soup makers

I didn't know there was such a thing, pammygran, I usually whizz my soup with an electric blender.

I use a pressure cooker which is fast and makes excellent soup. If I want a smooth soup, I use my hand blender - need a new one because the cheap one I bought in Tesco two years ago keeps coming apart. In my small house, an electric soup maker would just take up space on the worktop which is also why I have never bought a bread maker.

Don't waste your money!! A good big pan and a whizzer (if you want smooth soup) are more than enough.
There are are too many gadgets that we apparently cannot live without (despite managing quite well for decades) mostly to be found in Granny Porn - otherwise known as the Lakeland catalogue.
I have succumbed to the ice cream maker, the slow cooker (actually really useful) the bread maker - also useful but trying not to eat bread so hmmmm.

I agree about the slow cooker. When the family were at home and I was working - and before I became a veggie - I would bung the meat and veg in before I went out in the morning and just leave it all day. It was good for cooking the cheaper but equally tasty cuts of meat, such as skirt. Eventually it got broken and I don't need one now.

I just use a handblender. A quick whizz in the saucepan and hey presto!

I taught soup making in food technology to yr 8s. We used hand blenders. The technician used a scouring pad on the tiles!

I have a cuisinart one. I find it very good!

Don"t whizz my soups ,just cut all veg into thumb nail sizes and simmer for a while as Mr Nonu likes soups like that and truth be told so do I . Wonder which came first ,

Good point Nonu but you can extract that something extra from blitzing some ingredients like tired veg.

Get what you are saying but I never use tired veg , don"t have any of them as we use so much they never have time to go "sad" . Love the time just after Christmas when I can boil up turkey carcass for broth

If I want a thick soup with some bits, I remove a few spoonfuls, whizz remainder then return bits - best of both worlds. Soup making is so simple I cannot imagine a machine could make it any easier.
For chopping veg. I use a 'nicer dicer' which gives even-sized pieces in a choice of two sizes.
www.amazon.co.uk/Nicer-Vegetable-Chopper-Slicer-Cutter/dp/B000HEBCEM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1342549069&sr=8-6

It was so funny to see pammygran's post.
This very morning there was the Lakeland catalogue in the post.
I saw the soup maker and thought What the .... is this?
We like soup, not baby food.
The Lakeland catalogue often leaves me puzzled. So much stuff I did not know I needed.
My farming friend bought the breadmaker, as did the nice next door neighbours.
They both produce the most amazing tasteless bricks which pass for bread.
Which is ok except that in their generosity they share these bricks with the rest of us.
Farming friend also bought the Marmelade Machine.
No comment!!........except hahahahahahahahahaha

If you like lovely creamy soup but don't want the calories try adding a couple of dessert spoons of pudding rice at the start of cooking. Once the rice is cooked, whizz as usual for a smooth and creamy texture.

Sometimes on our local market they sell large bags of cherry tomatoes for £1.00 each. I buy two bags, chop a couple of onions, add the rice and some water and cook. Yummy tomato soup, rather like tinned soup only fresh.

I've often wondered why I make ecstatic noises as I leaf through the Lakeland catalogue. Now I know it's "grannyporn" I fully understand my behaviour. the new one arrived today and even though I am up to my "oxters" (Ulster speak fgor armpits) with blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries and the attendant preserve making I was immediately hooked on their new offering-soft cheese making!! is there any treatment for this?

My bread is NOT A TASTELESS BRICK! I use all sorts of recipes and they are much enjoyed! I suspect your friend is using packets. I do occasionally, but they are the French francine ones and are different from the English!

Thanks for the tip, ayse. I added some rice to mushroom soup today and it gave it a very nice texture.

I've adapted my bread machine recipe and the bread I make in it is deliciously soft. One thing that made a big difference to the outcome is adding more liquid than the recipes that came with it said. Another is to take it out ten minutes before it has 'officially' finished baking.

My soup comes in tins, and my bread from the bakers, OH! dear!

Where do you keep all these gadgets? My kitchen isn't that large but there is more room since I had a clear out of all the items I haven't used in years. Breadmaker being one. I already have a soup maker - my OH.

How many is "all these"?

I saw the cheese maker; my grandmother used to make soft cheese when the milk went off in the summer. She'd wait for the curds to settle, then leave it to drain (rather like jelly making) in the cellar until the whey had all gons. It was lovely!

The only gadget I've bought but not used is one of those grill/toasted sanwhich makers, and that is only because I've only cooked mince (slow cooker) and soup( cuisinart soup maker) and salad since I bought it!

ariadne, did that on a camping holiday. We hung the straining cloth (thin, worn, teatowel) on something in the shade. Cottage cheese.

I have a bread-maker, but cheat and only use it for doing the tedious first dough-making bit. Then the dough gets tipped out, has things added, and gets pummelled into whatever shape I'm making that day. It's been worth its weight to be honest - my speciality is peanut-butter bread, which the GKs love.