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What is an immersion blender? It's basically a blender on a stick. Sort of like a one-pronged hand mixer if instead of a whisk on the end there were blades.
They are amazing for making cream soups because you don't have to pour the chunks into a blender or food processor-- you just stick the stick in the pot and let it whir. It's totally transformational.
CAUTION: You have to be careful that the soup or whatever you are blending is cool enough that you don't burn yourself if it splashes (if you keep the blender head fully submerged it shouldn't splash-- still, if you're not used to using it, splashing can happen).
You can also use them to make smoothies right in the cup, though we generally use the hard plastic cup that came with the immersion blender.
The best thing about immersion blenders (or stick blenders) is how easy they are to clean. You can just kind of rinse the (detachable) top off with a little soap and you're good to go. There's no crevices for raspberry seeds or little bits of leek to get stuck in.
Ours also has a whisk attachment so we can make quick whipped cream without getting out the stand mixer, which is nice. DH used it last weekend to make cinnamon whipped cream to go with the chocolate cake DC2 made.
We have a food processor and an immersion blender and do not have any other kind of blender because that's all we need, and all we've needed for the past 20-odd years. The food processor handles things like pesto-- the immersion blender possibly could make small batches, but you'd probably have to use the attachment that turns it into a mini-food processor and it wouldn't be efficient. The immersion blender also couldn't do recipes that call for a food processor to make dough, though we tend to use the stand mixer for those because the food processor is more of a pain to clean.
But for anything that you would do in a nutri-bullet or regular blender, the immersion blender has you covered.
We have an Braun in a model they no longer make (this is the current model), but there are a lot of good options from solid brands these days (Kitchenaid, Cuisinart, etc.). We also got one for my sister for Christmas one year and it sat in her pantry unused until one day years later she finally took it out. Now she uses it all the time.
How do you make food things less chunky? What are your favorite machines and gadgets for cooking?
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