My feedback after 7 months of Magimix Cook Expert cooking…
Before I start this long post I want to say that I do not work for Magimix nor am I sponsored by this brand. Probably because of my previous posts and my numerous recipes with the Magimix Cook Expert, some of my readers send me regular emails or post comment asking me when “you guys” are releasing the machine in the UK, the US or Australia, where and for how much.
Well, I’m only a simple even if enthusiastic client and I have no clue about Magimix’s sales strategy. I gather information on these matters in the Australian press, Magimix’s website and when I had them on the phone (where they gave me pretty vague answers).
My adventure with Thermo-machine started with THIS POST and a real quest for THE machine which would make my life easier, as a cook, as a mum and as a passionate recipe developer. After a few months of hesitation, multiple demo attending and migraine inducing web browsing I chose Magimix versus Thermomix or Kenwood or KitchenAid.
I decided to buy it while travelling to France in July 2015, because at the time it was the only country where it was sold. I brought it back to Sydney with me, as an oversize luggage, signing a paper stating that Qantas could basically destroy it, I would have only the right to cry…
It finally arrived in perfect shape and it was with a colossal level of excitement that I opened the box HERE.
After receiving a lot of emails (a few every day !) and comments about my first thoughts and then about my short but intense experience on the machine (about 7 months) I decided, instead of typing the same thing over and over again, to write the most complete account I could on this machine. The idea is to list the Pros and the Cons so that, at the end of the post, my reader can make an informed decision on purchasing or not this Thermo-appliance.
Let me walk you through the whole “set” of tools and what I liked and disliked about it.
What I loved and feared at the same time was the fact that the Magimix Cook Expert came with a food processor. You might not know this, but Magimix is the leading brand for food processors in France and it has the reputation of being efficient, solid, durable and having a range of high quality accessories.
I have always wanted to buy a food processor but I remained faithful to my DeBuyer mandolin for slicing, refused to grate anything and got stopped at the idea of crowding my kitchen bench even more. So while looking for the ideal bench top doing-it-all-for-me-cooking-machine, I found the idea of a food processor thermo machine genius. I would finally be able to make decent meatball mince, perfectly cut steak or salmon tartare, grate my own cheese instead of buying the starchy commercial version and slice my veggies especially for recipes such as Gratin Dauphinois (French potato bake) or Tian (all sorts of veggies sliced finely roasted in olive oil and Provence herbs).
What worried me though, is that the metal bowl’s blade was maybe be too weak to do these things. I thought it might be the reason why Magimix offered the food processor part. I was also worried that I’d need a bench top space the size of two Thermomixes: the big and ultra stable base with the metal bowl, the food processor Russian doll 3 plastic bowls, the box with 4 disks (2 grating and 2 slicing) the large food processor blade and the egg beating attachment. It takes a lot of space.
In the end of course I decided to choose the Magimix Cook Expert. I now have a sort of Magimix corner on my bench. It’s pretty impressive but as I use them all the time, there is no point hiding them somewhere in my already crowded cupboards.
My worry about the strength of the metal bowl’s blade vanished. I’ll tell you why later (below).
So the principle of the Cook Expert is that it has one “electric base” on which you twist and click either the transparent plastic food processor or the metal thermo-bowl.
The thermo bowl has an inside, removable steaming basket with a sort of perforated shelf (I’ll show it to you later), and a blade you can remove to wash. It has another attachment which is the egg beater.
The food processor, in clear plastic, has 3 bowls:
– The smallest (bottom left on the photo above) has a very sharp and strong blade. It is ideal for small quantities: herbs, nuts, meat, etc. You just dirty this small bowl which means that you won’t need to clean the main bowl (plastic or metal) and anyway, as in any large machines, dealing with small quantities properly is impossible.
– The medium one (top left on the photo, in the larger bowl, with a disk on top) is used with a shaft you insert in the middle and on which you place the grating and slicing disks.
– The largest bowl has a large, sharp and very solid blade, Magimix style, to mince anything. I use it for making all sorts of meat balls such as classic French; Lebanese with parsley, all spice and pine nuts and Japanese with ginger, garlic and soy (recipe here). I also make my regular tartares including the classic steak tartare, the exotic Thai beef tartare, or the Asian and Scandinavian salmon tartare.
This large bowl can also have the disk shaft plugged in the middle to grate a whole giant block of cheddar for example.
What I find difficult here is the way you need to clip the transparent lid. It’s hard to lock it and easy to go too far, passed the lock. With a worrying sound it sometimes goes passed the lock and you’ve got to do it again. I must be too rough… I don’t know why this doesn’t simply clip. It’s a bit annoying. The good part is that I always manage to clip it the second time and even if I forced it so many times, it never broke and never showed signs of weakness. It’s just, well… annoying.
Placing the blades is pretty easy. By default, you get a 2mm and a 4mm slicing disk and 2 graters: 1 for fine carrots, daikon, zucchini (with the new fashion of putting it in cakes) etc; and a larger holes one for grated cheddar, emmental, mozzarella, gruyère, etc. You can use that one for veggies and fruits too of course.
On the Magimix cookbook, you see a beautiful tart with the perfectly cut apple slices. Don’t dream too much, they weren’t sliced with the Magimix disk which on the other hand, does a great job but not an aesthetic one… If you want a pretty apple tart, use a knife. If you want an organic looking one, use the slicer and gain 30 mins :)
Once you’ve chosen and placed your disk and you have locked the lid, there are 2 different ways to insert the ingredients to be sliced or grated. You can put it in the large hole or use a reducer. The latter is great for thin veggies and to maintain them vertically.
There is a line in the plastic which indicates the maximum height allowed. If you cut your cheese or fruit higher, the “pusher” will not be able to give the “go” signal and the food processor will not start. It’s a security feature. It’s the same for any brand I’ve seen. Just make sure you cut your pieces to the right size.
As any food processor, the last bit will be left uncut, or if it’s cheese, it will make a chunk or a cheese ball.
Now the metal bowl. It has a lid with a cap and a steam system. What I love here is the fact that 1) the lid is transparent, you can see the food being prepared (unless you’re going ultra fast and the lid is covered in food, and in the case of condensation) 2) the steam system is made of stainless steel. It is ultra easy to wash, no smelly or stained plastic.
The steam system has 2 parts: a basket with “anti egg rolling indentations” and a shelf.
This allows you to steam 2 layers at the same time (fish/chicken together with veggies, or couscous semolina with veggies, etc).
An important thing to note is that you can cook something in the bowl and steam something on top. The metal bowl’s blade can turn while there is the basket on top. Imagine making a soup and cooking eggs on top, or chicken, or glutinous rice.
Many thermo-machine makers argue that the steam basket has to be external to do that. Not for the Magimix Cook Expert.
The steam basket is pretty deep. Despite its holes which are quite large, I cook my glutinous rice without a mesh or cheese cloth. I lose less than 5 grains in the boiling water ;)
I use this steamer all the time! It is super efficient, great for veggies I serve very regularly to the kids with a slither of salty butter and herb salt (such as Herbamare) and some home-grated cheddar sprinkled on top.
You can steam veggies of course but also rice, cakes, dumplings, bao buns, muffins, fruits, chicken, fish, etc. I find it faster than my previous steamer and soooo much easier to wash.
And finally, this is the blade and the water level.
Talking of level, I have pushed the limit of the machine to its extreme and poured way over the limit and it worked like a dream. The real capacity of the Cook Expert is a true strong point. I have to feed at least 5 people 2 to 3 times a day. The size of the bowl is plenty enough for my family.
The options on this machine are quite flexible: you can cook from no heating, then 30 to 140°C; you can choose different speeds or none at all. The blade can remain immobile. Speed 1A is very slow (A for alternating). It will turn slowly for a short while, then stops and repeats. This is ideal for stews. 2A is a bit faster and still alternating. I use it for risottos, rice puddings, dhals, etc. Then the lowest continuous speed is 3 and the highest and extremely fast speed is 18.
I have read in the recent comparative articles (The Good Food in the Sydney Morning Herald, Choice, etc) that the Magimix defeats the purpose of an all in one machine with its Food processor. I don’t agree with that. You can do everything the Thermomix can do in the bowl. Some say the metal bowl and blades are not as powerful for the milling part (for people making their own flour). I cannot compare as I didn’t see the Thermomix in action for this part. But I can say that I do mill my flour in the metal bowl and it works. It is not as fine as an electric stone mill (my dream… one day) but it makes great bread.
I have also seen people arguing that because of its giant bowl it doesn’t do small quantities as well as the smaller and more vertical bowls of other machines. That might be right.
I see the 2 in 1 machine: food processor + thermo appliance, as an enormous plus compared to Thermomix or others. I loooove the ultra fast slicing for large vegetable bakes, salads, tarts, etc. Yes you need to clip another attachment on the base, but geez, I love it. I heard that Tefal is now offering this option in France. It’s a huge plus but if you want to keep this attachment in the cupboard, you can, and the metal bowl will do as well as a Thermie.
While we’re looking at this blade (photo above) let’s talk about mushy food and reverse movements. All blade based systems will mush food more than a spoon. Personally I think that the reverse system of the Thermomix obtains similar results as the Magimix with its one way movement. You can actually cook a chicken curry with absolutely perfect little cubes of chicken, firm and intact. Remember that you can also set the blade on ZERO (immobile). It turns your Cook Expert into a slow cooker. For curries, meat cubes and other meat dishes, you can cook on slow alternating speeds such as 1A and 2A. I will think of some good recipes and add them to the list.
That being said, I also love making stews in a cast iron pot for 5 hours in the oven.
These are the accessories or attachments which will stay on your bench or will have to go in the cupboard: the grating and slicing disks box, the large food processor blade, the egg whisk and the disk shaft (which you can actually drop in the food processor for storage).
The egg beater or butterfly attachment is used to beat egg whites, smooth out sauces, and make a delicious mash with previously steamed veggies.
A quick shot (above) to show you the disks. It’s hard to see the different thicknesses between the 2 and the 4mm but you can tell one grater is clearly thicker than the other. I use the small one for carrots and the big one for cheddar (and of course many other things)
I hope the new version of the machine will be easier to “dial”. I would have preferred a knob system. I don’t like to have to use the black buttons on the sides to change from speed, temperature and minutes, then to go + or -. I get confused when I’m in a hurry, it’s annoying. I feel that there should be a lot less of pressing buttons to do.
Imagine you want 5 mins of speed 10 at 130°C. You will have to light up the minutes, press so many times to get five minutes (or remain pressed and then it goes very quickly over) then press another button to light up speed, then another buttons to press + 10 times, then back to the button to light up degrees, and press so many times to get to 130°C.
Of course it is a minor problem and doesn’t not ruin the experience for me, although I need to get it off my chest (and have reported my humble opinion to Magimix).
Also, while we’re looking at it, the base which can be red or many other colours, is a very heavy piece of equipment. This could go in the negative column on your notes but it is actually one of the big strong points of this machine. The stability brought by the solid base is fantastic. Even when crushing ice at speed 18 it hardly moves unlike most other similar appliances.
The lid is easy to put on and off. The cap too and for the latter, it is actually a problem. It’s hard to know when it’s properly on… This means that when you take the lid off, you often see the cap with hot condensation fall to the ground…
As I said before, the transparent lid is a plus.
A word on the cap, I like the fact that you’re not babysat here, the black cap can be on or off, it’s your choice. If you have a 140°C hot liquid at a very high speed and no cap, guess what would happen… But because you know that beforehand, you make sure doesn’t happen. Well… it hasn’t happened yet.
OK…. this is what happens sometimes. A few recipes from the book, or from my imagination, have this effect (photo above) on your bowl. This was the recipe book dhal.
Don’t panic… use the rinse program, which is great, with hot water and detergent. If it’s still there after scrubbing, leave it overnight.
A very big advantage of this machine is that every single piece (except the base of course) goes in the dishwasher.
The blades are a bit tricky to wash. There is a small gap in this blade block which is hard to wash and definitely needs a brush to clean. The rinsing program is a big help as is soaking in hot soapy water.
Last but not least, the cookbook, which is part of the Cook Expert package, contains 300 recipes. It’s a great start to get to know the machine before experimenting your own recipes which you definitely will very soon.
The book contains great basic recipes and very nice creations. Some of them I didn’t like at all (the chocolate tart with salted caramel and nuts, the French tart, the blinis) and some I totally fell in love with (Vichyssoise soup, mash, risotto, rice pudding, dhal, pastry dough, financier, hollandaise sauce, spaghetti carbonara, salmon tartare, brandade, carrot soup, cream of cauliflower, floating islands – with my own technique for the egg-whites, etc)
A few days ago, I got challenged by some friends to cook every single one of the 300 recipes. Well, I rolled my sleeves and started to cook them… It’s just the start of a fun journey. Keep an eye on THAT SPACE where I will be publishing the recipes from the book and of course my own.
You can see post-its on top (photo above) the pages are actually covered in them. I change them according to my taste and style.
This is the end of the tour. If you have questions I’m here to help and share my experience. I’ll reply very quickly to your comments. Also, some of you might decide to buy this machine and in that case I would love to hear your feedback too :)
A BIT MORE ABOUT THE COOK EXPERT
– A must have when you’ve got kids, from baby food to everyday meals, this machine cuts your prep time so much that you can attend you screaming toddler instantly (while it is automatically stirring your compote). It totally replaces all the baby food machines and can be used for adults too. Baby machines have a very small capacity. It will also help you make healthy snacks (balls, bars) with your own healthy ingredients minus the nasties.
– It’s a really all-in-one machine. Get rid of your old food processor, your stand mixer (except if you’re a bread snob like me who needs a dough hook for sourdough kneading), your egg beater, your juicer (with the optional attachment), your smoothie maker, your sous-vide machine, your yoghurt maker, your slowcooker, etc.
– Sometimes you just love chopping, grating, stirring, sloooooowly, it’s so therapeutic. Sometimes, you just need a dinner ready in 20 mins. The Cook Expert is not the end of zen cooking at all. You can still chop by hand while the machine is making your dessert. It can do grating, slicing, cooking, blending, mixing, whipping, juicing (optional), cutting cubes (optional), slowcooking, steaming, etc, but you can still do a lot if you want to, or if you are organised, you can let it do every step for you and gain so much time.
– Its large capacity is really cool for large families, friend’s dinners, parties, etc.
– The food processor is so powerful and quick it’s crazy.
– All parts are dishwasher compatible.
– The metal bowl is amazingly efficient to keep food warm for a long time. You can make a soup at 4pm and leave it there until dinner. You reheat at 100°C speed 3 for 5 mins and you can serve it super hot.
– I love the pulse function
– Being able to put the blade on speed zero.
– The creamed soup (velouté in French) program is fantastic. It makes the smoothest soup in the world. Even the famous Bamix doesn’t do better.
– Making a pastry dough in 3 mins (plus the usual fridge rest) is magic. It makes me create crazy tarts just 30 mins before dinner. I spread apple sauce, chocolate or sugar, then the fruits and bake for a few minutes.
– The minimal plastic use is great. No bad smells and nasty colours.
– Induction and 1°C increments are amazing. You can really finely manage the temperature which allows you to cook “sous-vide” style.
– This machine is extremely sturdy. I’m a clumsy cook and dropped absolutely all parts of it on the floor. It looks as new as the day I opened the box!
– It takes a lot of room on your bench top (and in your cupboards if it is where you will keep the food processor part, the disks, and the large blade).
– Navigating the menu can be annoying.
– One gap in the blade “block” is hard to clean.
– I’m not a fan of the plastic lid’s locking system.
– The recipe book omits to tell you if the cap should be on the lid or not.
– I don’t know if my scale has a defect but this Magimix scale is useless. I love the fact that it can weigh up to 10 kilos but it is very imprecise. Once I added dozens of grams of salt for my sourdough bread when only 10 was needed and the scale was still on zero. I had to throw it in the bin. It changes from gr to oz all the time. Slightly frustrating…
Your best friends with this machine are:
– A good dishwashing brush, it helps clean the blade. You really can’t clean it well without one.
– Food grade cloth for steaming dough or viscous preparation.
– Arborio rice for your sweet and savoury creamy rice dishes.
– A freezer because you can make lots of things while you’re in the mood or during the week-end, and thanks to the giant bowl you can make large batches and freeze some for lazy nights (soups, stews and pastry dough for example). Now I also buy cheap fruits (when in the height of the season) and freeze them on a tray, then keep them in a ziplock bag in the freezer for milkshakes and instant ice-creams.
My favourite recipes with the Magimix Cook Expert are:
I make those very regularly because they are ultra easy, quick to prepare and delicious.
– rice pudding
– risotto
– all sorts of soups (Vichyssoise is a must do)
– dhal
– crème anglaise and all sorts of custards (coffee, caramel, chocolate)
– quick dips
– pastry dough, it takes 3 mins!!!
– steamed glutinous rice
– steamed veggies
– smoothies
– tartares (fish, beef)
– meat balls
– sauces, the hollandaise and béarnaise are to die for.
– carbonara
– chilli con carne
– crunchy salads (mix raw beetroot, onion, apple)
Recipes I couldn’t manage to do well at all are:
– bread, I can’t see how you can make a good professional sourdough baguette or country style loaf without a dough hook to break the gluten.
What I haven’t experimented and will very soon:
– sous-vide cooking
– slow cooking (I’m in love with my $20 Aldi cast iron pot)
– yoghurt making
– using the optional accessories I got: the citrus press, the juice extractor, the cube maker, the parmesan disk and more disks (thinner and thicker slicers).
NOTE: this post is not sponsored
MORE INFO:
my comparative table between thermo-machines
Cook Expert, the opening of the box
my recipes with the Magimix Cook Expert
UPDATE: Magimix has updated a few very important parts of the machine since I bought my Cook Expert (more than a year ago) and all the new machines are equipped with those. I’m preparing an exciting new post about this and also new accessories that I got during my last trip to Paris :) Keep an eye on that space!
Thank you so much for your comprehensive review on your Cook Expert. You have answered a few questions that I still had about this machine. It is great that your views are truly your own and not hampered by being sponsored/influenced by the company. Can’t wait for it to arrive in the Australian market so I can go have a look/feel at the real thing.
Hi Selena,
Thank you for your nice comment :) I’m glad this helped. The launch should be in the coming days. I still have no idea in which store. The suspens is quite entertaining. Let me know if you get one. I’d love to have your feedback.
This is a fantastic review. Do you find the magimix caramelises onion? I have found that most of these machines struggle to cook onion properly. Can you make a green smoothie ie: completely pulverize kale or spinach? I am in the research process and think that the magimix might be perfect for me if it cooks onion & makes smoothies.
Hi Skye,
Thanks for your kind words :)
A machine will not caramelise onions as well as a frying pan and a good old wooden spoon but I have managed to caramelise onions in the Cook Expert. What happens it that the bottom of the metal bowl caramelised too :) It doesn’t matter at all if you add liquid or viscous afterward. It’s what I do when I make a risotto. The risotto soaks up the caramelised bits and cooks to perfection. If the bottom is a bit too caramelised, I use the special dented spatula to scrape the bottom for a few seconds before the next step.
Regarding green smoothies, I’ve never tried… I have tried to pulverise sugar or ice and have made instant ice cream and milkshakes with frozen fruits. The smoothie program is very powerful but short because created for fresh fruits. I add a few pulses or a bit more of speed 18 and it all fluffy and smooth. I’ll check a recipe with spinach and will try it out :)
Thank you for this honest and comprehensive review. I have been looking at a Thermomix and kitchen aid not realizing that magi mix made one.. Are u able to comment on the comparison to either of the aforementioned brands (if you’ve used them)? Does the magi mix make sugar into icing sugar and mill flour/nuts etc to the same capacity as the thermomix? I was disappointed that the thermomix does not have the grating ability.
Are the scales external to the machine?
Does it have any automatic function? Have you tried to make yogurts yet?
Many Thanks
Jess
Hi Jess,
Thank you for your message :)
I have made a table on which you will be able to see all the main criteria and compare these machines:
http://www.thefloshow.com/review-compare-termo-appliances-in-one-table/
I use the Magimix to make icing sugar. It works like a dream. I mill flour with it to, though it’s possible that Thermomix due to its smaller and more vertical bowl does a finer flour. I use rough flour for my sourdough breads (see my breads in > recipes > bread) and Magimix does a perfect job for me.
Note that if you’re a fresh flour fan, the best tool for it is a manual or electric milling stone (the Austrians are the best is that). Any food processor or thermo-machine will heat the flour a bit too much and harm the oils a little. But we’re getting technical here. I use my “heated” flour a lot for my bread :)
The scale is external.
It has plenty of programs which are absolutely awesome such as: pastry dough, velouté soup (smooth as silk soup), steam, smoothie, etc. All these programs are modifiable. You can go faster, longer, higher in temperature or lower, shorter, slower :)
I’m planning to make yoghurt which should be great with this machine because of the precise temperature and 1°C increment, and immobile blade setting. But I haven’t tried it yet.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.. Does it have a beep or music when it finishes a step or the cooking? Does it automatically stop or does it continue until u stop it…
Have you made any nut butters with it? Did it work without having to stir or issues?
Are the recipes easy to follow?
Many Thanks
Hi Jess,
It does have a beep but noting like the Thermomix symphony ;)
It’s discrete but audible. It is one beep at the end and that’s it.
You will set a time using a program or your own choice of time using the Expert mode and it will stop at that time. The maximum time set is 2h for slow cooking and you can reset it for 2 more hours if necessary.
Nope, I haven’t made butter, I should, I’m a huge fan of herb butter, spiced butter or any sort of fancy butter. I’ve heard it’s possible so I will.
Most of the recipes are very easy to follow especially in the English version of the book which has been made after a lot of testing and corrections from the first edition I had. What I don’t like though is that they forgot to tell you in many cases if the cap is on or off, and also, sometimes they forget a step (garlic and onion slicing in the Tian recipe for example) which is annoying but they’re only human ;) That being said, a large majority of recipes are very simple and totally straight forward. They are a great source of inspiration for making your own. I’m thinking French crème anglaise which is a light vanilla custard that can be turned into a coffee custard, chocolate custard, bubblegum custard (yep I’ve done it… with a drop of flavouring) and so on and so forth.
If you buy this machine and follow my recipes, let me know if you find them simple and if I forgot a step or an ingredient (it happened already!). They’re here: http://www.thefloshow.com/category/recipes/with-magimix-cook-expert/
Thanks Flo… Can you remove the lid to the cook expert while it is going.. eg if you are steaming vegetables and want to add them in increments people, can you simply take off the lid or do you have to stop the machine?
Hi Jess,
You cannot remove the lid while the machine is working. It’s a very important security feature. I’m talking about the metal-plastic-glass lid. You can remove the cap at the top and pour liquids, drop veggies through the hole :)
If you need to place a large piece you just open the lid (it stops automatically the machine) put your thing, put the lid back on and it knows where it stops and starts from there.
Hi Flo
Thankyou so much for this super thorough update. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the cook expert to arrive in Aust since I happily stumbled upon your blog.
I was all set to buy the magimix patissier & a vitamix for smoothies & soups but when I saw your post re the cook expert – followed by much you tube viewing of french demos ;) – I was convinced I should wait to see this machine as it could be an all in one answer :)
one question
Chilli con carne is one of our fave meals & would be a great bonus if could be made nice & quickly in the cook expert (though not really expecting a thermo machine could beat cast iron casserole for this type of cooking). In an earlier comment I read cook expert ‘massacred’ chilli con carne but in this latest post I saw it was a meal you regularly make in the cook expert. Were you able to adjust the settings to come up with better result? My husband was not a fan of the way thermomix made chilli con carne.
Thankyou Flo!!
Looking forward to your feedback re green smoothie too :)
Hi Caro,
Thanks for your message :)
I think it’s definitely better to have 1 appliance than the pâtissier and vitamix. The Cook Expert can definitely do both and much more.
OK… about the Chilli Con Carne, this is what happened and I should find this comment of mine somewhere and update it. The first time I made it in the Cook Expert I followed the recipe from the book or at least I thought so… I swapped the beef steak or piece of beef by mince. It was a massacre…
Then, my husband Wendell who is a huge fan of Chilli Con Carne and quite a snob about it after trying so many recipes including fancy ones with wine, etc, decided to have a go at it and make the one from Magimix while I was working. His version was actually really really good. The difference is: if you use industrially minced meat, you will end up with a sort of soup, the meat disintegrates and becomes micro particules bathing in liquid. It’s terrible… If you follow the Magimix recipe and mince your own meat and stop before it’s too minced (very easy to do, you see through the bowl) then the whole dish gets a proper consistency.
What Wendell did though, he added 1 tbs of whole coriander seeds and the same with cumin. He used his garden chillis which are pretty fierce. It was truly delicious. We sprinkled cheddar (the giant block we grate once a month in the Magimix) on top and genocided our coriander bush ;)
I think this machine can do so much that when you start using it, you have a bit of a learning curve. Some dishes (most of them) are totally straight forward and the recipes are very well written. My advice is, make you favs from the book and then start doing your own variations and recipes.
I had a discussion yesterday with a Magimix owner and the kale smoothie, it seems to be working like a dream, though I haven’t tried yet. My fridge is empty!
Thanks so much for your detailed reply Flo! :) I regularly check back on comments as you provide such great feedback. Great news re chilli – we’re quite the aficionados as well – all about balancing those chillies, cumin and coriander :)
One other query I had RE the capacity of the metal bowl – do you find there is a minimum you should use to get best results? So could I do for example a small smoothie batch of 500/600ml or a small batch of soup for lunch?
Merci beaucoup!
Caro
Hello, I’m just discovering your blog through this article, many thanks for it!
My main concern about the Cook Expert is: doesn’t it mush some ingredients, such as fruit in porridge/tapioca/rice pudding (I like to cook those with pears or bananas) ? Does the meat remain more or grossly intact?
As for the flour milling, isnt’it done better in one of the smaller, plastic bowls? I’ve seen people pureeing nuts with Magimix (non thermo)food processors on French blogs.
Thanks so much in advance for your insight!
Hi Althéa,
Thanks for your messages!
I was so worried about the mushing part when I had a Thermomix dish one day which was a really purée instead of a curry… As you saw in my review, you can totally keep cubes of meat intact, firm, and moist. The secret is to cut the cubes “bite size” which you would as well if you made a curry in your usual pot or pan. If you used a whole chicken breast on a program where the blade turns, it might harm it ;) Don’t forget you can use the Magimix Cook Expert as a pan on its own induction top. You can choose a setting where the blade doesn’t turn. Then, the machine becomes your new slow-cooker :) In that case, because it doesn’t stir, the meat is only disintegrated by the slow cooking process. It makes delicious stews.
If you use the blade, and want to make chicken sauce moutarde ;) you will have to use a slow setting, 1A or 2A. Also, the % of sauce in the bowl will change the way the meat reacts. Exactly like in you pan, if you stir with your wooden spoon not stop on a dry pan while chatting, glass of wine in hand, you’ll end up making a mushy thing. If you do the same with coconut cream or crème fraîche, the cubes will stay intact. Same here.
I hope this help!
Thanks for answering anyway! I’m thinking maybe no speed on at all for a while, then speed 1A towards the end would do the trick (’cause if it burns and sticks, I see no interest in shelling out 1200 € for it!) Still worried about mushing fruit though, but the Magimix really looks top quality! (They should make a new one with removable blades- is all I’m saying.)
In fact, I’ve just bought a Kitchenaid cook processor, but I’m returning it today because of it whistles as soon as the blades turn, a shrill noise I find unbearable. Kitchenaid just says they know about it, and I can try to get another one at the store, and see if the whistling is lighter… Thanks, but no thanks! And the accessories are (very smelly) plastic, and the first speed seemed too fast, and the blade stick reaches the lid, which is not convenient for adding ingrédients. So I’m trying not to buy and return every cooking processor there is out there!
I can see you’ve already answered about meat shredding in your other post comments, so you can disregard my question about it !
Un bonjour de France, où on s’équipe aussi beaucoup en robots cuiseurs… Le Companion a l’air de tenir le haut du pavé…
Ici aussi, le Thermomix a atteint un stade d’objet culte… c’est en Australie qu’il a eu sa plus grosse croissance l’an passé. Le companion n’a pas marché aussi bien je crois en raison d’articles de presse pas très sympas et assez injustifiés à mon avis. J’adorerais pouvoir le tester à la maison, surtout depuis qu’il a le food processor en option :)
Ah, c’est mystérieux… Le côté secte de Cookin et Thermomix me laisse très dubitative, je ne les trouve pas fair-play avec la concurrence. De là à penser qu’il y aurait eu des critiques un peu biaisées…
Quant aux tests, ma foi, pourquoi ne pas proposer à Tefal Australie ? On ne sait jamais…
The Thermomix allows you to reverse the blade rotation so that the
blunt side of the blade is utilised to stir but not chop the contents of
the pot. Does the Magimix cooking machine have the same facility?
Hi Leo,
No The Cook Expert doesn’t but to my opinion, it does as well if not better when it stirs, it doesn’t mush.
It has many setting possible to avoid mushing: zero speed, 1A & 2A speeds which alternate slow and stop. You can also use the slowest continuous speed: 3. You can use the butterfly attachement which clips on the blade.
The key is to cut meat in bite size cubes and fry the onions, spices and meat at zero speed or very low (using the Magimix as a pan), then add sauce or liquids which reduces the friction with the blades.
In clear, I have had chicken curry with perfectly shaped and firm cubes which were extra moist and soft inside.
I hope this helps :)
Thanks Flo Show
Very interesting post thank you.
I have the Kenwood cooking chef and I’m a little bit disappointed as it has so many attachments that I just find it too much of an effort to use them all. Do you find that with the Magimix? Integrated scales and the fact that there were no extra pieces were the things that appealed to me about the Thermomix
The other thing I wanted to ask you was what it’s like on sauces etc. Can make a good béarnaise and are there any automatic programs or do you have to stand there telling it what to do all the time? Are there lots of recipe forums like with Thermomix?
Many thanks .
Hi Victoria,
Thanks for your message :)
The Cook expert has the Food Processor attachements which take a lot of room. You can, like me leave them as a sort of Magimix corner on your bench top, or keep the thermo-machine only on the bench and leave the food processor and its blade box away for when you need it. It will be like a Thermomix (which has accessories as well such as the giant Varoma). You will use mainly the metal bowl and the steam stuff can be stored inside the bowl.
The Metal bowl has 1 attachement only: the egg white beater.
I used my Magimix a looooot for sauces and custards, it’s simply fantastic. The recipes will have to be modified or the cooking time longer and hotter when you use ingredients from the fridge for hollandaise or béarnaise. But geez it makes a really gorgeous sauce. I had tried so many times with a pan on a stove and failed, I had to chuck kilos of butter ;) Here is my recipe: http://www.thefloshow.com/hollandaise-sauce-in-a-thermo-machine/ My trick is to keep cooking until it has clearly thickened.
You do have to add ingredients for these sauces, one by one, so you do have to stand in front of your machine, it’s the whole principle of butter emulsions.
For custard it’s crazy, put everything in the bowl, press a button, go have a bubble bath :)
The Magimix community is rapidly growing especially in France and it seems that the Magimix guys are in the process of translating it all in English.
What is fantastic though is that all Thermomix recipes are adaptable to the Magimix. The speeds have different names but there is a little table (which I will put on the blog) where you can see which is what.
Thank you so much for such a long and detailed reply.
I am really excited to know about converting Thermomix recipes to the Magimix as a) the Thermomix community is so established and there are so many recipes to choose from plus there are ratings for them, and b) because they also have nutritional values which is useful.
I am also interested in using it as a slow cooker and for ‘sous vide’. Does the slow cooker conversion work well? many slow cooked dishes need to be cooked for five hours+.
Physically how big does it compare in size to the Thermomix and Kenwood Cooking Chef? ( they are not yet available, they are going to be here on 19 April !)
Thank you!
Hi Victoria,
Actually slow cooking has better results in the Magimix to my opinion because of the induction system. It is much more precise temperature wise and because of the bowl’s shape :) It’s larger and wider, it is not a mixer’s shape.
When I bought my Cook Expert they were worried about security and limited the max auto cooking time to an hour. Now, the machine which will be sold in Australia will be limited to 2 hours. This means that you can start the machine in the morning and have to restart it 2 hours later or when you’re back from work so it’s ready 2 to 3 hours later.
Regarding the size of the bowl or size of the machine, have a look at my table, where you’ll see these 2 lines for the 3 machines: http://www.thefloshow.com/review-compare-termo-appliances-in-one-table/
Hi Flo,
Thanks so much for the review. I was lucky enough to win a Thermomix and I am thinking of selling it and buying the Chef Expert (I already had one). Could you kindly explain more about the automatic programmes that are one the machine? For example the steps that are involved in the soup function(or any other). Also is the steaming tray in the Chef Expert large enough to fit a whole chicken or a roast? One of the reasons I am thinking of changing machines is because of the food processor attachment, in saying this I don’t want to have to use is to chop garlic (or herbs) only transfer it to the main bowl. Is the Chef Expert able to do this?
Many Thanks
Kristen
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for your message :) How lucky is that!? Win a Thermomix :)
You can use a Cook Expert 3 ways:
1) choosing the automatic programs such as Soupe veloutée (I can’t remember what it is in English, it means smooth soup). In that case, you put all the ingredients in the bowl, press “auto” which means start, and you can go do some weaving in your workshop :) Same with stews, smoothies, pastry, etc.
2) seing it as a magically stirring stove. In that case, on the setting called “expert” you can choose you temperature, speed and time, press auto, and leave it or stay there, add ingredients, etc. For a risotto for example, you will start by putting the onions or échalotes roughly chopped in the metal bowl, press a button to chop them finer, then add butter and oil, fry, then add your rinsed arborio, fry, then add the wine and stock, cook for 20 or more minutes, then add frozen peas, mushrooms, parmesan, etc, through whole and add a few minutes.
You can raise or lower the speed, the temperature and the time as you want like a stove. But during the main cooking you can go do something else it will stir for you.
3) a mix of both. You can use a program as a guide to start, and then smell it or look in it and decide, nah, I’ll raise the temperature, or nah, it’s not cooked enough, or it’s already cooked enough or I want a creamier result I’ll go faster with the blade, etc.
You can change the setting all the time, as you wish.
About the steal basket, it looks small but it’s actually enough for me. I make huge batches of glutinous rice, 5 small steamed cakes or muffins, a lot of eggs, 3 fish fillets at least, a large amount of veggies, etc. That being said, Magimix will be releasing a varoma looking attachement for whole chickens and large salmons :)
You will not need to chop anything in the food processor if you don’t want to. The metal bowl is enough. One thing though, if you have to chop one clove of garlic or 3 leaves of parsley you will use the small plastic bowl of the food processor, it’s much easier for smaller quantities. It is very easy to clean in hot water.
You will use the food processor for slicing and grating and also, for a perfect steak or salmon tartare, because it is ultra powerful and efficient and mainly because you can see through the bowl and so you can tell the level of mincing you want. Do you want chunks or smooth paste, etc. Seeing through is a godsend for passionate cooks :)
When you make a risotto or a stew, you will chop everything in the metal bowl, you will always have 1/2 an onion with your garlic to chop anyway so it will work. And if the quantities are small and you can’t be bothered pulling out the food processor you just use a medium speed instead of a high one and stop once or twice to push the ingredients down. It works a treat.
I do all my cereal bars, hommous, dips, cake batters, brandades, etc which require chopping in the metal bowl. I use the plastic one for slicing, grating and mince for the see through aspect.
I hope this helps :)
Hi Flo,
Thanks for your thorough response, you really are the go to girl for all things Cook Expert related! You have certainly made my decision easier. Just one more question, the bowl size on the website says 3.5L but your chart says 2.5L, has the bowl size changed?
Thanks
Kristen
Hahahahahahaha! Thanks Kristen :)
Regarding the capacity of the metal bowl: in my chart I’ve indicated the maximum / real capacity, or usable capacity for liquids.
You’ve gotta be careful when you read info on the capacity on comparison websites, or the brands’s websites.
What matters is not how much space there is in a bowl (3.5l for Magimix) but how much liquid you can pour in without risking overload. In Magimix’s case: 2.5l officially.
So when you make a soup, you should be having the liquid reaching the 2.5l mark inside the bowl, maximum.
The reality is, I always put more, when it is solids and when it is liquid. I make mammoth portions… The machine doesn’t complain and my recipe gets done.
But officially the liquid max is at 2.5l even if the bowl itself has a 3.5 volume.
I hope it’s clear… it’s not simple to explain :)
Sorry to come back to you once again but your enthusiasm is infectious and despite owning a kenwood cooking chef, I am now hankering after your machine.
Can you tell me:
How small a quantity can I cook in it? For example, could I cook 2 or 4 eggs as a slow scrambled egg ?
When slow cooking a casserole, does the meat ever stick to the base and then burn? And how small do you have to cut the pieces to avoid them getting mashed up by the blade ?
What were your problems trying to make bread dough in it?
Do you have any idea when the new model might come out? You said you’d prefer a knob rather than buttons so I’m just wondering whether it’s worth waiting.
Although everything is dishwasher proof, do you find that the plastic of the food processor bowls starts to look opaque and dirty if you put in the machine ?
I tried to forward you a comparative table that I found on Pinterest. I don’t know whether you received it. It might save you some time doing your own conversions if you think it’s accurate. It compares the Thermomix to the Magimix for the purposes of using thermomix recipes in the Magimix
Thank you.
Hi Victoria,
Sorry for the late reply (photoshoot all day :)
Let me answer to your questions in order:
1) How small a quantity can I cook in it? For example, could I cook 2 or 4 eggs as a slow scrambled egg ?
You can cook up to 2.5l of liquid and more volume in solids. I have cooked or mixed more that the 2.5l mark and it worked very well but I guess the official limit is 2.5 liquid probably in case of boiling soup and speed 18.
I am not sure about whole eggs and scrambled, I have never tried! It’s such a great idea though. I will definitely give it a go. I want to try sous-vide scrambled eggs, it’s fun and I heard it has great results. I have done the “perfect egg” recipe, it’s fantastic (63°C). I only put 3 I’ve never tried more because I didn’t need to.
2) When slow cooking a casserole, does the meat ever stick to the base and then burn?
The slow cook dishes I have tried have left a slightly burnt trace at the bottom for some at higher temperature and a lighter trace for lower temperature. I will be testing more in the near future. I just bought a whole book on slow cooking and intend to adapt all the recipes I like from it.
3) And how small do you have to cut the pieces to avoid them getting mashed up by the blade?
Well, I’m not too sure, I haven’t measured my cubes hehehehe but I guess around an inch (2.5cm or so). Bite size, I’d say.
4) What were your problems trying to make bread dough in it?
I’m a total bread snob. People manage to make amazing brioches and breads in the Cook Expert. I make sourdough breads of all sorts which get to be fermented during 2 to 3 days and to my opinion need a dough hook in order to break down the gluten well. It is the closest tool to human kneading. I like the result, my bread is elastic, airy, very flavoursome. I give all the credit to the dough hook and the long fermentation. (not mentioning the flours and starter)
I have a Kenwood Chef to do it. I don’t really want to use my Magimix for it but I’m aware of the number of people who do and love it.
Here is my bread collection http://www.thefloshow.com/category/recipes/bread/ (epic failures included ;)
5) Do you have any idea when the new model might come out?
No idea, I have not heard of a new model yet. I am sure it will happen eventually down the track but I don’t think it will now, it’s too new :) But don’t take my word for it, I have no idea what Magimix plans to do.
6) You said you’d prefer a knob rather than buttons so I’m just wondering whether it’s worth waiting?
Well, I do prefer knobs but it is only my humble opinion ;) I doubt that Magimix will make change for me heheheheh It’s very possible that people prefer pressing buttons. No idea…
7) Although everything is dishwasher proof, do you find that the plastic of the food processor bowls starts to look opaque and dirty if you put in the machine?
Funny enough I asked myself the same question and also if using harsh herbs and grains would make opaque traces on the plastic. I was quite worried about that because a lot of my smaller appliances I had which turned quite nasty after a while. I have had the Cook Expert for 8 months now and have washed this food processor a few times a week now, in the dishwasher, and it looks brand new :)
8) I didn’t get your comparative table :(
Thank you once again for all your chatty comments. I think we would get on quite well! I am British but live in Brussels and fully appreciate your demanding standards of bread. I think I should probably keep my cooking chef and use it as a different machine to the Magimix.
I really look forward to all your posts, your reviews and your observations to do with this machine. I can’t do any cooking at the moment as I have just had a nasty operation which means I’m in a wheelchair for a few weeks but I’m thinking I might deserve a nice present at the end of it (hee hee!)
This is the reference to the Pinterest conversion table: it does say that it needs to be verified but it might give you a head start. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/1200x/43/39/2f/43392f6a24ea46525789b30d36dd25bc.jpg
Fantastic! Thanks for the table Victoria :)
I’m sure we’d get along quite well :) I am so sorry to hear about your operation and hope you will recover very quick. The cool thing about the Cook Expert or any thermo-machine really is that you will not have to stand in front of the stove for hours.
When not recovering from an op, do you dribble on the quartier des antiquaires in Brussels??? I bought the best stuff there: cristal martini glasses, crocheted doilies, mini liqueur glasses, and other cool stuff. It’s prop paradise for food photographers…
Continuing my research on this machine, I read an article on Chowhound about the standard Magimix XL food processor and wanted to ask you whether this review resonates with your experience as the grating/slicing feature which other machines don’t have is a plus for me so needs to work well. This is their review:
It’s now been 7 months since my purchase and I am very sad to say that I regret my decision. Here are my main issues with it: 1) the small processor bowl is a nice feature, but the design is such that when you use it, the food ends up spraying out into the whole rest of the processor — i.e., both the medium and large sized bowl. So in order to use the small bowl, you are pretty much committing to washing all three bowls. To me, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a small bowl, which I want if I need to process something smaller without washing the entire giant bowl.
2) The shredding blades are not good. Even the bigger sized one grinds the foods into little bits rather than shredding into into long, skinny shards. Which means it is essentially unusable for shredding cabbage, apples, potatoes, cheese, etc. For me, that is one of the main uses of a food processor; it makes it so quick to break down a ton of cabbage or potatoes for latkes without having to grate your arm off or spend forever chopping. It also does a very uneven job. It mostly grinds the food into bits, and then it also leaves entire chunks totally whole if they miss the blade. So even if it does a mostly good job, you have to go through and pick out big chunks and cut them by hand.
Another question: when making a soup can I throw in crudely chopped onions and veg then a bit of oil and leave it to make itself, or do I have to chop them first?
Hadn’t thought of your idea of props at the market. It’s a good one. Will go when I’m mobile!
Thank you
Hi Victoria!
Wow! This is a pretty bad review…
I guess everyone has his own experience/opinion and expectations.
This is what I think:
Chowhound review 1) the small processor bowl is a nice feature, but the design is such that when you use it, the food ends up spraying out into the whole rest of the processor — i.e., both the medium and large sized bowl. So in order to use the small bowl, you are pretty much committing to washing all three bowls. To me, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a small bowl, which I want if I need to process something smaller without washing the entire giant bowl.
>> Firsts thing I’ve got to say about the whole review is that in France, Magimix is the absolute king of food processors. My grand mother has still hers from when she was a young cook… It’s a solid, very well made machine. They have produced so many different models and millions of them that you can safely say they know a thing or two about slicing, chopping and mincing tools.
This person seems to not like the idea of a food processor compared to hand chopping, grating etc. Fair enough. A food processor will never cut a pear artistically for a single pear stylish tart… But when you want to cut a kilo of veggies for a massive tian (thin slices of Mediterranean veggies vertically placed in a roasting dish) you can either spend 1 hour to chop or about 2 mins… It looks the same at the end :)
About the mini bowl: for some ingredients will drop in the other bowls, a few leaves of parsley, 1 or 2 pieces of nuts but not liquid or pasty stuff. It will just project one bit or 2. These bowls can be rinsed in hot water and they’re sparkling clean in one rinse. I don’t mind it. All multiple bowls food processor are like this, it’s part of the deal :) Chefs around the world have been using it for decades, mums in France too, the small bowl makes your vinaigrette or Thai salad sauce, the big or medium one is used to cut your cabbage, carrots, onions, etc. And you’ve got a delicious salad.
Chowhound review 2) the shredding blades are not good. Even the bigger sized one grinds the foods into little bits rather than shredding into long, skinny shards. Which means it is essentially unusable for shredding cabbage, apples, potatoes, cheese, etc. For me, that is one of the main uses of a food processor; it makes it so quick to break down a ton of cabbage or potatoes for latkes without having to grate your arm off or spend forever chopping. It also does a very uneven job. It mostly grinds the food into bits, and then it also leaves entire chunks totally whole if they miss the blade. So even if it does a mostly good job, you have to go through and pick out big chunks and cut them by hand.
>> Well, when using a food processor, you don’t use the grating tool (shredding as the person says) to cut cabbage. Cabbage is already in layers and all you need to do is to use the blade which I use for all sorts of cabbages and it works like a dream. Grating a cabbage is a massacre guaranteed. I grate carrots, cabbage, apples (for cake dough), and my monthly cheddar. I loooooove it!! It makes perfect little pieces, strings or swirls of the product you grate. It’s super duper quick, no pressure needed. I just wonder if this person has been using her machine properly. And there is no problem with that, we all gotta learn. She should ask for help or watch videos especially the last ones from Magimix and Good Chef Bad Chef.
About the slicing tool, I use it for veggies and fruits. I love doing super thin carrots and make a carrot bake, same with zucchinis, eggplants, cucumbers, leeks (see my leek tart recipe) etc. It takes about 20 seconds for a few potatoes (gratin dauphinois) instead of 20 minutes chopping and the slices are impeccable.
What I don’t like to do is apple or pears for my tarts… it doesn’t look as good as for cylindrical veggies… But when I don’t have time, I core my apples with a corer, cut them in half, peel them quickly and through them in the running machine. The I spread the pastry dough, spread apple sauce/purée/compote and through the slices in the middles, spread a little and in the oven until golden, super duper quick, ultra good, but certainly not a French pâtisserie aesthetic… For all the rest, it’s so efficient and quick it’s magic.
Don’t forget you can rinse in hot water and with a soapy sponge wipe the bowls and let them dry very quickly. Everything goes in the dishwasher too :)
Regarding soup making, it’s ultra simple. You chop roughly your veggies so they can fit in the bowl and stay in the water or milk you put in it. I would cut big potatoes in 2 or 4, whole if small, and carrots in 2 or 3, onions in 2 if big, etc. Do as you would in a pot or chunkier because the machine is super powerful and will mix it to a smooth soup whatever the size of the bits :)
I hope this helps!
Cheers,
Flore
Wow! What a great insight on this product!
I have two questions; How do you find whipping cream?
& is this product available in NZ? If not, Is warranty void if machine is purchased in Australia and taken overseas?
Hi Grace :) Thanks for your comment!
I haven’t tried whipping cream. I kept my Kenwood for my bred on the bench so I use it for that too. But I’m sure it’s fine :) I will try and let you know.
About the warranty, I guess (but don’t take my word for it) that it is applicable in the country where you buy it. I bought it in France so my warranty is there. It was a bit of a gamble for me I suppose but Magimix having this solid reputation in France I was not too worried. Some people have their 30 year old Magimix on the bench…
Hi,
Wondering if you would have any thoughts on how noisy this machine is compared to the Thermomix? I understand it would all be very variable depending on what speed you’re using and what’s being cooked and so on. We’ve only had limited exposure to the Thermomix but we’re a bit suprised by how noisy it was when doing certain processes.
Thanks so much!
Hi Fiona,
Well… I went to 1 and 1 only Thermomix demo. I was impressed by the noise while it made icing sugar or even worse, ice cubes, but I thought you’d expect that for that kind of mixing.
I would have to have the two machines side by side to tell the difference really…
What I can tell you is that I use my Cook Expert every day and it doesn’t make annoying noises except when it goes in very high speed (end of the soup program, the last few seconds of the smoothie program, rinsing, etc).
When I make my bread every day I use a Kenwood Chef, I do 5 mins at low speed and 7 mins at high speed. The noise is practically unbearable ;)
So I guess, the noise the Cook Expert makes is really a none event for me :)
Another thing, the end “beep” is simple and audible but not too much. I find the Thermomix beeping symphony ridiculous and annoying. I love the Thermomix though heheheh But it IS annoying.
I have a Thermomix (9yrs now) and recently purchased a Magimix Cook Export – it is WAY quieter. :-)
I agree Julie :) I have both on my bench at the moment for a project. And Jeez…. the Cook is so much quieter!!
Hi there,
Thank you for your review!
I’m tossing up between the Cook Expert and a Thermomix. My main driver for the purchase are my one-year-old daughter’s extensive allergies and food intolerances. I will need to cook all of her food from scratch for the foreseeable future, an and all-in-one will definitely lighten the load. The thing is there is already a wealth of Thermomix recipes that cater for her particular needs and I’m concerned about how easy or not it will be to convert them to the Cook Expert – thoughts?
Best,
Cathie
Hi Cathie,
Thank you for your message :)
If it can make you feel better, I cook 99% of what we eat from scratch. I’m lucky to have no allergy in the family but we prefer making our own stuff :) It is not difficult, it’s cheaper and you will love it. Food tastes much better when you chose the ingredients yourself and when you can get help from a thermo-machine.
For kids (and she is going to grow up so quickly) from baby to teenagers, these machines will help you a lot! My kids (4 to 13) love soups all year round, cold or warm. The Magimix Cook Expert makes the best “velouté” soups (super smooth and silky) on the press of 1 button. All you need is to be creative, or look around of recipes and drop some veggies and herbs in it. I have a few here on the blog, section Magimix.
Mashes are also so much easier there too, you can steam the veggies or boil them in the machine and make a smooth or a more chunky texture, as you prefer, using the blade or the whipping tool. Risottos, dahls, stews, steamed cakes, rice, fish, veggies are so easy.
Custards are one of my favourite last minute recipes. I make creamed rice with pieces of almond (which become soft), cinnamon and sultanas.
Of course you can easily adapt other machines’ recipes on the Magimix, it’s what I do all the time. Sometimes it’s easier, because it is just 1 program. Sometimes you simply follow the same steps and figure out the speed. I will try to pu my hand on a comparative table between Thermie and Magimix speeds.
I personally chose Magimix for: the food processor as it’s France’s number 1 and I didn’t have one, the size of the bowl was better for my family and entertaining which we do a lot, the insulated bowl, because my kids love to cook and I wanted to let them do it without risk (Thermie’s bowl can get very hot) and without having to hover in, because Magimix is a very trusted French brand, some people in my family have had their Magimix for 30 years! Because I love that most parts are in metal and glass, I don’t like the smell and petrol origin of plastic. Because I’m not a fan of “Tupperware style sales”.
I hope this helps :)
If Magimix had been around 9 years ago I would have bought that instead of a Thermomix.
We have multiple food intolerances and allergies, everything is cooked from scratch. We are GF and now mostly also grain free.
I now have both. I admit I am struggling to convert TMX recipes to Magimix.
Also to to find very clear and thorough recipes for Magi for foods we eat all time. I also am unsure often exactly what bowl etc I’m supposed to be using but I am not a natural cook, I NEED step by step recipes including the basics, but I figure it will get easier, I’m just used to the TMX hand holding :-)
Pros TMX is the huge amount recipes out there and the very thorough basic cookbook.
Con’s can’t cook as much as Magi, it does not grate or slice like a food processor (you can’t cut up your cabbage for sauerkraut ), it is much noisier than the Magi almost all the time. The continual alarm drives me nuts when I have to run from one side of room to other to shut it off.
Thank you for sharing this Julie. It’s very interesting. I’m working on a chart to help convert Thermie to Magi. I hope it will help. I use my Magi either on a complete program such as soup, smoothie, or steam and I also use it as a stove top with a bowl :) So I got used to its “ways” and now cook very easily using the “Expert” mode. I’m sure you’ll get to do that too simply by learning from it and using it.
Hi there,
Great review and very comprehensive answers!
I was wondering how the Cook Expert does making nut butters, apparently thermomix does them super easily.
Hi Roimata,
Thank you for your kind comment :)
I cannot reply to this one because I’ve never tried! But I’m sure it does. Remember, Magimix is the most trusted food processor in France. You’ve got that with your thermo machine too so I don’t doubt it would make a great nut butter and super fast :)
I saw on the Magimix Cook Expert’s Facebook page that someone made nut butter in the metal bowl too. You should be fine.
Thanks Flo for all your information about the Magimix.
Mine is on the way home from David Jones with my husband as I type!
Very very excited.
Thanks you.
Oh my Gosh! That’s exciting! I want to hear all about it Naomi :)
Hi, I read your blog and went out and bought a cook expert on the weekend. At minimax I was given all the extras too! I thought I was getting one extra and suddenly there were 3 extra boxes. I’m very pleased but now I’ve got more pressure to use everything. I’m feeling very daunted about how to get started. I don’t really like any of the recipes in the recipe book as I prefer to try to stick to healthier food and found it’s pretty average nutrition wise. I’ve seen great bean soups and the like on the theromix site and I’m hoping one day you could do a bit of a ready reckoner conversion on how to translate the recipes into cook expert ones??? I’m not sure if you’ve changed around a few recipes for yourself and you could share how you go about it.
I know you’re not a help place but you explain things so well so I thought I’d ask one more thing. do you have a tip on how to chop onions without turning it to mush? I tried in the food processor but I’m thinking maybe I should use the French fry attachment and then let them fall apart after getting little columns? I’ve got every available extra so I suppose cubes might be better than mush too.
thanks!!!
Hi Alexis,
Thank you for your very kind message :)
How exciting!!! Don’t worry about the recipes in the book if you don’t like them. What I would do though is make a few and simply modify a few ingredients according to your diet. I would start with soups. You can put absolutely anything in a soup, and use the soup programs. Put a leek, a carrot, a turnip, a celery stick, a potato, some (homemade, see my recipe) stock paste, salt and pepper and select the soup program. You will love it! Do the same with potatoes and fennel with a bit of salt, it’s divine. Same with cauliflower and water.
Use it for simple custards (use the book’s one), risotto without the butter, dhal (use my recipe), mash, steam veggies (no need for a recipe), steam rice, cakes, fruits.
Conversions from Thermie to Magimix are pretty intuitive. But first try a few recipes from the book so you see how it works. Just modify a few ingredients.
Regarding the onion, I use the metal bowl. I cut onions in 2 or 4. I put 5 mins to have plenty of time (which I will interrupt of course) and start with speed 3 changing speed every few seconds and stop when you have the right size :)
Cheers,
Flo
Hi again,
I forgot to ask if somebody already tried to make a small bread.
Greetings from Belgium.
Bénédicte
Hi Bénédicte,
I haven’t tried bread at all :) But I will soon and will let you know. I’m a fan a the dough hook for now… Old habits die hard ;)
Hi,
I just saw that my first question is missing.
Did somebody cooked already for one person with the Cook expert? Because I see that it is more for 6-8 persons.
Tanks a lot!
Bénédicte
Hi Bénédicte,
No your question was published in another post ;) Here it is and I’ve answered to it this morning.
http://www.thefloshow.com/i-chose-magimix-cook-expert/ (at the bottom)
I would be very interested to know if you tried making yoghurt in it and how it turned out? Thanks!!
Hi Louise,
I haven’t yet because I have been travelling a lot but I have the project to do so :) My idea is to simply use the steam basket without its shelf and small French ceramic yoghurt pots. I will post something about it when I do.
I was so rapt to be told of your website yesterday. Your review of the Magimix Expert is so comprehensive especially as you are not pushing one particular barrow. It would appear that we may get this here (NZ) around December so am hanging out to follow up any demo’s etc. I have had a Magimix Food Processor (type R1) for 43 years!! How could I look at any other make to replace it when the time comes? The only part I have replaced has been the grater blade. It’s starting to look a little the worse for wear but it has been a great ‘workhorse’ and deserves a good retirement. Thank you again – no doubt I will have more questions when decision making time comes.
Kind regards
Maggie
Hi Maggie,
Thank you for your very nice message :)))
I love this machine, and have been using it nearly every day. My 13 year old daughter Nilou has started to use it all the time too. I cannot believe how long you kept your Food processor. It’s incredible!
Let me know if you have any question.
Kind regards,
Flo
Hi Flo, love your site and it was the review on the cook expert that I found you as I was interested in this machine and loved your review which absolutely helped me choose the Magimix Cook Expert in the end. I love the recipes you have posted using the cook expert and hope you continue to add to this collection. I made the orange and white choc dried fruit cubes yesterday, Yummo!! (I’ve only had the machine 3 days) so easy and I loved the way it slowly grated up the choc using the 5 second increments etc. was like oooooh groovy:)
Anyway my question to you is – The accesories? – is it worth buying the extra slicing and grating discs? I’ve never really used a food processor slicing, grating and dicing etc, I’ve just done it the good ol fashioned way in the past (silly me, after using the cook experts processor- I’m like – whaaat??? how great is this, where have I been in the past lol:)) ) so not sure if it’s worth spending the dollars to acquire these extras. I have a juicer so won’t get that, and the dice and french fry kit? – I don’t do french fries – a health decision – all the oil – nope:( – but is there other things that I would dice? that I would need that for? And then the julienne and parmesan? the citrus I can see myself using. And the 3 disc creative set? Hope you don’t mind me asking you these mundane questions but I don’t want to spend unnecessarily. If they are going to be used alot in the future, not a problem, and you being the Magimix expert, I just had to ask. Can’t wait to try your other magimx recipes, they look very exciting and thank-you for all your thorough explanations on the cook expert, appreciate it, made my decision to purchase this machine slam dunk so cheers –
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your lovely message :) How exciting is it!!? I remember when I first got my machine, I was ready to cook 12 hours a day (which I could only do during the week-ends). And you know what, the excitement is totally intact even now after all that time. I look at it and wonder what I can make today (it’s going to be kids lunch box goodies today).
But I’m in no way a Magimix Expert hahahah :) I’m just passionate about what I do, and about cooking.
About the accessories, my advice is to go on the Australian Facebook Group dedicated to the Magimix Cook Expert. Let me find the link for you, here it is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1059768560746067/ The participants are super active, cook a lot? They try the accessories and comment on them. It’s the best way to give you a precise idea of what you need or don’t need.
In my case, I was super lazy, and my bench top super disorganised… I got the cube/fries slicer, the citrus press and the juicer and I’m ashamed to confess here that I put them in a cupboard and never used them. I don’t regret buying them at all, because I am 100% sure that I will use them very soon. I just bought a fruit juice/smoothie book which is fantastic and I’m keen to start a new morning routine using both the juicer and the press. I also bought the parmesan disk which I have used and am happy about, and I bought different size slicing and grating disks because I’m a (sick) machine addict who needs to have all the gizmos.
At the end of the day, what is provided with the machine is totally plenty enough for an incredible variety of uses.
My advice is, use the machine as it is and if you desperately need a juicer because it’s your thing and you want to make crackers with the fruit/veggie pulp, buy it, you’re going to love it if I trust what the girls in the group were saying :)
I’m keen to try the fries thingy, I will do it soon and will publish an article about it. Stay tuned!
Have a great day!
Flo
Hi Flo, what a great review! I moved to the UK at the start of the year and had been looking at the magimix Le patissier before we left, and earmarking that and a thermie for when we eventually returned back to Australia and saved enough money. That is, until I scrambled across this today! LOVE the idea that it can now be one machine!! My question is more about the fact that you bought in France (given that it’s a possibility for me currently), was it a better price seeing that it’s a French brand? And did you have do anything in terms of power/plug adaption? I may be tempted to lug one back also… ?
Hi Katie,
Thank you for your kind message :)
I bought mine in France because it was the only place to find it at the time. If I had to do it now, I’d probably buy it in France as well, because it’s much cheaper. I have the French one here in Australia and I just use an adaptor. It’s been working perfectly well that way. There is the question of the warranty and I have no idea there. If there’s a problem, you could talk to the French people while in the UK and the Aussie Magimix when back here. Magimix is a large company with a “small family business” feel. I’m sure they’ll help you.
I took mine with me in the plane from Paris to Sydney. No problem there either.
Let me know what you decide :)
Flo
Thanks for your reply Flo. One more question if I may. I’m not a French speaker (as much as I’d like to be)… I think I see from your photo that the recipe book is in French? What about the manual and the screen language? Would they also be in French only? Because that would be a deal breaker…. So much cheaper though that I may just use the difference in costs to take up French lessons! ?
Hehehehe :) Good point! Well, if you buy it France, it will definitely be in French. The book exists in English though with Aussie recipes such as Lamingtons :)
I’d look into buying the English book separately. Ask Magimix if you can do that.
The internal recipes and programs can be switched to English or French.
Have you looked into buying it in the UK? I’m following Magimix UK on Instagram, I’m pretty sure they have the Cook Expert and the English version of it.
To my knowledge it is not yet available in the UK, or at least it wasn’t when I bought mine a couple of months ago. I bought mine in Belgium which is where I live but I contacted Magimix in Belgium and they sent me a book in English. As for the screen on the machine itself you can make that in English with no problem .
This is great :) Thanks for sharing this Victoria.
Hi Flo! Thank you so many ch for your blog. I was confused about thermomix and magimix. My in-law owns a thermomix and I also fell in love with it. And when i accidentally saw a shop selling thermo-machines, I saw magimix and got confused..in fact I am in search for an actual demo of magimix until I stumbled on this post and your comparison table..will wait for the new release of the magimix. Hope they include the ‘integrated scale’ in it. Just one question, does it contain built-in recipes like the thermomix connect? Tia for your answer. Would be waiting for it..
Hi!
Believe it or not I currently have both machines on my kitchen bench. Someone lent me a Thermomix because I really wanted to see the differences. I’m writing an article about it but it’s a long process because I’m testing a list of recipes in both (and I have 2 day jobs ;)
The Magimix Cook Expert doesn’t have an integrated scale like the Thermomix. It is sold with a separated scale which for the firs units sold was a bit wonky but now works a treat (I use it every day to make my bread and many more things).
That being said, I find the Thermomix scale very imprecise. You have to be very careful that nothing touches the machine of course (which can be a challenge on a small kitchen bench) and more importantly that the cord is left in the same position with no wait or pull on it. Also, it sometimes goes back to zero and you cannot take off your flour, you have to trust you eye-weighing skills…
I prefer to weigh tings more precisely and separately.
Regarding the recipes, Magimix doesn’t have recipes in the same sense as Thermomix. It has programs that are really well made such as soup programs. You dump your veggie, water, salt and pepper and press 1 button and the soup will be made magically without intervention. It makes either a super silky soup, the same as you can find in top notch French restaurants (due to the different speeds of the program, the shape of the blade and the bowl); or a medium chunky soup which is a welcomed change when you indulge too much in the velouté program ;)
It has a steam program, where everything is set for 20 min of steam and you can adjust it if you want. It has a pastry or a bread program, etc.
The recipes from the app or the book are very easy to follow even if it’s not on the machine screen. You can have the recipe beside you and do the same job.
Thermomix has 3 automated recipes that comes with the machine including Custard which I have used many times.
The difference with Magimix is that you have to press tons of buttons for each step. A custard in Magimix is way simpler. You dump all the ingredients in the bowl and you choose a temp, speed and duration, done :)
Then there are many chips and recipes “non automated” but guided in the Thermie. Same thing, it tells you exactly what an app would tell you, or a book, or a blog like mine :) but it’s on the screen. More button to press.
I hope this help!
If you have
Hi,
I am going to UK for soon and I can order a CE via Amazon uk (seller is from Italy so it has Italian recipe book). Comparing prices between UK and Australia it is cheaper in Uk. However I am wondering about the important upgrades to CE and whether I should wait for awhile before ordering? I have a feeling that the unit via Amazon won’t be the latest model with the new upgrades neither does it have the citrus extractor and iPad holder etc.
Are the new ‘upgrades’ worthwhile waiting for? You mention you are in the midst of preparing a post on this upgrades and maybe you can just give a hint – to wait or not to wait for new CE.?
Thank you
Hi Gelina,
I would wait to get the latest version because it includes better accessories: spatula, egg beater compatible with hotter preparation, cap that’s easier to handle, and a longer cooking time possible with no blade movement which is great for slow-cooking or sous-vide.
Bear with me :) I’ll go into details in a new post! Work has been hectic, I haven’t been able sit down and do it!!
Cheers,
Flo
Many thanks for your kind reply…. Will hold on purchase ?
Hi Flo,
Just want to share that I ordered the MCE from Myers on 8/12. It was going for $1679.20 and I got the last Chrome unit. Needless to say, I am very pleased and can’t wait to start cooking with it. Looking forward to more posts from you. Cheers
Hi Gelina!
Well done!!! I really want to hear all about it when you’ve opened the box :) More Cook Expert articles are in preparation. Keep an eye on that space :)
x
Flo
Hi there, just wondering was it on a special from Myers for a short period of time – when I looked it up tonight it was $2099. I would love one and a few hundred dollars discount would be great :)
Cheers Wens
Hi
The Myers promotion was for one day only on 7/12 (I typed 8/12 by mistake).
Hi
The Myers promotion was for one day only on 7/12 (I typed 8/12 by mistake). I am still waiting for the unit – hopefully soon.
Dear Flo,
Just wondering if you know when the revised model with a new cap that is going to be easier to handle will be available in Australia? Any idea what the actual differences are? Do you have a link to an image of the changes?
I want my daughters to cook with the machine, so if the exiting cap is too awkward when it is hot, then I might be best to wait.
Out of interest, do you use the lower controlled temperature function for cooking eggs? Does it give a good result? Also, have you tried sous-vide cooking in the machine as yet? Does it produce a good result?
Thanks for your informative reviews.
Sonya
Dear Sonya,
Thank you for your message. The current Cook Experts sold in Australia have the new cap. There is not much difference with the initial one. I bought one of the first machines, that’s why I still have the “old” one, and it is perfectly fine. They both look absolutely identical.
The new one has a slightly deeper grip which is easier to grab and turn. The other thing is that it screws very tight in the lid which makes it safer to handle. It did screw well before but this time it tighter. I prefer it that way.
I use the lower temp to proof my sourdough bread every day. It’s absolutely fantastic. I steam my eggs though :) I have tried sous-vide and it produces great results. I have a Sunbeam sous-vide “bain marie” machine and of course being much larger than the Cook’s bowl it’s more convenient with larger pieces of meat but when we do 2 marinated duck breasts, it’s perfect.
I hope this helps :)
Cheers,
Flo
HI Flo
Thank you so much!
I have a few more questions, if you have time. Mainly around the use of the metal bowl as a “blender” – how useful is it? Or does it really not work because of the wide base? I am keen on the magimix because I like the 1degC accuracy and I prefer the company reputation to that of the competitors. However, I have a small kitchen and I think that most of the time I will be using just the metal bowl.
1. Do you use the metal bowl to make smoothies from vegetables – kale, carrot, chia seed, juice etc – How smooth is the drink?
2. Do you need to make curry pastes in the small food processor bowl, or can you use the metal bowl?
3. How useful is the inbuilt steamer function? I see you are all talking about a new steamer?
I would be buying the cook expert to be a combination food processor, blender, mixed (for egg whites etc) and bread kneader; with the added and very useful bonus of being able to cook soups and sauces. I will also make sorbets regularly.
Thanks so much,
Sonya
Hi Sonya,
Thank you for your message.
You can use the metal bowl for everything: curry pastes, smoothies, milkshakes, thickshakes, etc. you can even do a bit of milling even if it won’t make “proper super fine flour” like the commercial one. I like this thick flour though. I use it in my sourdough breads.
Your don’t have to use the plastic bowls. What I like in the plastic bowls though, is that you can slice, grate and when you mince (which you can do with the metal bowl) you can see on the sides, the exact consistency you want. It’s ideal for steak tartare, or fish poke, or tartare.
I use the metal bowl 95% of the time in winter and 60% in summer.
The current steamer function is simply fantastic. I love the metal basket. I use it for rice (glutinous or not), cakes, vegetables, fruits, etc. The larger steamer which Magimix will sell very soon is simply larger. It can contain much more than the Thermomix Varoma. It’s optional, but if you like healthy steamed food and muffins ;) I recommend you get it when it’s available.
About the bread kneading, there will be a new kneading blade available very soon. You can totally knead dough with the standard blade but this one is more for the “obsessive baker” such as me. I have tried it and have chucked my Kenwood since. This time, I do not have to hold the machine for 13 minutes in full blast and deafening noise every day. It’s heaven! I’ll write about it very soon :)
Cheers,
Flo
Do you know whether the dough bowl (?available in UK but not Australia??) can be used to bake in Cook Expert, or whether need to use oven?
Thanks
Hi Deanna,
I have no idea… I use the new dough hook which is compatible with the Cook Expert Metal bowl, then I proof the dough in the metal bowl at 31.5°C and after than I like to either refrigerate my dough for a longer fermentation, or in any case fold it several times. So I wouldn’t really use a bowl to put in the oven directly. Except for brioche maybe :)
I think the best way to know would be to contact Magimix :)
Cheers,
Flo
Thanks for that Flo, but I think I’ve confused you.
I wasn’t referring to the main metal bowl that is supplied with the machine.
There is an accessory that is called the dough bowl for some reason, that can be used inside the metal bowl to make batters and then put in oven. I wouldn’t dream of putting the main bowl in the oven- you must have thought I was daft!
My question is basically about whether one can bake in the Cook Expert without water in the bowl, presumably with the little cap off the lid so that whatever is cooking doesn’t get soggy (of course only at temperatures up to 140 degrees).
Deanna
Hi Deanna,
The only dough bowl I’ve heard about is one that clips in the plastic bowl of the food processor and goes in the oven after having kneaded and raised the dough.
This is what I was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMwFOnvKwg
I’m pretty certain it would fit in the Cook Expert’s food processor but you need to ask Magimix first :)
You can totally cook in the Cook Expert without water in the bowl :) If you want, have a look at their recipe app so you can see what can be cooked in there.
Does this machine actually weigh itself like the Thermomix does or do you have to use the separate scales? All the descriptions and reviews I have read on this machine do not make that clear to me. Today I saw a demo on the machine at a Food Show and the person said sometimes the weigh part on a Thermomix fails and you have to send the machine back so we give you as set of scales. When I asked but you do have scales in the machine as well she did not really answer my question. Are there scales in built in this machine or are the scales separate only?
Hello Beverly,
Thank you for your message.
The Magimix Cook expert does not have an integrated scale. The Thermomix does.
Magimix provides a separate scale with their machine so you can place the bowl on it and weigh the content.
I really like the weighing possibility of the Thermomix. It is true that it is far from accurate though. If you have anything touch the base, or the cord is stretched/pulled, up or down or straight, it alters the weight. So it’s probably better not to use it for very accurate cooking. But for the everyday custard it’s fab.
Have a little look at my comparison between the two machines here:
http://www.thefloshow.com/magimix-cook-expert-vs-thermomix/
I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Flo
It’s a truly magical tool if it can do so many things. Having Magimix in the kitchen would eliminate the need for several other individual tools.
It does, even for the appliance addict that I am :))))