upwards.

[Lady Ricey]

Oh no JaneeZee!  At least my fail was only witnessed by my family, poor you!  Still, if a Demo can have the occasional fail, I don't feel so bad.   . Thanks for sharing!

[opi2kenopi]

Not so much a fail as a rescue on the stovetop for me as well today.  I was making some tomato relish and had it on reverse soft speed for 30 minutes to cook it down.  Like you, I opened the lid to find reasonably raw onion and apple sitting on the top.  I noticed during cooking that on soft speed when there's quite a lot of liquid in the bowl it doesn't move the stuff around on top AT ALL.  I increased the speed to 1-2 and noticed that got things moving a little better.  I was pressed for time and needed to get dinner on, so I just tipped the lot into a saucepan to finish reducing while I made risotto in my TMX.  Thankfully risotto was a resounding success.

I think there are going to be some idiosyncracies that us newbies will learn as we go along.  Lesson number 1 - don't just set and forget at first, keep checking to see what's going on there!  That is definitely the lesson I learned today during my second day with my Thermomix.

Onwards and upwards

[meganjane]

if you have more than about 750ml in the bowl, it needs to be incorporated regularly with the spatula. This is what I've found, anyway.
I NEVER put ingredients in and then walk away.

[Cornish Cream]

Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book)  I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?

[virgo9]

Cornish cream, could you please pm me the recipe too. I've only tried the EDC one and would like to compare the two.
TIA

[Cornish Cream]

Cornish cream, could you please pm me the recipe too. I've only tried the EDC one and would like to compare the two.
TIA

Have done.It should be waiting in your in box.

[CarolineW]

Yep, slow speeds and plenty of liquid aren't a happy combination for adding new ingredients.  Push them under and incorporate with spatula when you add them, or up the speed if you can.  Then you can walk away 

[Lady Ricey]

Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book)  I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?

I think I accidentally PM'd you saying yes please!     So that's a double yes please!

[Lady Ricey]

Not so much a fail as a rescue on the stovetop for me as well today.  I was making some tomato relish and had it on reverse soft speed for 30 minutes to cook it down.  Like you, I opened the lid to find reasonably raw onion and apple sitting on the top.  I noticed during cooking that on soft speed when there's quite a lot of liquid in the bowl it doesn't move the stuff around on top AT ALL.  I increased the speed to 1-2 and noticed that got things moving a little better.  I was pressed for time and needed to get dinner on, so I just tipped the lot into a saucepan to finish reducing while I made risotto in my TMX.  Thankfully risotto was a resounding success.

I think there are going to be some idiosyncracies that us newbies will learn as we go along.  Lesson number 1 - don't just set and forget at first, keep checking to see what's going on there!  That is definitely the lesson I learned today during my second day with my Thermomix.

Onwards and upwards

True!     Lesson one learned!

[Cornish Cream]

Lady Ricey, I have never cooked the butter chicken recipe from the EDC (I don't have that book)  I always use the recipe from Fast and Easy Indian cookery book, which is delicious. Would you like me to pm you the recipe?

I think I accidentally PM'd you saying yes please!     So that's a double yes please!

Have done.

[earth mumma]

Hi Lady Ricey

I think it is a rare Themomix owner who hasn't experienced a few failures.  It's a different way of cooking and it takes a little time to get use to it.  I hardly ever use the  function on my Themomix, even if the recipe says to.  I usually use speed 1-2 and find this help with preventing things sticking to the bottom. Another trick I have is if I need to incorporate food I will sometimes turn the speed up (always on  so I don't chop the food to bits) to about 3-4 until it is all incorporated and then turn the speed back down.  This usually only takes 1-3 secs.  Keep on cooking and experimenting and soon it will be second nature. 

[achookwoman]

Lots of,  only way to learn.  Chooks love it .

[cookie1]

I don't think the fails ever stop as I like to try so many new recipes. I now know how to disguise them or fix them.