What an Immersion Blender Is Actually For

An immersion blender is bought for soup and then used for soup, which wastes most of it. The tool’s real advantage is that it blends in whatever container the food is already in— a pot, a jar, a measuring jug, a mug. Ten jobs follow from that, and the second one on this list is the reason a lot of people end up owning two.

Ten jobs it does best

1. Soup, in the pot. No pouring, no hot-liquid transfer, no second vessel to wash. Our soup ranking covers the specs that matter here.
2. Two-minute mayonnaise.This is the party trick. Put an egg, lemon juice, mustard and oil in a narrow jar, push the blender head to the bottom, switch on and lift slowly as it emulsifies. It works reliably because the narrow jar forces the oil into the blade in the right order — something no other tool does as easily.
3. Vinaigrettes and emulsified dressings. Same principle, ten seconds, in the jar you will store it in.
4. Smooth pan sauces and gravy. Blitz the lumps out of a roux or a gravy without straining it.
5. Tomato sauce. Blend a rustic sauce smooth in the pan, straight after simmering.
6. Baby food.Small quantities, in the bowl you are serving from — exactly the case a countertop blender handles worst.
7. Pancake and crepe batter. Blend it directly in the jug, lump-free, in about fifteen seconds.
8. Whipped cream, with the whisk attachment. Faster to set up and wash than a stand mixer for a single bowl.
9. Chopping herbs, garlic and nuts, with the chopper cup. The attachment most people leave in the box turns the motor into a small food chopper.
10. Milkshakes and protein shakes.Soft frozen ingredients and liquid, in the glass. Note the word soft — see the limits below.

Three things it cannot do

• Crush ice or blend rock-hard frozen fruit. There is no vortex to pull the pieces back into the blade, and you risk the blade rather than the ice.
• Produce a genuinely silky puree.It gets close; a countertop blender gets closer. For a velouté that has to be glossy, strain it or use a jar blender — see immersion blender vs blender.
• Slice, shred or make dough. Those are food processor jobs, and the comparison is in food processor vs immersion blender.

Technique that prevents most of the mess

Three rules, and they solve almost every complaint about stick blenders. Submerge before you switch on. The head must be fully under the surface before the motor starts, or it will throw whatever it is in across the counter. Use a tall, narrow container.The taller and narrower the vessel, the better the circulation and the less spatter — this is why the supplied beaker exists and why mayonnaise works in a jam jar. Move it slowly up and down, not side to side. Lifting gently pulls unblended material down; waving it around aerates the mixture and splashes.

For hot food, add one more: take the pot off the heat and let it stop bubbling first. And for cleaning, blitz the shaft in a jug of warm soapy water for five seconds, then rinse — it is faster than washing it and it cleans the inside of the guard, which is where things actually hide.