Should You Upgrade to the Thermomix 6? My Review.

I was pretty surprised when the new Thermomix model was announced. Historically it was 5 years earlier than the usual timeline on new machines. But when I read up on it and realised there were quite a lot of new features, I realised why. Kitchen technology is advancing rapidly, hell, all technology is advancing rapidly and ten years is just dinosaur timing. Vorwerk are on it and in a big way. I mean would you wait ten years for a new phone model? I don't think so.

The screen has had a lot of press and with good reason. It is significantly larger and easier to navigate than the 5. You have access to all the Cookidoo recipes right there on the screen and where that used to be pretty difficult for the older peeps amongst us (looking at myself) due to the font sizes, this is resolved with this impressive new feature. They are also bluetooth enabled so you can literally have as many recipes as there are online right there on the screen. (If you are logged into the Cookidoo site.) I have to admit, it has been a bit oversold on the number of recipes. Unless you speak literally every language, you are limited to the number that are in English or potentially your mother tongue if that happens to be on there. 50,000 recipes is a large claim and probably only true if you are a linguistics expert.

You actually can only use the higher heat with recipes from Cookidoo. This may or may not be a good thing. If you are a bit nervous in the kitchen in general, then this is clearly a good thing. It is a safety feature that I understand. However, as someone who probably will not use the Cookidoo for much at all, this is just an inconvenience to me. I think chefs will be in the same boat on that one. Enough said. I can still caramelise onions without the higher heat, so all good!

Silly me. I thought you could kimchi up a storm IN the Thermomix. Which actually you probably could, but not using this feature. It refers strictly to creating yoghurt. Still runny. Sorry. I do have the best recipe for pot set yoghurt there is...and yes, it uses a Thermomix, any model and an oven, any model.

I admit I was pretty excited about this one. I was thinking how much clearer my bench would be, kettle-less, just Thermomix on the bench. (I do prefer NOTHING on the bench, but I have capitulated to not one, not two but just three Thermomixes on the bench!)

SO...I ran the Thermomix 6 and the kettle side by side, boiling the same amount of water to 100°C. Kettle won. That is, if you are about timing. It was a good 3 minutes faster, which is a lot of time in the kitchen. However, I could set the Thermomix to the precise temperature for my tea (or brewed chocolate) of choice and know that it would not be overheated in any way. This is a plus. Having said that, I have a fancy schmancy kettle that gives me temp options too. So you decide on this one. Time doesn't matter? Crappy kettle? It might be a win. I generally would not boil water in the Thermomix for any reason other than steaming something specifically.

YAY, just YAY. Slow cooking is so great for so many reasons. If you are a small household, slow cooking in the Thermomix makes SO much sense. And again, it is just one appliance. Ditch the big ole slow cooker you pull out a couple of times through the winter.

I cooked a recipe of mine that is designed to be slow cooked, and used the slow cooker function on the Thermomix. I was playing around with times, because obviously I needed to know, and it was basically fine. I had to add time to the original recipe. Which once you know that, all good. I think the occasional stirring feature is great for slow cooking as it tends not to break down the food as much, and when you are cooking meat this is a good thing. I think you can still slow cook in the other models, you just have to reduce the temperature, use the Butterfly with blade on reverse and you kind of get a similar result.

I have been using my Thermomix 31 and Thermomix 5 for sous vide for literally years. I simply use the Stasher Bag (which I used to sell but are now in abundance across the world, and by many other brands) marinated whatever IN the bag, then steamed the silicone, plastic free, heat safe bags with the food in them and yum...dinner was served. So you didn't capture me with that one.

I was skeptical. I was derisive. I laughed that this was a feature that could sell a $2K plus kitchen gadget to people. Surely we were better than honeycomb?

It's awesome. I don't mind saying I have tried a few batches. It is WAY too simple. I can have honeycomb in well...14 minutes or whatever it is. Slightly dangerous, but a lot of fun to play with. The Thermomix is completely silent during the initial stages (I thought I had broken it) and then voila, it beeps, you add your bicarb and magically, you have honeycomb. I have joined Honeycomb Anonymous. HA for short. Yes. I love that feature.

If I had the Thermomix 5 and saw the Thermomix 6 in action, I may have FOMO but to be honest it is like owning the next iphone. It has some great new tricks and bits, but it is still a phone and it still works for what you need it to do. I love all three of my Thermomixes. They are ALL fantastic machines. They do amazing things in my kitchen. I love the challenge of finding new and wonderful ways to create recipes that work using them. If you already have a Thermomix and you are reading this, you are no doubt loving it. If you don't have a Thermomix yet, you are going in at the premium level. The Best Thermomix yet. The most advanced. The most trouble free. With more recipes than ever before (if you speak Chinese or Italian) Don't wait any longer. It simply cannot get better! (Pretty sure.)