Food processors are a saving grace. Immersion blenders are oh-so-very handy. And we love our shiny and robust standing mixer so much that it's practically another member of the family.
No doubt about it, these electronic gadgets have revolutionized home cooking. Julia Child, our guru and patron saint, was actually one of the first cooks to recognize the usefulness of all these new appliances in helping the home cook. With a wave of her whisk, she proclaimed the use of appliances to be a perfectly legitimate part of cooking.
But sometimes we think we might be missing something...(Sorry, Julia)
Whisking egg whites in a quiet kitchen, kneading bread on a floury counter top, grinding pesto in a mortar and pestle--Sure, it takes more time and it can get pretty messy. But you also start to develop a different relationship with what you're making and the ingredients you're using.
When you're working by hand, there's more control over each step. You can see for yourself exactly when the egg whites reach a stiff peak and feel when the bread has developed enough gluten. You're a part of the entire process from start to finish, and that creates a certain satisfaction that we feel is different than when we've zipped it together in a mixer.
You also notice different smells and textures. You see how the food changes with each new step. Time slows down and you learn new things about what you're cooking. Plus, it's fun!
Julia Child saw appliances as a time saver and a way to show the folks at home that cooking didn't have to be fussy or messy. And trust us, we won't be parting with our standing mixer any time soon!
But still, we think there's something to be said for doing it the old way! The long way. By hand.
What do you think?
(Photo Credit: Witigonen via Flickr Creative Commons)
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There is a certain tactile pleasure in kneading bread by hand, and I have heard that cuisinart pesto doesn't hold a candle to that chopped by hand with one of those moon-shaped things. But whipping egg whites by hand? That just seems like pointless masochism to me.
I usually bake without appliances and I love it. The only time I give in and haul out a mixer is when I'm making a gigantic batch of something, like cookies or brownies.
Otherwise, it's a lot easier licking batter off of a spatula than a mixer arm!
Julia often demonstrated both ways at the same time.
I do whip egg whites by hand; that ends up being faster than my big KitchenAid mixer, which I love, otherwise.
Didn't you ever see the French Chef episode where Julia pounded and shaped her dough by hand? She loved it and exclaimed how fun it was! I use gadgets and my hands, depending on what I'm doing and when. I consider the time to be able to bake/make anything from scratch a luxury, though--I know many people who honestly don't have the time and/or energy at the end of the day.
Before being diagnosed with Celiac disease, I did all the kneading by hand. Now I have to make my bread with gluten-free ingredients. Everything is super sticky and adding the different gluten-free flours to un-stick things when attemting to knead the dough just makes the bread tough. I miss kneading bread. :(
I do everything but salsa and blending soups by hand (obviously on that one, I suppose) because I don't have room for gadgets, and even though I'm in my 30s and bake all the time, I *still* haven't gotten it together enough to even buy a hand mixer. Anyway I think it tastes better with a little bit of you up in your food. More homey and less perfection please.
Occasionally I use my hand-mixer for something like beating egg whites or making whipped cream or frosting, but for the msot part I do all my baking by hand. I don't have the room or the budget for a stand mixer, and the blender/food processer lives up in a top cabinet, so I only get it down for smothies, humas, etc. - stuff that really needs to be chopped up as it's mixed. I don't mind the hand-mixing, but I think the kitchen-aid stand mixers are so pretty!
I have no stand mixer and despite doing a lot of baking (including bread), I really don't want one.
I covet a big red KitchenAid stand mixer, but first I have to move up a couple tax brackets or leave this borough so I will be able to rent the corresponding counter space. In the meantime, I do most things by hand. I have a mini food processor which can handle a few small jobs, a blender, and a very small hand mixer that isn't powerful enough to take on dough (just egg whites!).
I'll go back to doing egg whites by hand if the tricep jiggle gets bad in my old age. But I'll have to learn to do it left-handed, as well.
i'm all for hand-mixing for the tactile experience, but stand mixers are time-efficient, because you can be doing something else for your recipe while the mixer is doing the manual labor...
also...has anyone ever made italian meringue by hand?
I don't own a stand mixer, and while I would like one, I have no room for it.
I could use a hand mixer for cookies, but I've been mixing them for years with a large spoon and have just never bothered to do it any other way.
The hand mixer is usually reserved for beating egg whites or baked goods that require a really smooth batter (like cheesecake). I once made meringue with a whisk, and trust me, that one time was enough.
I like to knead my bread, believing that you can taste the love and energy that was put into making it. That might just be the massage therapist in me talking, though.
My mother did everything by hand, until the grinder came. And for the pesto - nothing better than a stone mortar and pestle to add the flavor that a machine made one lacks.
Are earth methods - cooking in clay pots, grilling on fire ( not the fall electric thingy) tasty.
Isn't slow cooking flavorful than the microwaved one ?
Of course do we have the patience for it even if we had the time ?
I'm going to be the voice of dissent here and say that I think the only thing I'm missing by not kneading bread or whipping egg whites by hand is a nice case of tendonitis.
We used to make 12 or more different kinds of Christmas cookies by hand every year. Doing it with multiple kitchenaids (my sis and I bring ours when we go home for this) has been an incredible blessing.
A note to cmcinnyc (and others): Amazon is having a Mother's Day sale, and the "empire red" 5-quart Artisan Series KitchenAid mixer is on sale for $190.
Good price. I think I'm going to buy one for my long-coveting girlfriend.
i love my kitchenaid dearly, but i tend to do smaller batches of things by hand (whipping a few eggs whites or a small amount of cream).
the food processor i only use when i really need to pulverize something to death. i love the action and satisfaction of chopping and dicing with a good knife too much. and i really need to get a mezzaluna.
-michelle @ http://www.thursdaynightsmackdown.com
I'm a slave to the recipe, I do whatever it says.
i'd never make bread if i had to knead it by hand. :-/
What's next? Milk your own cow that you keep in your studio using all that space that freed up after you threw out your kitchen appliances?