There are lots of different soupmakers on the market, but how do you know which one is for you? The easiest way to work it out is decide what you want to save yourself with which method of soup you prefer. We all have our own preferences, so it depends what we’re looking for.
Saute and Soup Makers
Some soup makers, like the Morphy Richards saute and soup maker, and the Cuisinart feature an inbuilt hot plate that allows you to lightly fry ingredients like onions, spring onions, garlic and more, simply by adding a little oil to the plate, then adding the ingredients. I use a wooden spoon to agitate my vegetables while they saute, just to ensure they cook. All you need to do when that’s done, is throw in your vegetables and stock, then choose smooth or chunky, wait 20 – 30 minutes and your soup is done.
Kettle Soup Makers
The Morphy Richards is a typical kettle soup maker. People with those types will either have the option of the saute and soup version, or the older versions of the Morphy Richards, that don’t saute, but just require you to put all your ingredients into the pot and choose how you like your soup. Then, go off and read the news while the pot finishes your meal. These tend to also allow you to create cold smoothies and fruit juices in the soupmaker. They’re fabulous options and so very easy to clean.
The blade tends to be in the lid, which means no tricky food getting stuck at the bottom of your soupmaker, and trying to pry bits of food off. If you clean these immediately after making soup, they’ll clean up very quickly.
Blender Soup Makers
Like the Cuisinart, these look like traditional blenders with a base and glass or plastic jug on the top. The advantage for this is the ability to double as a full blender, though the pulse versions can be very strong.
Traditional Pot on a Stove or Hotplate, or over a Fire
This is the tried and tested way or grandmothers made soup. They’d spend hours making stock, then adding vegetables and meat, in fact, just about anything they had in their cupboards. My own grandmother used to tell us of a huge pot that new things got thrown in every day. I grimaced at the point she said the pot was never off the hob, always simmering away, all day, just in case someone came home hungry.
I did once ask about bugs to which she laughed and asked me which bugs could cope with twelve hours a day of being boiled. Fair point I suppose, though I wouldn’t fancy trying it.
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