TM7™ Modes Explained: What Each One Does and When to Use It

Mi gente, the first time you open the Modes menu on your Thermomix® TM7™, it can feel like a lot. Browning, Dough, Sous-vide, Kettle... What is each one for, and when do you just use the regular settings?

Here is what I want you to know: almost every recipe on this site uses the manual settings, time, temperature and speed. Modes are shortcuts that set those for you, plus a few jobs the manual settings can't do. Manual settings first, then each mode, with an example from our recipes where it fits.

First, the manual settings

In Manual Cooking you set each step, and the TM7 does exactly that. Our recipes are written this way, for example sauté 3 min/120°C (250°F)/speed 1.

• Time: how long the step runs, including the minutes the bowl needs to heat up.
• Temperature: 37°C (98°F) to 120°C (250°F), plus Varoma for steaming. I checked on my own TM7: by hand, the heat stops at 120°C (250°F).
• Speed: speed soft stirs now and then, then 0.5 to 10, with half steps like 1.5 and 3.5. Low speeds stir, middle speeds chop, high speeds blend. No heating above speed 6.
• Reverse: the blades turn blunt side first, so they stir without cutting. Use it for meat in a stew, beans or rice.
• Turbo: bursts of 0.5, 1 or 2 seconds at top speed, for Parmesan or chocolate, only while the bowl is below 60°C (140°F).

At speed 2 or lower the lid stays unlocked, so you can lift it to add ingredients; Thermomix USA calls cooking with the lid resting partly open Unlocked cooking, up to 120°C (250°F). Safety: keep everything under the 2 L mark, the butterfly whisk never above speed 4, and blend hot food with the lid cap on.

Browning: the one mode that goes past 120°C

This mode sears meat and browns onions above the manual limit, up to 160°C (320°F), and on the TM7 you can start it yourself from the Modes menu. On the screen you choose Intense or Gentle.

• Intense is like high heat on the stove: a sear on meat, crisper vegetables, or vegetables that give off a lot of liquid. Thermomix suggests heating 20 g (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) oil with your aromatics first, 2 min/120°C (250°F)/speed 1.
• Gentle is like low to medium heat: it browns slowly while the food softens, perfect for onions and garlic.
• Amounts: meat, chicken or shrimp in batches of 100 to 250 g (about 1/4 to 1/2 lb), 4 to 8 minutes at 160°C (320°F), with 10 to 50 g oil (about 2 teaspoons to 3 1/2 tablespoons), and never less than 100 g of food in the bowl.
• Mi consejo: pat meat dry for more color, and keep the bowl and spatula completely dry, because a drop of water makes hot oil spit. Never heat the oil alone. Loosen the brown bits with your recipe's liquid, or run Pre-clean after.

Until I've tested Browning in my own recipes, they keep manual 120°C (250°F) steps that work on every TM7. My French onion soup cooks its onions long and slow at 120°C (250°F) on reverse, and my beef picadillo browns the beef with sauté 8 min/120°C (250°F)/reverse/speed 1: just the jobs Gentle and Intense were made for.

Dough, Blend and Steaming: the everyday modes

Dough turns the blades one way, then the other, with short pauses, working the dough like your hands would. Our soft dinner rolls knead 3 min/dough mode and our pan sobao a minute longer. It only starts below 60°C (140°F), and you should stay close while it kneads.

Blend is for smoothies, purées and smooth soups: you choose the time and the speed, up to 10. Our calabaza soup and tropical green smoothie write it the manual way, blend 1 min/speed 5-10, increasing speed gradually. Hot food always with the lid cap on.

Steaming uses the Varoma and the simmering basket: you pick the food from a list on the screen and the TM7 keeps the water boiling. Use at least 500 g (about 2 cups) water for up to 30 minutes, plus 250 g (about 1 cup) for every extra 15, and leave some slots uncovered. Our steamed salmon with mango salsa cooks rice in the basket under the fish, steam 22 min/Varoma/speed 1. ¡Qué rico!

Low and slow: Slow cook, Sous-vide and Fermentation

Slow cook gives stews and tough cuts hours of gentle heat: up to 800 g (about 1 3/4 lb) of meat, 1 to 8 hours, 60°C (140°F) to 98°C (210°F). Think of the beef or pork you would leave in the caldero all afternoon.

Sous-vide cooks food sealed in vacuum bags in a water bath, 40°C (104°F) to 85°C (185°F), for up to 12 hours. Start with a guided Cookidoo® recipe and keep the USDA safe temperatures in mind, fish 63°C (145°F) and chicken 74°C (165°F); our meat basics guide has the rest.

Fermentation holds 37°C (98°F) to 70°C (160°F) for homemade yogurt or proofing bread dough, a warm spot for the dough on a chilly day.

Thermomix's tip when water heats in the bowl for hours: add a little acid, like 30 g (2 tablespoons) lemon juice, to protect the bowl.

Small helpers: Rice cooker, Warm up, Thicken, Egg and Kettle

• Rice cooker: cooks rice and grains in the bowl by absorption; it heats, boils and rests by itself.
• Warm up: reheats cooked food evenly, starting at 70°C (160°F), and you can change the temperature and speed. Leftover soup is the classic.
• Thicken: 80°C (175°F) for sauces thickened with eggs, 100°C (212°F) for flour or cornstarch. Our hollandaise sauce uses that same 80°C the manual way, cook 7 min/80°C (175°F)/speed 4.
• Egg: 2 to 6 eggs cold from the fridge, water to the 1 L mark and one of five doneness levels, with the blades still. Cool them under cold water in the simmering basket. Our deviled eggs steam them in the Varoma instead.
• Kettle: heats only water, 100 g to 1.8 kg (about 1/2 cup to 7 1/2 cups), to the exact temperature you choose from 37°C (98°F) to 100°C (212°F), like 80°C (175°F) for green tea. Milk goes in Warm up.

Open cooking, Sensor, Sugar Stages and Pre-clean

• Open cooking: blades still, lid off if you like, up to 100°C (212°F). You set the time and temperature and stir with the spatula, so meatballs or shrimp in a sauce don't break. Stay under the 2 L mark, and don't put the lid on when dairy goes above 90°C (195°F).
• Sensor: with the optional Thermomix Sensor, a Bluetooth thermometer, the TM7 follows the temperature of food in the oven, in a pan or on the grill. Think of the 88°C (190°F) our soft dinner rolls need in the center.
• Sugar Stages: caramel and candy, but only inside guided recipes, so you can't start it yourself. My flan de queso makes its caramel in a saucepan on the stove, and our syrup stages guide explains each stage.
• Pre-clean: a quick clean between steps or dishes that loosens dough, caramel and browned bits. Fill it as the screen says, then wash the bowl as usual.

All the modes at a glance

A few more modes need extra accessories: Peeler, Grating, Slicing and Spiralizing.

Manual or mode? How I decide

Mira, my rule is simple: if a recipe gives you time, temperature and speed, use the manual settings, because that is what it was written for. Reach for a mode when it does what the manual settings can't, like Browning past 120°C (250°F), the long hours of Slow cook or Sous-vide, or the hands-off timing of Egg. The Modes menu sits at the top of Manual Cooking, and the info icon in the top right corner explains each one. Try one new mode at a time and, poquito a poco, that menu stops looking scary.

That's the whole Modes menu, in plain words. Start with the manual settings, add one mode at a time, and soon la cocina will feel like home. Want to know why the TM7 is my favorite kitchen tool? I tell you all about it there. ¡Buen provecho!

Adapted with permission from Life With Thermomix, the blog of Beatriz Tarrega, a Thermomix® advisor in the United Kingdom, and rewritten for American kitchens.