5 reviews of Proctor Silex 59735 Immersion Hand Blender
1、I ordered this blender not expecting much. My budget is pretty tight right now, but I wanted something to allow me to make smooth soups and sauces until I am able to replace my old food processor that was lost in my last move.
It arrived very quickly. The packaging was surprisingly shoddy for Amazon – there was a hole the size of a baseball ripped in the side of the box and the tape was partway off of the bottom. Luckily, the blender itself was not harmed.
The blender looks as described/pictured. As others mentioned, I was surprised at how small the blade is. It didn’t feel too cheap in my hand and I liked the plastic guard at the bottom – some of my pots are nonstick and this won’t damage them.
I put it to the test today when I decided to make a pot of sweet potato soup. I cooked some fresh sweet potatoes, onions, and celery until softened, but not mushy. I expected the blender to have a hard time with it, given the size of the blade and the low price compared to others. Much to my surprise, it made short work of perfectly pureeing my veggies and I was left with a smooth, velvety soup in only a couple of minutes. It was much faster than it would have been to transfer batches to a regular blender.
The key to getting good results with this blender is making sure you have enough liquid. It forms a suction to bring the food though the blade, and it needs liquid in order to be able to pull the food in.
In all, this is a great buy if you need a simple hand blender for things like pureed soups and sauces.
2、I had been looking at Immersion Blenders for a couple of weeks but just didn’t know if I wanted to spend $50.00 for something that I wasn’t even sure I needed. I stumbled upon this one and the reviews seemed good so I thought I would give it a try. WOW!!!! Had I known it would work so well, be so easy to clean, and fun to use (if that’s possible) I would have taken it out of the box weeks ago. Now I’m looking for recipe’s where I need an Immersion blender. Clearly I’m easily entertained.
3、Don’t expect more than basic immersion blender functions! It’s one of my favorite gadgets in my kitchen. I use it for pureeing for soups, scrambling larger amounts of eggs so they’re light and fluffy, mixing puddings and jello, whipped cream, some less chunky smoothies. I occasionally do mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, but after butter, milk and whatever other stuff is added and in a deep bowl or can be a mess. Lots of uses!
However, don’t expect it to do more hard core kitchen things and replace a blender and/or food processor. It doesn’t (effectively IMO) mash up some types of big, chunky fruit especially frozen, chop nuts, certainly not ice! For that stuff you’re going to need to spend more than $12.99 and get a wazoo style, more powerful and maybe with attachments.
Serious bang for your buck though! I’ve had mine for 2 years and have used it a lot!
4、I only use this occasionally, mainly to blend barbecue sauce which is rather thick. It does a fine job.
I got this little hand blender so that I don’t have to drag out and wash my big one. There is a max line about 4 inches (I think) up the shaft above which you are not supposed to stick it in whatever you’re blending. “Immersion” is only up to a point. You are also not supposed to “immerse” it in your dishwater. I have no problem with this; just thought I would let you know it has limits.
The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because you have to continue to hold the trigger down while you use it. This can be tiring and sometimes, depending on what you are doing, a bit awkward. Otherwise, it is a great little piece of equipment.
5、I’m a cook, so the items that are favorites I use time and time again for their intended use. After many years of use, my former Proctor Silex met with an accident with the floor and the bowl at the bottom cracked. Actually, I used this cracked for quite a while, however I was fearful that it would break when I needed it the most.
This has been such a work horse that not only did I replace my former one, but I bought one for each of our kids and my brother in law as well, plus another one to give away in a fundraiser for a charity I participate in.
I primarily use this to blend thick soups and sauces and this does just a great job in very fast time. PLUS the price is sure right as well.
Six reviews of Cuisinart CSB-76 SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender
1、This is a great little tool for having in the kitchen. Easily comes apart for cleaning. Can liquify a half-dozen bananas in no time at all.
I agree with others who have said they wished it came with a larger container for mixing.
And I can also see how dangerous this item could be. The extremely sharp blades spin at dizzying speeds. If you aren’t careful I’m sure you could recreate a moment from a horror movie!
Overall, I’m very satisfied and would recommend this product.
2、I purchased the Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick Hand Blender from Amazon for myself for Mother’s Day when I saw the special offer from Amazon. I have wanted a hand blender for many years but would always talk myself out of purchasing one…”You don’t really NEED another appliance, you can just use a blender or mixer to do the same thing, you need the money for other things”, etc. When I saw the great offer, I purchased it with the idea of using it to make creamed soups. I haven’t used it for that purpose, yet, but have used it for mashing potatoes and it was fast and easy. Almost too easy. This past week-end I made homemade applesauce and the apples didn’t cook down the way I like them to, so I whipped out my SmartStick and made the smoothest applesauce ever. No more food mill for me. My seven month granddaughter, who is just starting on foods, was visiting. The applesauce was perfect for her. This will work out great to make her baby food in the future. I’m very pleased with the ease of using the SmartStick and it has ample power for my purposes. It is easy to use and clean-up was a breeze. I can tell this is going to be an appliance I use for many purposes and will be used often.
3、I needed a blender, but didn’t have the kitchen space or budget to buy a regular blender. This Smart Stick seemed the perfect solution! I’ve had mine about 6 months, and so far so good!
Pros:
- Easy to use! Just press the on button and you’ll blend really quickly. The blade stick pops right off with the click of another button, and is dishwasher safe!
- Surprisingly powerful! For a $30 stick blender, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But this thing blends really well and fast. Once you turn it on, you feel the really strong suction and it blends so quickly. I use it to blend thick lentil stews and to make yummy frozen drinks, and it works great with both!
- VALUE. I can’t believe this works so well for only $30!
Cons:
- It’s a little tricky to use with icy drinks. It’s loud and potentially a little messy. But I’ve found that if you blend a small amount at a time, it works great. This is not the blender to buy if you want to make margaritas for 15, but if you’re making one drink at a time, it’s very easy and fast!
4、I enjoyed dealing with Amazon. Everything went smoothly. Arrived so fast.
I have been enjoying using the hand blender so much. I like making my own low calorie home made soup. It’s a snap with the Cuisinart.
Only one feature about it. One has got to watch not to be preoccupied while using it. This is what happened to my daughter one day while she was using hers. There is no safety feature on the push button that runs the blade. She turned it off, but didn’t unplug it before she put her finger inside to clear some food from the blade. At that moment she layed it down on the counter and the button got pressed against the counter, which turned the blade on and cut her finger. After she told me that story, I try to make it a habit to unplug before dealing with the blade. Unplug, plug in…unplug, replug. Pain in the neck, but safety first. Has anyone
ever complained about this before? A safety feature with the button is something to consider, Cuisinart.
I love the SmartStick hand blender!!
5、I use it to make protein shakes, smoothies, and hummus among other things. Mixes quick and cleans even quicker! I am a Prime member so I basically received this before I ordered it! In other words, I got it fast. Soups are a breeze to mix up and chop things, puree is fast, I sometimes throw a ton of things into my protein drinks and think it is going to be too much for the SmartStick. Peanut butter, honey, raw oats, banana, frozen blueberries, and a cup of milk and then the dry protein. Impossible to mix with a spoon. SmartStick went through it and mixed it in less than a minute.
6、I used to think of immersion blenders as silly and unnecessary… until I got one, which happened to be this one.
As a new mother I wanted to make my baby’s food and found the pitcher blender and the food processor to be *okay* but not terrific for making food into the consistency of puree that I was looking for. (This is for an older infant who is able to handle stuff that hasn’t been through a food mill.) On a whim I decided to give this smart stick a shot because I have other Cuisinart appliances that I’ve had for ages & been really happy with, plus – at least at the time of my purchase – the price was low enough that even if I didn’t like it it wouldn’t have been a huge loss to just pass it along to someone else.
I loved it immediately. In under a minute, the bowl of steamed fruit (with a bit of water added) was consistently and smoothly pureed. There’s only 1 button that you have to hold in to run it and then it shuts off once pressure is removed from it – very easy to operate. I moved on to other fruits and vegetables and have not yet been disappointed. I had worried that making my own baby food at home would be too much of a pain, but this hand blender makes it a snap to do a large batch at once which I then portion out and freeze. It paid for itself in the first month of use in what it saved on buying jars of baby food at the store (especially because I buy only organic stuff for the kiddo).
Then, as long as I already had it, I tried it in a few batches of soup that I made… and wondered how I had gone so long without ever getting one of these before! No more fiddling around with pouring scalding hot soup into the blender in batches (I make a big pot so there are leftovers – quite a juggling act when smoothing it out bit by bit). My mom, who had used a different kind of immersion blender in the past said that this one changed her mind (for the positive) about them – apparently it’s much easier to use than others which don’t have a guard around the blade, which totally makes sense to me.
Cleanup and storage are also totally easy. The end that touches food pops off with an easy press of a button and it goes right into the dishwasher. It’s also small enough so storage isn’t a hassle. My husband and I have a verrrrrry small urban apartment with very limited cupboard space, so we really are conscious about each thing that we bring into our home because we don’t like clutter and there’s therefore no room for extras. Even though that’s the case, the appliance part is about as big as my hand so it tucks neatly between larger appliances in our cupboard. The blade fits easily into our cutlery drawer. We already had measuring cups so gave away the one that came with this, but it’s a great thing to have too if you need it.
