CookingWithPam ... Bamix handheld blender info from the kitchen of Pamela Rice Hahn --immersion, stick blender

	Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender
			An immersion blender -- also sometimes called an emulsion blender, a stick blender, a soup blender, handheld blender, or wand mixer -- is something that I consider to be an essential appliance for the kitchen. With a handheld blender, you take the blender to the container, not the ingredients to the blender. It may not be something you will use every day, but when you actually need it, practically nothing else will do in its place. It isn't expensive, especially when you
	consider how useful it is, especially for smoothing ganaches, chocolate creams, and crème anglaise; whipping small amounts of egg whites or cream; puréeing hot liquids directly in the pan; making superfine or extra-fine sugar (known as castor sugar in the UK); and even shaving ice for snow cones. (Anyone who makes his or her own cosmetics and herbal, all natural creams and lotions will tell you that using a handheld blender is a timesaver that streamlines the emulsion process.) The Bamix Deluxe Handheld (Stick, Immersion, Emulsion, Soup) Blender/Universal Wand Mixer comes with 4 attachments:
	Beater:		You use the Bamix Deluxe Stick Blender and Universal Wand Mixer's beater attachment for anything you want to make light and fluffy. Beat mousse and egg whites. Whip cream -- or even skim milk for a low fat, diet topping! Blend sauces like béchamel and hollandaise. Homogenize and aerate shakes and creams. Whip cream soups and desserts.
	Dry Grinder:		You use the Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender's dry grinder attachment to grind dried vegetables, hard cheese, chocolate for cake batters or decoration, powders sugar, spices, dried mushrooms, all kinds of nuts -- such as for turning peanuts into peanut butter, grains and poppy seeds, and coffee beans. It minces all kinds of (fresh but not wet) herbs. You can turn dried bread into bread crumbs. The Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender's dry grinder is perfect for just about any use you can come up with for dried ingredients.
	Mincer:		The Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender's mincer attachment chops raw or cooked vegetables and fruit, both fresh and frozen. Purées baby food directly in the pan on the stove. (No need to pour from one container to another so you have fewer dishes to wash up!) Mixes batters for cakes, biscuits or pancakes. Liquefies fruit and berries for sweets and jams. Crushes and shaves ice cubes in seconds.
	Whisk:		You use the Bamix Deluxe Immersion Blender and Universal Mixer's whisk for all mixtures that need a thick or creamy consistency. You can use it to stir and cream pancake and other batters, blend eggs for omelets or scrambled eggs, mash potatoes, make creamy puddings, emulsify salad dressings, -- and even to make those cosmetics I mentioned earlier! Whip up all-natural mayonnaise within seconds. Mix beverages to perfection.

	In addition to the attachments, the Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender comes with a storage rack and a 96-page instruction and recipe booklet. Overall length: 13.7"; the entire lower drive shaft is immersion-safe to a depth of over 5"
			Cleaning the Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender is easy: Just hold it under hot water!
	When the butter comes out of (separates from) a hollandaise or similar sauce, you have a broken sauce on your hands! The most common reason a sauce "breaks" is because you heated it over a temp too high. Not to worry! All is not lost! Add a couple of tablespoons of water and ice chips to your (broken) sauce mixture and use your Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender to whisk it briskly -- and voilá! You will soon have a smooth, creamy hollandaise, just like you set out to make. I don't know about you, but I don't have the coordination -- or the patience -- to go through the steps of transferring a hot soup to a blender, waiting for it to cool enough to give it a whirl (being careful so I vent the steam so it doesn't whirl up and out of the blender and all over everything), and then transfer the whole thing back to the pot to reheat it. (Forget straining it! I like some "texture" to most soups!) ... With the Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender, I don't have to mess around with all those steps. As mentioned earlier, with the Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender, I take the blender to the food instead of the other way around. (The attachment I use depends on the type of soup I'm trying to get to a creamier consistency.) Watching your weight? When a recipe calls for adding some cream at the end, try this trick instead: To replace each 1/2 cup of cream, ladle out 1/2 cup of broth from the soup (I like to ladle it into a measuring cup with a spout so it'll be easier to pour the mixture back into the soup.), add 1 tablespoon each of Maple Leaf nonfat dry milk and Maple Leaf potato granules, and use your Bamix Deluxe Handheld Blender to whip the mixture. Before you add the resulting broth mixture back into the soup, make sure there aren't any lumps. Add more broth if necessary. (If you want a lower fat way to "mimic" the richer taste of cream, add 1 teaspoon Maple Leaf butter powder to the broth, dry milk, and potato granules combo.) ... Another alternative is to add some bread, in a manner similar to what I did in this recipe. Watch this space for recipes and additional usage information!