I love all things European... MyCook Premium and Linux - a closer look

Linux vs Windows

This year I decided to see what life would be like if I went Microsoft free at home... and mostly I have not looked back. Blogging however; has been a different story. I used to write my blogs from Windows live writer and there does not yet appear to be a comparable Linux blog writer... so apologies for the long delay between blogs. I'm backstage of blogger atm trying the "blog-thing online". If you like to stay up-to-the-minute please feel free to join my facebook group here. I write micro-blogs at least weekly, which are much easier to do from a tablet or phone.

Honey is still plugging away on his Win 7 (now 10) that keeps crashing, and complaining on each month around "Patch Tuesday" when his computer gets hijacked and forced to restart. For TAFE purposes I used open Suse, that was ok... but since finishing my course I have played with Fedora and smelled the fresh breath of Linux Mint and have had no regrets. It annoys me the way MS seems to permeate the Queensland education system... offering cheap licences to get people "hooked" and biting them with huge fees later.

Since first writing this post I have found that I can quite easily blog from the blogger dashboard and adding pictures is actually easier this way; however tagging them and cropping is slightly harder. Hence it hasn't been done since I stopped blogging with Microsoft. I can access this from my tablet and have written some blogs in a comfy horizontal position, and made minor changes later with my computer.

I love my MyCook

Now for some news... we have a new addition to the Rutterbugs thermo-machine family... Introducing the MyCook Premium or as I like to call her Mykah.I bought y myCook Premium from contacting the Australian distributors here.

It started a few months back when I saw this. Then this article too.It made me mad, that once again we were being blindly guided towards just one particular machine without really being told of the other fantastic alternatives there are in the world. I wanted people to know that they had options, and the best way to learn about a machine is to play with it.

The MyCook Premium lid could not be that difficult to remove, I reasoned and that was the only look in that viewers received about the Spanish machine. It had great reviews on YouTube. One chef in particular saying that young staff members were using it with ease. So I wanted to see if I could find out for myself if the MyCook Premium was comparable to my other "kids".

I am very glad I took a closer look as she has been a wonderful addition to our home.

First thoughts:

I remember thinking to myself straight away that I did not now think that either the ThermoChef or the Thermoblend 1 were modelled on entirely the TM. The TB1 jug, blades and mixing paddle or aka "butterfly" were very similar in shape. The lids both have "waves" on the top that are fantastic for keeping "spitting" to a minimum. The plastic and stainless steal of the MyCook Premium having a feel of quality, heavier and sturdier. Like the TC she was dark grey with pretty lights and most importantly the steaming baskets were stainless steal.

Lid

I have not found it any more difficult to remove or put on than any of my other machines. My sister who is a lefty really liked how it was not "right-centric" as some of the cheaper machines of mine she had used were. As I said above the waves help keep splatter to a minimum and are easily cleaned with a brush.

Beaker

You may know it as (Measuring cup, MC)... cute, stable (once again clear and easy to "overlook" when trying to find it in a hurry *wonders* can we get it in pink for Breast Cancer month? Handy to know... TM31 and TB1 measuring cups fit too... In case you are thinking of upgrading from TB1 (or believe having 2/+ machines helps run an efficient kitchen).

Jar

(aka Jug, bowl). Actually the same capacity as TM31, Bellini, Mistral and TBs 1 and 2. The base is a little more narrow and taller, though it is seated about 10cm into the machine so size is deceptive. I love that it has a plastic clip on the base (unlike TB1) which means that I can pop it into the fridge to cool when making French Onion dip, and saves my fingers from accidentally touching the hot base. I hae even seen it popped straight into an ice bath to cool while making yoghurt.

The narrower base makes it great for cutting herbs as they stay mostly at the bottom of the jar.

Recipe books

The MyCook recipe book has a list of gourmet meals very popular in Europe. The recipes are well set out, easy to follow on glossy paper which wipes clean.  I have tried a few recipes such as Spaghetti bol and churros (also available here) which is the recipe book for the older model MyCook professional. So far from the new book

I have tried 2 lots of dough and I intend to try more recipes from the included book once our family favourites are tried and tested.

 

Speeds 

I was sceptical but found it to be true that the slow speed is so soft that a reverse function or blunt blade is not necessary. In fact the slow speed is so soft it makes perfect spaghetti bol sauce without needing to cook the mince in the steamer and add at the last part of the cooking.  

I recently made corn relish with the intention of making corn relish dip for a work function. I used a Recipe Community recipe and noticed in the comments that the other mixers had shredded the corn slightly however, the corn was perfectly intact with Mykah's efforts.

knead function apparently has a method of "working the gluten" by "tossing" it with each spin, as I don't eat gluten I didn't really need it to bother, but found the one touch button handy for making pie and pasta dough.

Dishwasher

I love that everything except the blades are dishwasher safe... there is no *good* place for the blades in the dishwasher anyway. I find that they are easily cleaned with some water a toothbrush and dish-washing liquid. I love that there seem to be no places for the dish-washer water to *remain* and spill on your dry goods when unpacking the way my cheaper jugs and even TM bowl does. I love that there are no electrical bits on the bottom needing to be carefully dried before replacing back into the machine.

Functions

The sauté function is a fantastic touch, I find that I often use it in conjunction with my multi-cooker. It chops and sautés at the same time and being able to reach a hotter temperature gets the onions tasting just a little nicer.

Induction heating means that food cooks slightly faster and more efficiently.

You can set the timer for longer than 1 hour. Very handy for "stewing" meats saving some money and getting a great tasting product. I used cheaper cut meat to make stroganoff and curries cooking it for longer with great results.

Drawbacks

There is always a few with anything. There is no "fast" way to get to a minute (like pressing the - button first as with the Mistral and TM), but holding the + button more firmly makes digits spin over faster.

Burn marks; if you are using a TM recipe and forget to back the cooking-time off a bit (as I did) there was a nasty burn mark. However, I covered the mark with water adding 3 tbs bicarb soda, 5 mins 120c sp 4 and it came of very easily.

The temperature is what the machine is set to not what the food is at. If cooking something like cheese or yoghurt, a kitchen thermometer is handy (I needed one for my TB1, so this was not a problem for me).

There is no quick way to *wake up* a sleeping MyCook, it must be switched off then on again. But I like that it saves me some power in sleep mode. 

The whole *difficult lid* controversy

All I can say about that, is that it has never been a problem for me or the other MyCook owners that I have met online. Click on and off while in the unlocked position and it works every time... steamer and lid. I have cooked with kids (my neice and nephew, 10 and 11) who worked the lid with ease and also mentioned that they found it less tricky to work than their Mum's TM (they are Pro's at cooking rice).

Overall

I have lent each and every one of my thermo-appliances except my MyCook. I did so because I believed at the time that could live without them... and I did not miss them while they were gone... The same cannot be said for the MyCook. I use it almost every day and often multiple times in a day. It has features that I use often like a knead button, sauté function and can go up to 120c and I love that I can pop it in the dishwasher, go do other jobs and be ready to cook again in 30 mins without having to dry the jar. 

Pritikin Survivor

As a child of the 80s who grew up in a conservative protestant home I was scared of many things… ACDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Madonna (and more)… I laugh now, but nearly as frightening as the devil and “his music” was the cholesterol injected food that tasted so good such as white flour, rice and bread (not a fan of the taste and empty calories these days) and the Ohhhh so evil butter, egg yolk and cheese (unless it was the revolting stuff like fat-free cottage). It was maybe 2ish years that we lived on that food, but it felt like forever. To this day; I hate diets and all the fat I lose tends to find me again and bring its friends that is why I am a huge fan of lifestyle changes and making healthier eating and exercise choices fun. Yes we had the Pritikin diet shoved down our throats and lived to tell the story, but in my 20s I had a lot of “unlearning” to do.

I’m not really angry at my parents, they were worried about the junk we ate and Dad needed support when he had to lower his cholesterol so the whole family had to partake of the diet restrictions. Some of the food was not that bad, but we were certainly the weird family in our circles- and that was not a good feeling when all you want to do was blend, in my 30s I don’t mind being outstanding and I look at music a lot differently to the way I did when I was a child.

GF Focaccia

Herbs

I tried the herbs and cheese focaccia bread this week which I took to a party. It was very well received. I made a quarter of my artisan dough into small dough balls and sprinkled herbs and cheese on top. For next time, I will knead some herbs into the bread first, to give it a little more flavour.

Bacon and Cheese

I wizzed some frozen chunks of shortcut bacon in the TB1, 2x Turbo for 2-3 seconds. Scraped some tomato paste onto the dough (1/4 divided into 6 ball shapes)  then dipped each dough ball into the bacon pieces carefully placing them into the slow cooker and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

Dairy free custard

I made some DF custard this week and tried it out on some friends who agreed to be guinea pigs, it was a hit, though I added a little too much GF corn flour so it was a bit thick. As you can see by my picture; I still think Passata jars are excellent for storage, but I don’t have much luck getting rid of the macro label.

Recipe 1

500mL coconut milk, 25g Corn flour, 2 egg yolks (I can hear Nathan Pritikin tsking), 20g sugar (or to taste), cocoa pdr or vanilla essence (I made vanilla). 100c, 10 mins, sp 4 or 3 for GSM machine… this was a little too long I noticed it was cooked with about 2-3 mins to go. So you can back off the time a bit. I had very +ive feedback, and my friends were surprised that it was DF… requesting a bounty flavour next time using chocolate flavour.

JuiceBlendz ThermoBlend style

I am not sure how long it takes to blend a juice in the TM31, what I do know is that you can fill the jug with orange halves, wizz it and add coconut milk by drizzling through the space in the lid around the MC… then wizz some cinnamon in and you are done… a crowd pleaser. I can now tell you that it works pretty much the same with the TB1 as with a GSM machine.

Dairy Free(Cheese-less) Pizza… before it was cool 

As you may know, I have been experimenting with some DF along with my GF foods, mostly so I know if I have a DF guest what I could serve that tastes nice. I was thinking about alternatives to dairy this week, my sister went through a vegan phase and bought soy cheese which was very nice (but expensive) and some people are uncomfortable with soy these days. Then I remembered…

I will never to this day forget the look on the youth leader’s daughter’s face when I mentioned at youth group that actually pizza without cheese tastes ok… she looked at me like I was a martian. For some reason the topic came up that pizza without cheese is ‘without’ I am not sure of the context or what we were supposed to learn that day… I learnt that I was weird and not in a good way.

But Mr Pritikin did get something right decades ago that could help people today. I remember Mum telling us that she read that he made a pizza for his kids filled it with heaps of toping held together with egg white (keep the yolk for authenticity in appearance, it’s really not evil food) and they didn’t notice that the cheese is missing (and nor did we).

This would be a problem for your child if they cannot do dairy or egg, but if you are out of nut cheese and lack time to make it, this could work for you.

Judie

Brown Basmati and Amaranth grain

For people who have followed my blogging bread adventures for a while; you may remember that I  liked Amaranth flour as a substitute for sorghum and dreamed of adding brown basmati rice to my bread. A few months ago I purchased a bag of brown basmati rice and was very excited. My dreams were dashed for a while as I cooked some for dinner that night with an Indian curry which was ruined by little woody bits through the rice.

This is not a ratio representation of rice to woody bits, a 2kg (- what I cooked that night) package had about 3x that number of woody bits. The rice has now been milled, is safely in my freezer and in the next few weeks will be turned to bread. There may be different brands of brown Basmati rice available without the woody bits, I think that availability comes and goes. I would love to have had access to BB when I was living back at home for a bit… My parents being diabetic would only eat basmati, I (for health reasons) preferred whole-grains. I had looked everywhere in Rocky Health food stores and Asian store, back then I could have gotten brown Jasmine (which is not available now though how good would that have been in bread?)… I will keep up my search. 

Amaranth flour is available from local health food stores, for around $5-6/500g or the same price for 1kg of grain. I will be testing how well each machine mills the grain in the near future. For some people rice is the more affordable grain, but amaranth being an ancient grain has many health benefits that it can bring to the table.

Thanks Honey for my new ThermoScience banner that links to my Facebook page…

Varomas and Teeny Slow Cookers

You may know that Sand Cake is pretty much my favourite go to recipe. Once I tasted it I decided I was never going back to a packet mix. I always make it Gluten free and have turned it into golden syrup pudding, caramel flavour, cupcakes, lamingtons and strawberry short cake. It is so versatile and this week I turned it Dairy Free chocolate flavour, which I think would also be ok for diabetics too. Served with GF custard, this was a lovely treat.

I had told Honey a while back how delish my mums orange meringue used to be and was delighted when she made some one evening for our relatives that were visiting. Yeek she used fake sugar, it totally did not do the dessert justice. So I wanted a dessert up my sleave for “next time” that also was handy for people who cannot do dairy.

My green grocer ages ago told me about a trick for replacing eggs and fat with apple sauce in cakes and how nice they turn out. I needed to use up egg whites so I just replaced the butter this time, making a 1/2 batch in case it did not work out, so I also wanted to steam them in the varoma so I didn’t have to turn the oven on… To my delight it worked, very well. The batter divided evenly between 2 ramekins and I used the TB1 on 120c for 15 mins. It probably could have gone for a shorter time. If you decide to make this for yourself, please keep an eye on them.




Mini Slow-cooker bread

At last I was able to test my smallest slow cooker (1.5L) with bread baking. It worked rather well, though it did get rather humid on the lid, so the crust was a little moist. This may improve with a tea-towel under the lid which I plan to try in the near future. when the bread cooled however the crust was normal and the slices a lovely shape. If I had not had access to my new GF toaster or the sandwich loaf pan this would have been more of a fantastic thing for me, as the slices were quite well-suited to sandwiches… for GF bread that is. Finding that the yeast bread can be made in the slow cooker without a 2nd rise has taken a lot of the headache out of bread-making for me.  I like that the dough can be left in the fridge until needed for up to a week and popped into the slow cooker. I have also frozen some slices in pairs for the forthcoming crazy weeks ahead with TAFE. Once again recipe here

Larger Slow-Cooker Artisan Bread

Artisan bread is simply a miracle I think and the Healthy Bread in 5 minutes recipe writers are geniuses. I thought I was the first person to cook their bread in my slow cooker… Obviously not after reading this today. Which was very timely as I had already put my bread on for a second rise 60 minutes before finding out that it can go straight into the crock pot. This is beyond handy to know, as the 4x with yeast mix can be made up to a week in advance (it’s better tasting the first few days). Depending on your Slow Cooker  you would then just take out a ball pop it in the machine and have fresh bread 90ish minutes later. You could also have the dough ready for pizza, calzones and focaccia.

I have been asked “Will the artisan bread work in a larger slow cooker?” the answer is yes. I took advantage of the Big W 5.5L for $20.00 deal this week. Honey thinks it was because he wanted Pea and Ham soup cooked with a ham bone… we know it was really bought to check out if it was good for cooking bread. While I was at it, I grabbed a cute little slow cooker to test from Woolworths, also $20. As we speak I have 2 yeast cobs in the slow cooker and earlier this week I did a yeast free loaf, which took closer to 2 hours than the 1.5 in the 5.5L slow cooker, but it got there and the results were just as delish.

I also have cooking away in my camping oven a small tin loaf using yeast this time. I think last time I over-did the water and didn’t put in quite enough this time, the crust is looking a little dry. Worried for nothing, it was perfect.

My multi-cooker also arrived this week. I have only cooked brown rice in it so far (high pressure, ready in 14 mins), my toddler nephew was here this weekend he saw the cooker and asked for rice, so we gave it a go. The “keep warm” function kept the rice at the perfect temperature till dinner time when we made sushi with it. I also saved some rice for the next evening when we had tuna mornay (warming it in the varoma as the sauce cooked).

Good news, our Conversion Chart for making smaller Artisan loaves has been uploaded.