How to create a Thermomix recipe
Our Recipe Development team have shared these handy tips to help you create a fool proof Thermomix recipe!
Before you start…
The tables at the front of The Basic Cookbook (pg. 32-37) and Everyday Cookbook (pg. 6-8) are great guides on ingredient weights and time/temp/speeds for your TM functions. Another idea is to find a similar recipe to the one you want to develop and have a look at the ingredient quantities and time/temp/speeds to use as a starting point for your recipe.
Write down your list of ingredients
Listing the ingredients in the order they are used in the method makes it easy for people to follow along as they cook. Remember that sometimes conventional recipes may perform steps in a different order to Thermomix recipes, for example milling your own flour, so you might need to rearrange the ingredients to make the most of your Thermomix functions.
Providing prep information for ingredients is a great idea so people get the same result that you did. For example, indicating if you chopped your carrot into 3 cm pieces; sliced your chicken breast into tenderloins; or if your butter was chilled. This also helps your cooking times and temperatures to be more accurate. For ingredients that can vary a lot in weight, we would recommend adding an approximate weight in brackets (i.e. 1 brown onion (approx. 150 g)).
Write out your method
Visual cues are a great way to guide people through your recipe and provide reassurance that they’re on the right track, as well as reducing the likelihood of mistakes. For example, whipping until soft peaks form, baking until golden brown, or cooking until the mixture coats the back of spoon in a thick layer. Tips are another great way to provide additional information, for example if you used a certain brand of gelatin leaves or if you left your dough to prove in the sun or a really warm place.
Step photos are also a great way to illustrate any steps that might be hard to write out and explain. If possible, take some quick ‘action shots’ as you go and include them to give people a clear idea of how to perform “tricky” steps. Remember, a picture is worth 1000 words!
If you’re steaming and blending hot food…
We recommend always using a gradual blending method for blending hot contents. An example of how this would be written is blend 1 min/speed 1-9, increasing speed gradually from speed 1 to speed 9.
When you are reducing liquids, place the simmering basket onto the mixing bowl lid instead of the measuring cup to help the liquid evaporate without the contents escaping onto the mixing bowl lid.
If you are using Varoma temperature for a long period of time in your recipe, we recommend stopping the cooking at 30 minute or 60 minute intervals to check the water levels and top up if needed. As a guide, the water level should never dip below 500 g.
Extra tips
It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with some of the more common safety instructions which can be found in your instruction manual. Some of the key ones to remember are to keep an eye on the maximum quantity mark in your Thermomix bowl; to only use the official Thermomix accessories; to never obstruct the hole in the mixing bowl lid or hold down the measuring cup when blending hot foods; and the maximum speeds for cooking on Varoma temperature (speed 2 for TM31 and speed 6 for TM5).
Before you publish your recipe...
1. Bold the time/temp/speed instructions to make them easier for people to read.
2. Check that your ingredients are listed in the order they are used in the recipe and that there are no ingredients missing from the ingredient list or in the method.
3. Include an image of the final dish - this makes people more likely to try your recipe and shows off your fantastic recipe!