In the early days of the blog I did a couple of product reviews, not a lot. There weren’t a lot of items worth reviewing, in my opinion. And then as happens so often, a product used to be good, but then the manufacturer starts cutting corners and the product isn’t so good. The quality control just isn’t there. Or there are just ways to make do with what you already have. I never wanted to come across as someone hawking useless products to line my pockets using the Amazon Affiliate program. I’m not faulting people who participate in that—people have to be able to pay the costs of running their blogs. I just don’t like it personally. I want to remain impartial, and that’s hard for me to do if there is a financial incentive. I don’t even do it to run links to my own books.
Anyway, I just thought I’d run the first product review I’ve done in years.
To make the eggless mayonnaise (that article posts tomorrow), I apparently had to have an immersion blender. My first immersion blender died a few years ago. I didn’t use it much; my husband liked it more. As my kitchen was very small at that time, I opted not to replace it. I just didn’t have the room for an appliance that didn’t get used all that often.
However, I had been thinking about getting a new immersion blender. It’s handy for making cream soups without having to pour it all into a blender. And I wanted to make smoothies with it. And it would work nicely for whipping cream as well. But being able to make an eggless mayonnaise made it essential. (As I mention in the article on making eggless mayonnaise, I failed in my attempts to make the eggless mayo using my blender—even the Vitamix failed me. Several individuals commented that using a stick blender was critical to success.)
So off to Amazon I went. And as I scrolled through the options, lo and behold there was a USB-rechargeable device. Oh. My. Goodness. Not only would I be able to make mayo without eggs, but I could do it even if the grid was down and stayed down indefinitely.
I ordered the ChefmanCordless-Yet-Powerful Handheld Immersion Blender on the spot and eagerly anticipated its arrival. It came, we started charging it according to the directions… and… nothing. No matter what we did, it was a dud that would not charge. Ugh.
The very nice East Indian woman working for Amazon asked all the questions she had to ask and then said they’d replace it. It wasn’t too much trouble and I shortly had another unit on the way.
And this one works perfectly. It charged up right away and held its charge through creaming one batch of soup and two batches of eggless mayonnaise—probably 10 minutes’ worth of blending in all. At the end of the second batch of mayo, the indicator light changed, suggesting battery life was limited and recharging would soon be necessary. But I had enough time to finish the mayo, so that was good.
I love it. I’m glad I got it. I love that it’s USB rechargeable with both our solar units as well as the BioLite rocket stove-type recharger that we have. So even when the grid goes down, we can have cream soups, mayonnaise, whipped cream, chocolate mousse, and so much more.
And so I went looking for other small appliances that are USB-rechargeable and found a hand mixer and a coffee grinder. I’m not sure I need either one of those, but the stick blender is a must for me.
Anyway, hope the review helps.
Links to related posts:
Eggless Mayonnaise
Chocolate Mousse
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