VitamIx 5200 - the best kitchen tool I’ve gotten in the past 10 years

 

One of my 4 pillars of good cooking is to invest in effective kitchen tools and to avoid kitchen gadgets. 

Two years ago I bought a Vitamix 5200, and it is one seriously high performing kitchen tool.

When it comes to mid-sized appliances like stand mixers (KitchenAid) and food processors (Cuisinart) there are some well known, time tested clear cut choices. I had a classic Waring blender, which was the go-to blender choice for many decades. 

I wasn’t overwhelmed with the Waring’s performance, but also having an effective stick blender and the fact that I don’t use a blender too often, I saw no need to invest in an expensive Vitamix. Boy did I miss the boat on that one. 

The Vitamix came on to the home cooking scene about ten to fifteen years ago, when this professionally used kitchen machine was discovered by home cooks. The claim was massive power. Since I wasn’t a smoothie junkie and could get by with my existing blenders I didn’t give it much thought. 

But then my wife and I did the Optavia diet (about 100 pounds combined loss, thank you Optavia). That diet included many flavored shake products and it was clear the Waring wasn’t up to the task. In order to better support the diet I splurged on the Vitamix. 

What a revelation. Power is everything. 

For shakes the Vitamix easily destroys ice cubes and the mix into a smooth, creamy, perfect consistency. I’ve since used it for soups and am shocked at how quickly and thoroughly it creates velvety, partly foamy consistencies. Here’s a recap of features and attributes: 

• Simple controls - nothing more than an on/off switch, a variable/fixed speed selector and a knob for varying the speeds. 
• You can fill this machine as much as you want - see the picture above - and it will reduce the entire container without having to open it up and remix / push down the ingredients. 
• The blades are not sharpened like a food processor’s but they somehow chop through solid ingredients and reduce to a very finely chopped size. Herbs, vegetable, any solid is reduced to a super fine, actually minuscule size. I still strain soups through a chinois, but could easily serve many soups unstrained. 
• Leaving the blender to run for just a few seconds after completely mixing ingredients will begin to introduce air into the mixture, creating a creamy, frothy texture. 
• There are many more sophisticated, and more expensive, models available than the 5200 - but this no frills machine should meet virtually every need a serious cook has. 

Because of the power of this blender, I’m finding myself making more soups, especially chilled vegetable soups like this summer pea soup. 

Overall, splurging on the Vitamix is the best $400 I’ve spent on a kitchen tool since I bought the $400 toaster. But that’s another product review. Too bad we don’t eat toast very often anymore. 

Here’s a link to the Vitamix 5200 if you’re interested in purchasing one. 

Veal Stock // Chilled Pea Soup

Veal stock is considered a magic ingredient that separates the enthusiastic home cook from the serious home cook. I agree. I’m not always cooking at a high level, so only make veal stock every few years. But when I do, and see it in the freezer it inspires me to undertake more advanced dishes. 

But you don’t have to attempt something complicated to be advanced. I used a light veal stock recipe from my friend Thomas Keller (ok, I’ve only met him twice, but once he bought my dinner at Per Se). This light stock was perfect in a chilled pea soup, which is potentially a four-ingredient recipe. 

You can make this soup straight up, or add herbs, shallot confit, roasted tomatoes, garlic chips,…..and exotic savory topping you care to. That can take it from wonderful to amazing, but is not required. 

Here’s the recipe, which was inspired by Gordon Ramsay in his cookbook Maze.

Chilled Pea Soup

 

1 medium onion, sliced

Olive oil

     -  Heat oil and sauté onions for 8-10 minutes

1 C stock (veal or chicken)

1 C milk, half&half or cream

     -  Add and bring to a boil

1 lb fresh or high quality frozen peas

     -  Add to liquid and take off the hea

     -  When slightly cooled blend in batches

     -  Strain though a mesh strainer or chinois

     -  Season to taste with S&P

     -  Chill for an hour or more

 

Top with shallot confit, garlic chips, roasted tomato or herbs. Drizzle with olive oil

Secret Ingredient for Turkey Soup

Turkey Soup with Ancini de Pepe Pasta
Notice the stray tarragon leaf that escaped
from the bundle of herbs.

A few years ago I hit upon the idea to add some depth to historically bland day-after-Thanksgiving turkey soup. A generous dose of Spanish sherry added a nice undertone.

This year there was no sherry in the house, so Marsala wine was used. Terrific. It's worth going so far as to now call either of these a secret ingredient.

Here's a link to the original recipe:  Leftover Turkey Soup.

These are some of the other choices / techniques which helped make this year's version a success:

• Use chopped fresh fennel in addition to onion, celery and carrots.
• All my rich stock was used up on Thanksgiving day, so this stock was make simply from simmering the turkey carcass for a few hours, then adding onion, celery and carrot for the last hour. Strain and reserve just the liquid.  
• About 2/3 cup of Marsala - more than original recipe calls for. 
• Ancini de pepe pasta - little balls the same size as peppercorns. Cook separately, and under cook by about two minutes from the suggested cooking time - about 6 minutes total for mine. 
• A bouquet garni of fresh tarragon and thyme - removed before serving. 

A bouquet garni is simply a small bundle of herbs, tied together with kitchen twine, which allows one to remove the herbs easily. If dried spices or seeds are used, the ingredients can be put into small cheesecloth bags made especially for this purpose. 

Homemade Oriental Chicken Ramen Noodles

If you get a chance, pick up a copy of the new quarterly food / cooking publication called Lucky Peach. It's published by a really innovative literary / cutting edge group called McSweeney's. The cooking mind behind it is David Chang, who I always want to call Michael Chang, the tennis player. Chang has been the hottest young star-chef / restaurateur of the last few years.

A warning - the magazine is esoteric, at times raunchy, highly entertaining, informative, creative and geared primarily to high end cooking. BUT, there are a few really approachable recipes that anyone could tackle. Oh, did I mention the art? No. The journal is creative and  aesthetically brilliant  in several dimensions.

Anyway, you can find it most easily online. McSweeney's Lucky Peach.

The first issue is focused on Ramen, the real thing from Japan, not our $0.11 packages. And eggs. Why eggs? No clue. But hey - they're the publishers, they can do what they want.

As my readers, you know that I won't publish recipes directly from other's sources. But I will share the concept of this recipe, which Chang really presents as chicken soup (with noodles), not as ramen. However, the Asian flavors make it ramen-like (especially to closet packaged ramen lovers).

• Create a three ingredient chicken stock - water, chicken, salt - simmered (not boiled) for an hour or a little more. The simmer concept is a simple yet critical  technique. Remove the chicken and cool. 
• In parallel, create a concentrated vegetable stock (called a nage) using Asian ingredients: onion, kombu (a seaweed), ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, shallots, scallions. 
• I substituted leeks for onion, which added further subtlety. 
• Combine the stock and nage. Add cooked noodles and chunks of chicken. 

The subtle Asian seasonings were sublime.