Tefal Cuisine Companion

The Tefal Cuisine Companion is a multifunctional food processor with 6 automatic cooking programs, it comes with various accessories to help you to cook sauces, soups, stews, steamed dishes and desserts.

The cooking bowl has a 2.5-litre capacity and detaches to allow for ease of use and cleaning.

The machine comes with various tools and attachments; a steam basket, ultrablade knife, whisk, mixer, kneading/crushing blade and a bowl plug for slow cooking.

Tefal Cuisine Companion also has a free recipe app and comes with a cookbook.

The machine measurements are 400mm in height, 369mm in width and 400mm in length.

• Temperature range 30° to 130°C
• Speed range 1-12 (speeds 1 and 2 are intermittent*)
• Time range 5 sec to 2 hours

*Speed 1 us 5 sec On and 20 sec Off. Speed 2 is 10 sec On and 10 sec Off.

Using the machine

Once you have selected an automatic programme or manually programmed the machine press the Start/Stop button once to commence the cooking process.

Press the Start/Stop button again to pause the operation. The display screen will flash when the unit has been paused.

If the cancel button is pressed during a pre-set programme, the unit will return to the previous stage. To cancel the programme hold down the button for 2 seconds and the machine will return to standby mode. The unit will beep 3 times when the function has been cancelled.

The + and – buttons are used to increase and decrease speed, cooking temperature and duration.

Automatic programmes

There are 6 automatic programmes, several of them have sub-programmes. To select a sub-programme simply press an automatic programme and press again until you have reached the desired sub-programme.

For example, the automatic program for risotto is Slow Cook preset number 3 (P3). To select this, press the Slow Cook button 3 times.

Some presets will allow you to adjust the time, speed and the temperature.

• Sauce: the sauce programme is very flexible you can adjust the time, speed and the temperature.

• Soup: the soup programme if for preparing and cooking all kinds of soups! P1 is for cooking and blending soups and P2 has a puls setting at the end for chunky soups.

• Slow Cook: P1 is for vegetable casseroles, P2 is for making stews and P3 automatically cooks and stirs risottos.

• Steam: The steam setting is to be used with the steam basket, the temperature is set to 100°C and the speed is set to 0, both cannot be adjusted. You can, however, adjust the time from 1 minute up to 1 hour.

• Pastry: P1 is for making and kneading dough for bread, P2 is for brioche dough and P3 is for mixing cake batter.

• Dessert: the dessert programme is very flexible you can adjust the time, speed and the temperature.

Manual setting

With the Tefal Cuisine Companion, you can manually program it to cook whatever you like, simply select the speed, time and temperature. It allows you to have complete control over your cooking.

The chop button is to be used with the ultrablade. You can use it to chop vegetables and meat, to blend soups or to make smoothies.

There are 12-speed settings, and a separate Turbo and Puls buttons.

The Turbo button makes the machine go at maximum speed, perfect for blending chopping nuts, herbs and vegetables like onions! The pulse button will automatically switch between tip speed and resting, this is good for bending soups but retaining some of the pieces.

Keep Warm

When most of the automatic programmes have ended or the manual timer has finished the machine automatically switch to the keep warm programme. The keep warm function is extremely useful especially if you are making food in advance.

At the end of the Sauce, Soup, Slow Cook P2 and P3, Steam and Desserts, the appliance will automatically change to keep warm mode for up to 45 minutes.

When the Sauces programme, Slow cook P2 and P3, Dessert programme and Manual Mode, are in keep warm mode the machine will continue to stir to avoid the contents sticking to the cooking bowl.

To stop keep warm mode, simply press the Start/Stop button. If you open the lid, press the locks or
remove the bowl for the base the keep warm mode will also automatically.

At the end of kneading in the Pastry P1 and P2, the appliance changes to “Dough Rising” mode at. The temperature is fixed to 30°C and it will last for 40 minutes. If you open the lid, press the locks or remove the bowl, the machine will pause and if you want to restart you can by pressing the Start/Stop button. If you wish to stop this mode, press and hold the Start/Stop button for 2 seconds.

Tefal Cuisine Companion vs i-companion

The main difference between Tefal Cuisine Companion and the i-companion is that the latter can connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone or tablet. Once your machine is connected to your device it can be controlled remotely!

The turbo and pulse buttons are gone and you will also notice that the sauce or dessert programmes are missing. However, you can manually programme these modes

• For the dessert programme – Set the machine to speed 4, at 90°C for 15 minutes.
• For the sauce programme – Set the machine to speed 5, at 70°C for 8 minutes.
• Turbo – Speed 12
• Pulse – Speed 13

All other sub-programs have remained the same.

Tefal Cuisine Companion v Thermomix TM5

Which is better Tefal Cuisine Companion or Thermomix TM5? This is one of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to choosing between multi-functioning cooking machines. Both devices perform very similar functions and have comparable accessories.

However, they do differ in some key features and functions so let’s dive in!

• Size and weight: both devices have similar dimensions, but the Tefal Cuisine Companion is slightly larger and weighs 8kg, while the Thermomix TM5 weighs 7kg.
• Speed: Both have 12 speeds but Thermomix TM5 turbo speed is faster than the Cuisine Companion
• Temperature: The Thermomix TM5 temperature ranges from 37°C to 120°C – While the Cuisine Companion temperature range is 30° to 130°C
• Price: The price of each machine will vary slightly depending on the retailer, but the Cuisine Companion is always considerably lower in price.

Tefal Cuisine Companion vs Kitchenaid Cook Processor

• Size and weight: Tefal Cuisine Companion weighs 8kg, while the Kitchenaid Cook Processor is bigger and weighs 10.14kg.
• Accessories: The Kitchenaid Cook Processor comes with a Mini Bowl and Mini MultiBlade perfect for preparing small quantities of food and a measuring cup.
• Temperature: The Thermomix TM5 temperature ranges from 37°C to 120°C – While the Cuisine Companion temperature range is 30° to 130°C
• Price: The price of each machine will vary slightly depending on the retailer, but the Cuisine Companion is usually about £650.00 while the Kitchenaid Cook Processor is about £500