How to Choose Mixing Tools for Cooking and Baking

How to choose a mixing tool that is best suited for your cooking and baking needs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. There are many tools available for cooking that will help you to mix your cooking ingredients. However, some of these tools work better for some jobs than others. The following items are mixing tools that should be a staple part of every kitchen and what jobs they work best for.
2. The Wire Whisk-There are various forms of shapes and sizes of wire whisks available, and most will perform their function in the same way, with the exception of specialty wire whisks. Wire whisks are best used for beating eggs or egg whites, stirring sauces and gravies or folding cooking ingredients together.
3. The Hand Rotary Beater-The hand rotary beater is the predecessor of the electric mixer. Hand rotary beaters have mixing blades with a crank handle you turn to spin the blades. Hand rotary beaters are best used for beating eggs and light mixtures such as sauces, gravies and thin batters such as pancake mix.
4. The Electric Mixer-The electric mixer is the modern day version of the hand rotary beater. These mixers run of electricity and are more powerful than a manually operated mixer. There are two electric mixers available; the hand held electric mixer and the stand mixer. The hand held mixer is more of a light duty mixer, best suited for mixing both light mixtures as well as soft pliable doughs. The stand mixer is more heavy and is often more diverse. There are generally multiple attachments and bowls that are included with a stand mixer, making it the ideal mixer for almost any mixing need when cooking. Stand mixers can be adjusted to mix both light mixtures and heavy mixtures, including thick batters and doughs.
5. The Blender-A blender is best suited for mixing liquids or pureeing soft foods. There are a number of types of blenders available, from blenders that are only for beverages to blenders that are specifically made for thicker blends, like milk shakes and smoothies. Blenders can be used to puree foods for cooking, finely chopping small qualities of soft foods such as onions or peppers, or blending liquids together for a recipe.
6. The Food Processor-Food processors also come in a large variety of shapes in sizes and mixing and cutting features. Food processors can be used for an assortment of cooking tasks, but for the purpose of mixing, small food processors are best used for mixing soft foods such as onions and peppers, while larger food processors can be used for mixing pastries and doughs.