Throw Away Your Thermomix (For the Next Few Weeks)
By: Bree Recker
Tags: Baking, Quarantine, Coronavirus, Cooking

So don’t actually throw it away (I’m keenly aware of the dent that a Thermomix can leave in your wallet). But put it aside, at the back of your pantry, shoved behind old boxes of pancake mix and saltines, at least for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis. Aside from our front-line nurses, doctors, food workers, delivery people, and grocery store cashiers (our heroes! we owe you big time!), most of us are stuck at home for the foreseeable future.

Time to break out that mortar and pestle.

And we might as well take advantage of perhaps the only time in our lives that we are morally, and in many cases legally, obligated to stay at home. Of course, it is during this time that we most miss our mundane morning commute, weekly happy hour, and spontaneous dinners at our favorite local joint. But now that you cannot leave the house, you have no excuse to mindlessly throw all of your ingredients into a machine, let it do its magic, and put a meal on the table without breaking a sweat.

I fully understand and appreciate the value of a Thermomix, a food processor, or a breadmaker in our day-to-day food preparation. We have busy lives, each of us for our own reasons. We work, we raise families, we stretch ourselves thin, and at the end of our long and tiring days, these kitchen magicians are our lifelines. However, we now find ourselves with the unique opportunity to devote the hours that we used to spend in the car or on public transportation to a time-consuming, well-worth-it, home-cooked meal.

Make brownies (from scratch — no box mixes) and lick the bowl clean!

In the wake of an international crisis like the one that we are currently living, we are so acutely reminded of the importance of one of the most universal elements of our being: food. I live in Madrid, where we are under a national government-mandated quarantine. We aren’t allowed to leave the house unless we are going to the grocery store, pharmacy, or doctor, meaning that almost all 24 hours of my day are spent inside my 100-square-foot apartment. Meaning that my life is now scheduled around when we cook and when we eat.

Never before have I had the opportunity to share breakfast, lunch, and dinner with my boyfriend — our opposite schedules often restrict us from having even one meal together during the workweek. In contrast, we now eat breakfast between 9:00 and 10:00, lunch between 2:00 and 3:00, and dinner after my (temporarily) online classes end at 8:00. Together.

And aside from being allowed the flexibility to coordinate mealtimes, I can finally find the time to stir risotto for a half-hour, knead focaccia dough, and really, truly caramelize the shallots for Alison Roman’s famed pasta dish. I can finally find the time to make beer bread, experiment with brownie recipes, and slowly simmer ratatouille until jammy and sweet.

Beer bread for breakfast.

In these weeks of shelter-in-place, free time, and a full kitchen, god willing, I urge you to fall back in love with laborious cooking, finding inspiration in the way your grandmother would have done things. Make those homemade pasta noodles! Slow-cook a roast! Let that sourdough rise (really though, a lot of people are making sourdough and it’s lovely). The extra effort, time, and care that you devote to the food that will nourish you and your loved ones will reap exponential rewards.

If you find comfort, as I do, in cooking, perhaps you already have some projects in mind. Now is a great time to ask for your aunt’s beloved cookie recipe or tackle that time-consuming Bon Appétit dish that you never thought you’d have time to make. But even if you’re no Julia Child, this is your chance to find your space in the kitchen. Maybe you can make a mean banana bread or baste a beautiful turkey — you’ll never know unless you try.

So for the next two weeks, tuck away that Thermomix, and any other makes-things-too-easy kitchen tools, and find the joy that comes from forming your food by hand. Share with your family, your roomates, your partner. If you live alone, enjoy seconds and thirds, or share with a neighbor in need. We must, now more than ever, come together, and what better way to do it than by putting good food on the table.