Do you need a Thermomix Blade Cover & Peeler?
If you are a TM21 or TM31 owner, the answer is easy: no. The Blade Cover & Peeler only fits the TM5 and TM6 models.
If you have a TM5 or TM6, the answer is: it depends.
As I explained in my post on “must-have” Thermomix accessories the Thermomix comes as a complete package. Everything you need will arrive in the box with your Thermomix. Whether you need any other accessory depends on a multitude of factors. And the Thermomix Blade Cover & Peeler is no different.
Before we work out whether the Blade Cover & Peeler will make your life easier, let’s go back a step: what is it?
What is the Thermomix Blade Cover & Peeler?
The Thermomix Blade Cover & Peeler is an optional Thermomix accessory designed for the TM6 and compatible with the TM5. It slots into place over the mixing knife in the mixing bowl and has two functions:
- Separating ingredients from the mixing knife.
- Peeling potatoes and hard root vegetables.
If you already have a Blade Cover & Peeler, Vorwerk has an installation video and in-depth welcome booklet to help you get the most out of it.
Why would you want one?
There are four main reasons why you might want the Blade Cover & Peeler. I’ve summarised them in this handy flowchart and go into a bit more detail below.
1. Peel potatoes
If you regularly peel potatoes and hard root vegetables, the Blade Cover & Peeler is a great time saver and frees you up to get on with other tasks.
However, if you are someone who prefers to keep all the nutrients in vegetables by not peeling them, you won’t get much use from the peeler function of the Blade Cover & Peeler.
I also know some people who prefer to peel their vegies by hand. There is nothing wrong with that. If you prefer to do a task by hand, do it by hand; the Thermomix police will not show up to arrest you.
2. Sous vide
If you think the Thermomix can’t cook steak, you probably haven’t tried the sous vide mode on your TM6. Sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) is French for “under vacuum.” It’s a precise cooking technique that involves sealing food in a bag, submerging it in water, then cooking it for a long time at a low temperature.
Fancy schmancy restaurants cook food this way all the time. If you’re keen to get your chef on and try this at home, you’ll find it easier to do with the Blade Cover & Peeler. You can use the simmering basket to insert the vacuum bags. However, this will only let you cook for one or two people at a time. Having the Blade Cover & Peeler will allow you to cook more portions at a time. It frees up the whole capacity of the bowl for the vacuum bags without the risk of them getting caught on the mixing knife.
3. Slow cooking
If you’ve already ruled out the Blade Cover & Peeler because you won’t use it for peeling vegetables or sous vide, this is where it gets interesting.
There are some recipes where I would say the Blade Cover & Peeler is a necessity for one of two reasons: to protect the food or to protect the blades.
For delicate or soft foods, you want the Blade Cover & Peeler to help the food hold its shape. If you’re cooking your own dried beans or chickpeas, there isn’t much alternative – without the Blade Cover & Peeler you’re going to end up with mush.
For large cuts of meat or meat still on the bone, you want the Blade Cover & Peeler to help protect your blades. For example, I wouldn’t want to risk cooking this Chicken drumsticks in spicy puttanesca sauce recipe without a blade cover in case a bone gets caught in the blades.
For many other slow-cook recipes though, there are alternatives. To start with, plenty of slow-cook recipes on Cookidoo don’t require a Blade Cover & Peeler (my personal favourite is Slow-cooked eggplant pasta sauce). You can normally also find a similar recipe that uses the Varoma, your oven, or barbecue – they just don’t necessarily count as “slow cooking.”
With Thermomix Blade Cover & Peeler
Alternative Recipes
4. Dump everything in
The last type of recipe that uses the Blade Cover & Peeler is what I term “dump everything in.” The recipe will normally list the ingredients, ask you to “insert blade cover,” then add all the ingredients. If you can work out why the recipe has requested you add the Blade Cover & Peeler, you can normally work out whether you can get away without it.
Let me show you a couple of examples.
I helped one of my TM6 owners convert this recipe when she called in a panic part way through cooking it when she realised it needed a blade cover. After step 3, I said not to remove the carrot. Then, in step 4, I recommended:
- not adding the blade cover – there was no choice there really!
- leaving out the pasta.
- reducing the cooking time by the stated cooking time on the pasta packet. In this case, the stated cooking time on the packet was 10 minutes, so the cooking time for step 4 was reduced to 12 minutes.
Once the reduced cooking time was done, I said to add the pasta, give it a good mix through with the spatula and reset the cooking time based on the packet directions. That is, 10 min/98° C/reverse/speed 0.5.
The recipe might not have the greatest rating, but the owner said when she cooked it following the directions above, it came out beautifully and it’s now on high rotation at their place.
Alice Piktija’s Cape Malay chicken curry
This one is direct from Cookidoo itself. This curry uses the Blade Cover & Peeler to stop the chicken from shredding. However, in the Tips & Tricks sections (always read the Tips & Tricks!) there are alternative steps for cooking the same dish without a Blade Cover & Peeler by changing the cooking times.
“But what if my food is breaking up?”
I normally get this question from people who like to cook chicken breast. If that’s you, here are some suggestions to help stop it shredding:
- Stick with the cut of meat listed in the ingredients list. Chicken thigh for example, will hold up better than chicken breast.
- Cut the chicken slightly bigger than what the recipe says. For example, if the recipe says 3 cm pieces of chicken thigh, cut the chicken breast into 4 cm pieces.
- Use reverse and insert the butterfly. This will help to keep the chicken breast away from the cutting side of the blades.
- Use the simmering basket. You can cook the chicken above the sauce and stir it through at the end which is the same principle used in this Chucky Bolognese recipe.
- Reduce the cooking time. Chicken breast normally starts to shred because it is cooked for longer than needed.
- Add the chicken to the bowl partially frozen. For the same reason as above, some people prefer to add the chicken partially frozen if reducing the cooking time means other ingredients won’t be cooked.
I wouldn’t recommend using the Blade Cover & Peeler with recipes that don’t specifically ask you to insert it. There is nothing stopping you, of course, but be aware you may need to adjust the recipe to get as good a result.
So, should you get a Blade Cover & Peeler?
Ultimately, it comes down to the way you cook and what you like to eat:
- If you regularly peel vegetables or love the sous vide technique, then the Blade Cover & Peeler is a no brainer.
- If you aren’t confident in the kitchen and prefer not to mess with recipes, having a Blade Cover & Peeler will help you explore recipes and use your Thermomix to its full potential.
- If you’re a confident cook or only cooking for one or two people, you can get away without a Blade Cover & Peeler most of the time.
What do you think? Do you love your Blade Cover & Peeler? Or get by fine without it? If my flowchart helped you to decide you need one after all, Australian readers can purchase the Blade Cover & Peeler from TheMix Shop.
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