Immersion Blender

Pulse. Mix. Blend. By any other name, Cuisinart-ing an ingredient — known to some as ‘cuisin’ the juice’ — is one of the most crucial kitchen skills that gets overlooked by the kind of cheapskates that we typically run with.
Knives? Sure. Cutting boards, measuring cups, oven mitt or even cast-iron skillets: most hip, ragamuffin households can justify investing a couple cool Andrew Jacksons in these kind of tools or at least scavenging for solid hand-me-downs. But an immersion blender? handheld mixer? a Cuisinart on a stick? Both of us have independently of one another braved the William-Sonoma showroom to buy one.
The handheld mixed might not seem particularly essential, but it is. Just look at our last dozen recipes; we guarantee half of them rely on pulsing, or mixing, or blending. Lately it’s been stuff like toasted nuts and homemade grilled salsas. The implement was damn near indispensable for our last wedding menu. In the last week alone, here are a couple un-blogged foods we pureed the shit out of with one: tomatillo-agave nectar salsa, kombocha-ginger squash soup, black bean-habanero hummus.

And we’ve owned two different brands, so first a product warning and then the payload, product placement: the Russell Hobbs hand mixer served us well in dressings, soups and sorbets. RIP Russell, but you have to admit you kinda pussed out on us. “Russel” joined Alex’s arsenal about 2 years ago on his birthday. Impulse buy. And at $100, not a cheap one either. But for almost a year Russell was our go-to guy. Sleek and aerodynamic, this mixer has super sharp steel blades and 3-speeds for versatility. We got a lot of pureed soups out of him. Then his speed button came off. We spent the last few months of Russell’s life cautiously poking our finger into the hole where his rubber button was ripping, always a little scared that we’d get shocked by touching our skin directly on the electronic gizmo behind the magic. Last week, Russell passed out while blending a Japanese green-house, heirloom tomato into a summer tomato water.
The upshot is that Evan has since welcomed the Cuisinart CSB-77 into his cupboard. At $49, this guys is way less sticker-shockfull to the skimping hippy. This handheld mixer is one speed fits all so there’s less flex, but the things is so far (knock on wood) more trusty and enduring. Since it’s a Cuisinart it also comes with rad attachments, most importantly an actual food processor that snaps on. Any time you see shredded nuts, you know how we’re doing it.
Maybe wait until that big overtime check comes in or whatever, but if you’re fan of textures, do yourself a favor and splurge on a handheld mix’a. There is only one downside, you can’t really hotknife the things.