Professional Series: Gourmet Performance

Vita-Mix - Preferred by The Culinary Institute of America

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR BETTER FOOD

When blending with cream, remember two things. If your dish is hot (e.g., soup), make sure all of the ingredients, including the cream, are hot. Otherwise the cream will clump on its way to becoming butter. If your dish is cold (e.g., Chicken mousse), make sure all of the ingredients and the container are as cold as possible. Then blend quickly, in spurts. If you blend cold cream for more than a few seconds in your CIA Professional Series, you will turn the cream into butter.

If you use common table salt, use a little less. For best flavor, we recommend using a high quality natural salt, like sea salt.

With any savory recipe you have that calls for water, try adding stock: chicken, fish, or vegetable, depending on the dish. The flavor will be dramatically better.

Remember, because of the power of your CIA Professional Series, you can add virtually anything to your soups and sauces for flavoring: pieces of fresh ginger, whole peppercorns, cloves of garlic, jalapeño peppers, etc.

For added flavor and texture when making soups, add some raw vegetables when blending.

You can use the variable speed on your CIA Professional Series to stir and thoroughly mix batters and cake mixes.

If you're going to blend for 15 seconds or longer, you do not need to chop or dice your ingredients first. The CIA Professional Series will make it smooth.

When using a cutting board, be sure to place a damp cloth or paper towel under it to keep it from sliding while you're cutting.

For easy cleaning, add just a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid to the container and fill half way with warm water. Start on slow and speed up to high.

Substitutions

Half and half or whole milk may be substituted for whipping cream in soups and sauces.

Whenever possible, get whole spices. Ground spices, for the most part, have lost lots of their flavor and character. Whole spices last four to ten times longer, taste much better and your CIA Professional Series will grind them easily. The same is true for nuts: chop them yourself. It's easy and they'll taste better.

If you do use ground spices you will generally need to add about 1/3 more than if you use fresh spices.

Pan roasting whole spices brings out a nutty, rich flavor. Use a cast iron skillet on the stove and "toast" them. No oil is needed but be careful not to burn them.

Blanching garlic first will remove much of the bitter oil. Drop cloves into boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool in cold water. Also note that elephant garlic is usually less bitter so you can use more if you want a strong garlic flavor.

For recipes with black pepper, use whole peppercorns. You can substitute freshly ground pepper if you wish.

Even powdered sugar tastes better when you make your own. Try it! Put up to 4 cups of granulated sugar into your CIA Professional Series and turn to high for 45 seconds.

When you dip raw veggies into a dip, you're mostly looking for salt. Try blanching the veggies for 30 seconds in salted water, then plunge them into ice water. Drain. You'll use less dip and eat more veggies!

If you want some ingredients coarse, add them at the end and slow down the speed.

Remember: the better the ingredients, the better the finished dishes. Use good olive oil, vinegars, spices, etc. A chef at Le Cordon Bleu once said, "Don't cook with any wine you wouldn't like to drink."

Do not worry about what ingredients to add to a recipe. Try new things. If you don't have a spice the recipe calls for, try another.

Many of the recipes eliminate the need for chopping and dicing your ingredients. You may wish to quarter larger items such as onions or potatoes.

Using the CIA Professional Series for batters or omelettes will make them lighter and fluffier.

Butter

When using butter in recipes, unsalted is generally better than salted. Store unsalted butter in the freezer if not using right away. You can also make your own butter with your CIA Professional Series.

Peeling

In many cases, you should not peel your fruits and vegetables. The peel and seeds often contain valuable anti-oxidants and vitamins. Some seeds are exceptionally rich, like apple seeds, and will get thoroughly pulverized. Some, like bell pepper seeds, can be bitter and should be removed. Interestingly, though, chili seeds and jalapeno seeds add more heat to your dish or drink. Pits, of course, should not be blended. Banana and citrus peels should be removed.

Accelerator Tool

The accelerator tool is an extremely useful tool. It allows you to facilitate the blending of coarse or thick ingredients that other blenders just cannot blend. NEVER USE THE ACCELERATOR TOOL UNLESS THE RUBBER LID IS IN PLACE! Learn to use your accelerator tool to push ingredients down into the blades. Foods like quartered apples or onions, whole carrots, whole bananas, etc. will easily get blended with a little pressure. Also, use the accelerator tool in a circular, counter clockwise motion to get things moving as needed.

37,000 RPM

Here's what that means to you: more flavor. How? When strawberries, for example, get blended at 37,000 rpm (that's over 600 spins a second) they don't just get pureed. At that speed, when the seeds and individual cells hit the blades, they literally explode, releasing more flavor and more nutrients. A strawberry sauce made in your CIA Professional Series will actually taste better and offer more vitamins than one made in another blender.

CIA Professional Series vs Food Processor

In recipes that call for a food processor, in virtually all cases the CIA Professional Series will do a far superior job. The exception would be a large quantity of coarsely chopped ingredients.

Hot Water Tip

If some ingredients such as cream cheese or butter chunks are too cold or purees too thick, they may not get pulled into the blades. In this case, use a small amount (a teaspoon or tablespoon at a time) of hot water to soften them.

Try New Flavors

Try using spices and flavors you like in your recipes. For example, add fresh ginger to your mayonnaise recipe, or cracked pepper to your hollandaise. Or anise. Or turmeric. Or capers...

Sharp Knives

Keep your knives sharp. A "steel" does not sharpen, it merely cleans the blade of burrs. You need a good stone. Follow the instructions and then finish with a few strokes of the steel. A dull knife is dangerous because you push harder to make your cuts.