Yes, they’re blenders, but not the kind you’d use to whip up your morning smoothie. They are electrically-operated, though, and the idea behind them is the same. The main difference is their shape: they’re long, hand-held sticks with a small blade at one end. This design allows you to dunk them down into pots and bowls to blend whatever you’re cooking, whether it’s a sauce, a stew, a soup, or anything else that has a muddy or chunky consistency. I love to use them with soups because then you can chop your vegetables coarsely during your prepwork rather than dice/mince them. And if you want to leave some chunky bits, just use your hand blender sparingly. However, a caution: be sure that the pot/bowl is fairly deep and that you can completely submerge the blender into whatever you’re cooking. If you don’t or if the container is shallow, the high-speed blade will spray your dinner far and wide!
A Hand Blender in Action
(If you want to see what a hand blender looks like, go to a website like bedbathandbeyond.com and look under “kitchen/kitchen electrics/blenders.” You’ll probably find hand blenders at the tail end of the blenders/small appliances section; they can be as little as $30 or as much as $100.)
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Tags: blending, cooking, hand blenders, kitchen tool, sauces
