Soup maker

I have very little freezer space and a big pot of soup which HAS to be eaten becomes boring. I like the idea of a smaller pot .

I am not a great lover of soup. So, not a bit interested to learn how to make this.

aggie I find that a full soupmaker is too much of one kind of soup for me to eat up, by the time it is finished I am absolutely fed up with it, so I have one plateful, divide the rest between two containers, put one in the fridge and freeze the other. That way I build up a varied supply of frozen blocks of a reasonable amount each. It can be like consulting a restauarant menu, "Which soup today? The broccoli and stilton? the tomato and basil?"

I have the odd mad day when I peel , boil/simmer , blend and pressure cook and end up with a groaning freezer , I use the Marigold stock too , but it has onion in it so my Sister can't use it as she is very sensitive to onion . I suppose the soup maker would be handy for a day like today when I have a cupboard of empty containers and not a bit of soup left in the freezer but no inclination to do a mammoth cook up !

You shouldn't need trial and error for an automatic soupmaker, Greyduster The Cuisenart sounds like just an ordinary saucepan with an attached blender blade, not automatic at all. Put it on Ebay or Gumtree and buy a Morphy-Richards!

It was supposed to take twenty minutes, Elegran, but it took about thirty five. I suppose it's trial and error but considering what this these things cost should you not expect them to be pretty much foolproof? As for the seasoning, I used Knorr vegetable stock pots as I wanted DD to try it and she is vege. May not have been strong enough, and I think he recipe called for a teaspoon of coriander. I may drag it out and try another recipe, but at the moment DH is into making soup the traditional way and we are up to our necks in soup!

I don't know about the Cuisenart, Greyduster but the MR blends in fits and starts too, with heating in between. I suppose the carrots or whatever cook faster when broken up a bit. How long was it supposed to take, and how long was it in reality? The MR takes 21 minutes for smooth carrot and coriander, and the carrots are certainly not cut as thin as you say.

The flavour is up to the recipe, as you say. For 1.2 litres of soup I use 600 gm of carrots, a small potato and a small onion (unless it is for Sil with IBS - he doesn't eat onions) The seasoning is a good heaped teaspoon of ground coriander and two or three of Marigold bouillon powder. It doesn't taste bland to me.

Glad you are happy with yours, Mapleleaf. I'm afraid mine is back in the garage!

I bought a tefal soup maker a few weeks ago. I'm impressed with the soups I've made in it so far. Once the veg is chopped, in it goes and 25 minutes later lovely soup to eat! Glad I got one.

Okay, I tried the Cuisinart soup maker this morning. Carrot and coriander because I had lots of carrots and it seemed the most simple. I followed the recipe to the letter.
Even with the carrots cut into slices no thicker than a 50p piece, it took far longer for them to become soft enough to blend than the recipe said it would. I thought the simmer function had gone to sleep but periodically it has a sort of burst of activity and then settles down again. Not sure if this is normal. Perhaps Thingamajig could put me right on that. The finished soup - it made about a litre - was a good consistency but even with extra seasoning it was very bland. I realise that this is not the fault of the soup maker. Will I give it another go? Maybe, if I only wanted a small amount of soup and was not batch cooking. You only have one cooking vessel to wash up - that's got to be a plus.

Thank you POGS

www.robertdyas.co.uk/salter-electric-soup-maker-jug-stainless-steel#

At the risk of being boring about a soup maker.

I really shouldn't expect anyone to make my mind up for me but indecisive is my middle name. SO Salter or MR, anyone used both and have a favourite?

Maybe it had a lot of potato in it - that can stick easier than most things. A good stir before strting up helps (was it you who said you should have used the stir facility partway through? because the MR doesn't have one)

Thanks for all the tips and hints. I'm afraid that I was so fed up with it I returned it to Robert Dyas. It was a Morphy Richards one btw, and had good reviews. I used veg granules as the stock, maybe they were too thick. Never mind.

It also sautéed if you want to

My new one has a nonstick bit at the bottom which solves the problem

Auntieing. You need to start by pouring some water into the bottom of the soup maker. This reduces the chance of veg burning on the base.

I use a really big pan - stockpot type - so I don't get splashes from the stick blender.
I can see that a soup maker is that bit easier, but there's also the question of another appliance cluttering up the worktop - no room in cupboards - and I don't have a very big kitchen.
Still, I might just go mad one day...

I don't know why you would want one with a stir button. Mine was from Robert Dyas too. Everything goes in and cold liquid. Switch on for purée or chunky. 20 mins later you have soup. Nothing sticks and easy to clean.

They must vary tremendously!

Mine requires x amount of 'fluid'(water and a stock cube usually 800 mils) dependent on the quantity of soup you want to make.

The 'fluid' must be cold as there is obviously a controlled temperature/cooking time thermostat, this will be different according to the instructions it would appear.

I put the fluid into stainless steel pot, top to the level with vegetables, put the lid on, press the start button and come back to cooked soup about 20 minutes ?

The soup maker is easy peasy to clean.

We actually bought the Salter soup maker because hubby was watching the tele and Holly Willoughby said she loved her Salter soup maker. We were considering buying one we looked it up and bought it from Robert Dyas for £39.99 . Super bit of kit.

PS. Definitely do not have to press a stir button occasionally. A soup maker should be so simple you press start and leave it to do it's job.

As I said previously, I haven't tried my soup maker yet, but I did read through the instructions in Saturday and it said to use the 'stir' button occasionally to stop the soup sticking. If you have to keep doing this, it kind of makes a nonsense of being able to walk away and forget about it until the timer goes off. But, as I said, I haven't tried it yet, so I am just surmising.

I only once had a burnt bottom!. It was when I made leek and potato soup which was too thin, so I made the mistake of adding more veg into the made soup and starting the timer again. I have learnt that the ingredients need to be a little way above the water level before you start, for the right consistency. My MR has to have boiling water to start.

Auntifloe

Sorry you had a 'sticky bottom'.

I can honestly say that has never happened in my soup maker.

A friend of mine 'did' actually have the same thing happen to her but her soup maker was shaped like a 'fat cone' it 'tapered ' in shape. She also didn't use cold water to start with which may have 'upset' the cooking time ??

My Salter soup maker is a very big , round stainless steel pot I wonder if that makes a difference?

I have never had any stuck to the bottom with my soup maker in the 3 yrs of using it! I would give it another go.