I asked DD about the Thermomix in Carpentras, but she was no use. Didn’t use it, see it used, even pay attention to it.

So I have nothing useful to add, but it occurred to me that if one had the smallest kitchen in the world, then with a two burner induction hob, a combi steam oven, a Thermomix, a cutting board and two knives, almost every dish would be possible.

Yeah, I was thinking along those actual lines, though more Gisele than a regular combi-steam. I don't know how real the videos are vs. how much they're ”sort of”. The weigh, boil, steam, slow cook, seem obvious. The blender stuff compared to a stick blender to puree your soup should be fine. The whip probably works, but looks like a mess, and one has to wonder about deflating while trying to get the whipped stuff out, but there's no reason to think it doesn't work. And as one who had to hand whip a dozen eggwhites to stiff peaks back when, I'll say just about anything is better. There's a turbo setting for blender stuff, but I don't know if to goes to 100% liquify. The FP style chop/mince is pretty straightforward. There is a temperature control, and it should be accurate, but it tops out at boiling.

All that seems fine, but the manual is useless, all CYA stuff and names of parts. The website says 28 functions. There are tiny videos with no explanations. 1. Brown. Well it's not sear. They show strips of meat being whirled around. I don't know if it's turbo or something. Not what my mother meant when she taught me to brown the meat. 2. Caramelize. The video shows making toffee! That's no problem with a low temp unit. Serious something lost in translation. 3. Chop. This is the FP thing. 4. Cook. They show it cooking what looks like fettuccini — already curled up in a canister, so they don't have to deal with softening long dry sticks. I'm sure you can heat some water in it, put the ends of the past in until they soften, and ease them in, same way as in any small pot. But heating and hydrating dry pasta is ”cook”? More lost in translation? 5. Crush. More blender/FP work. Crushed ice. 6. Emulsify. Blender trick again. They show making mayonnaise. I posit that it's the same deal as crushing ice—the knife thing goes round fast—and it's the egg yolk and the mustard doing the actual emmulsification, but that's just being picky. It's a sales brochure and non-cooks coukd be swayed by look Ma, I can make mayo! 7. Fermentation. Cozy spot for your bread dough to rise. Useful in a cold kitchen, especially with a constannt temperature, which this is supposed to have, though the manual starts with safe internal temperatures for meats, but they don't include a termometer. Natural point of collaboration or even just branding, with Thermoworks. Thermomix sell casserole dishes. The kind that go in ovens. 'Cause you can prep in the Thermomix and make a normal baked casserole. I just find it hilarious.

8. “Grate”. They powder up a block of parm or similar. A third lost in translation, but there is an actual grater add-on purchase. 9.Heat. It's hard to tell, but I think they're putting in chunks of chocolate and whirring them around at heat, then pouring over a tall stack of American style pancakes. (Ugh. Maple syrup, or blueberry, please, but one could use the same basic method to make a nice ganache, and the pouring was a good demo of what it actually was. And melting chocolate without a double boiler, or a good induction hob, is nice.) 10. Kettle. Huh? They pour in a pitcher of water and whirr it around, then show a spouted kettle or teapot pouring. The Termomix cylinder Has a handle. There is a third party strainer lid with a pour spout, but I get the idea you could boil water and pour it into a pitcher or wide opening teapot. 11. Knead. Straightforward enough. Put in your ingredients and it will mix and knead your dough. Then you can make your dough ball, and if it's bread, put it in fermentation mode. 12. Mix. Use it to beat up your cake batter. 13. Pre-clean. Like the self clean on my Vita-mix. Gets the gunk, then you wash/rinse. 14. Pulverize. I think they're putting in granulated sugar and making ppowdered sugar. Another blender trick, but the sugar won't etch the stainless vessel the way it dies the clear plastic or glass of a regular blender jar.

15. Rice. Steam rice in the basket insert that comes with it. 16. Sauté. Um. Okay. They whirr around some chunks of onion so they're a bit beaten up, soft and gold and add to a tart. I wonder if one could do a real sauté with the knife out. I use the sauté mode on my multicooker that way, but only for things that don't matter, to save an extra pot. But, you can, is the point, right? 17. Slow cook. They show a very wet preparation with the knife in and stirring. Way different from the norm. No wonder they sell that cover thing. They made a piece of meat to be shredded. One has to be more careful with other things. But I'm sure it works fine on slow cook in the right configuration. 18. Sous vide. Quite normal. Put pouch in water. The knif circulates the water, held at temperature. Use shield to protect pouch. 19. Steam. In the lidded double tray on top. They show a mix of things and what look like meatballs with the buns they kneaded and fermented on the upper tray.

20. Stir mode. Not sure. Maybe they're heating soup? Stirring is nice, but it's the knife assembly. Good for consistent temperature, but not scraping the corners, sudes nor bottom. Good if you don't want lumos in your farina? Oh! Maybe it was dried peas becoming soup, but I stand by the scraping comments. 21. Thicken. It looks like milk and flour going in. I don't understand what they're making, but I'm guessing they mean ”reduce”. 22. Weigh. Involved digital interface, good for beginners who don't know how. Accurate to the gram. 23. Whip. They use cream, not stiff peaks, and don't show how it works or how you get it out. 24. Whisk. This is the eggs. They show a bit more and do get stiff peaks. They make a Pavlova or similar. I wonder if it can do fewer eggs.

They say 28 modes. There are 9 video pages with three per page. The first one is about general use and putting it together, and the first two on the last page are the last two from the previous page (pesumably to use the same template) so they're off by four. Or maybe they count differently. I think it's a European company, so how different could they be? Do they count thumbs once as fingers and once as not?

I still think this is as great as device as it seemed all those years ago when a gal on GW was trying to get one from Canada (before they were sold here), and the faults noted above are in the marketing much more than the product.. People install Nutone systems (1960's whizbang) in larger RVs, especially if they're full timing. I think this does more, better, in less space, though it's heavy and maybe not for older people if they're moving around often, but if they can secure it for travel easily and have a bit of counter space, it could be magic.

I had to google it -- never heard of it.

I would have one on my Grand Banks 42! Or my Paris pied-a-terre.

You'd be better off with a decent knife, an induction hob, an air fryer and a stick blender.

It costs a fortune. In France, the majority of people who seem to have one are retired women - they're the only people who can afford one. Unfortunately, they don't understand how they work properly so you go on to selling sites and there are thousands for sale.....

Lidl do one that is reputed to be just as good and a quarter of the price.

You really can't cook very much with a thermomix. It's more an over-priced preparation aid and a really expensive blender. Also, the size of it - it's a monster. Your average Parisian kitchen wouldn't cope with it. - the average being 42M2!

Quickly checked, there are some used TM-5 and -6 on US eBay and FB marketplace, but not that many and they are expensive, $800-1,000. Might as well buy new.

Thinking about what other combination of things would aggregate to approximate a Thermomix. Maybe an InstaPot, a knife & cutting board, and a Vitamix? Plus I guess some steamer basket thing for the InstaPot?

Yes, they call the T. a multivooker. The reviews say IP is okay for some sous vide tasks but without a circulator, is only accurate withon a few degrees. People do manually stir it. (But I'm not up on all the hacks and after market accessories for the IP.) OTOH, while the T. is supposed to do very well with the temperature and circulation, the 2.2L narrow jar limits the capacity, Great for the boat (assuming stable, adequate electrical, or shore power) or pied-à-terre, but not the whole family or guests. Given the supplemental pieces, you'd need a knife and board, multi-blade food mill (or youth, a second blade you can abuse, and shoulder power, plus a chinois—or Osterizer, though the reviews say what I thought I saw in the videos: It takes some fussing to get smoothie smooth, and doesn't liquify completely, like Vita-mix), scale, grater, potato peeler or paring knife (if you're into potatoes—though you'd probably still need the paring knife with T. to clean up the potatoes after they'd been abraded by the unit). But yeah, the T. is basically a blender with a scale and heater (steamer), plus optional grater. I'm not sure if the IP has an equivalent to the flat, wide steaming dish on top, but I think it does more oven-y things. T. would be so much better if it chilled! But it would probably make it too heavy…