 |
Braun MR 290 Multiquick
by redhead78
I received this Braun hand blender as a housewarming gift when I moved into my first flat 7 years ago. As I didn't buy it myself I don't know how much it cost but knowing more now than I did then about these sort of kitchen gadgets I would guess it was around the £10-£15 mark as it is a very basic, although branded, hand ... blender.
Being quite a budget version it is in no way all singing all dancing like some blenders your see nowadays and pretty much what you see is what you get. It is a standard stick blender in white plastic with pale blue accent colour. The stick comes in two parts, the main part attached to the wire and the removable blade part. It also came with a big transparent plastic cup/glass, just big enough for using the blender in but without much wiggle room.
First of all, ease of use. This is a great hand blender for me. I use it mainly for two things; 1) blending soups and 2) pureeing soft fruits for coulis etc and this lightweight machine makes it very easy to do this. Even when I'm making a huge potful of soup to freeze my arm doesn't struggle to hold it for the length of time required to liquidise all the vegetables. I haven't measured the flex it's on but my guess would be around a metre long, which is more than enough for me as my kitchen is the only room in our house that has ample plug sockets (who, when building a house only puts one plug socket in a bedroom?????? grrrr!!).
To use, you simply insert it into the container you're blending in and push the button on the front of the stick, which means it is easy to use one handed. As it is a basic blender it only has one speed, which some people might find offputting, but for my needs it is more than adequate, especially as I have a food processor for any more substantial jobs. It chops through cooked vegetables easily, incuding the harder ones like carrots and parsnips and then liquidises them no problem at all. For a big panful of soup it usually takes me only a minute or two to get it to the consistency I like (smooth but with a few chunks left in).
To clean the blender you simply unscrew the bottom part which contains the blades and wash in warm, soapy water. I usually give the main part a wipe down with a damp cloth (after unplugging from the mains, obviously!). I have used this blender at least twice a week on average in allsorts of concoctions including tomatoey ones and ones full of turmeric, but after washing there is never any staining and it is still sparkly white.
When fastened together the blender measures approximately 14 inches in length and, obviously, when apart it is about half that length so it doesn't take up much room at all. To be honest I very rarely use the plastic beaker it came with as I tend to just blend in whatever pan/bowl I'm using, so this gets stored separate to the rest of it in my general jugs/bowls cupboard.
My only gripes with this blender are that it does tend to splash quite a but. Nothing huge, but a few little splodges of soup tend to find their way onto my clothes or kitchen tiles. I've recently bought myself a lovely spotty apron which helps with the former (when I remember to put it on!), but barring putting a teatowel or something over the bowl as I'm blending (which I tried but makes it harder to see what's going on in there) there is nothing to stop the splashes onto the tiles, so I do have to spend time wiping these down after every use, which is probably good kitchen practice anyway but a bit annoying!
Also, and this is a very minor niggle, a lot of blenders come with a plastic attachement to hang on your wall, making them easy to store. I personally wouldn't store it in this way anyway, but I'm just mentioning it in case others would want to as this blender doesn't come with that functionality. But then again, for the (estimated) price I don't think you can really complain.
All in all this is a basic but very easy to use blender that does the job I want it for quickly, is easily cleaned and doesn't take up a lot of space in my kitchen. And mine is still going strong after pretty much constant use over 7 years...what more could a girl ask for?!
Read the complete review |
