Posha vs. Thermomix: Kitchen robots face off on Thanksgiving sides

Vacation is I’m still about a week away, and I’m tired of Thanksgiving. I’ve already made four rounds of mashed potatoes, three rounds of macaroni and cheese, and three turkeys (with more waiting in my refrigerator) as part of testing smart probes to help smoke turkeys outside and prepare seven-course holiday meal kits for friends and family.

I was keen to outsource some of the cooking by testing out two very different robotic chef devices, the Thermomix TM7 and Pushcha kitchen robot. They both promise to plan my meals and also do most of the cooking, which sounds pretty good to me.

The Thermomix descends from a German device launched in 1968, a time when the most famous robot chef was the cartoon Rosie. The Jetsons– This was basically a mixer with a heater. It has since spread wildly in countries from Italy to Portugal to Australia, and over the years has added multi-level steaming, baking, proofing, a touchscreen, an encyclopedic recipe app, and a host of smart features. WIRED reviewer Joe Ray called the 2020 latest generation Thermomix TM6 (9/10, WIRED recommends) “the smartest in the smart kitchen.” The latest version, the seventh-generation TM7, was released in August, and looks like a giant cup with a computer screen. It retails for $1,699 and is intended to replace almost every appliance in your kitchen. He’ll even happily order groceries for you on InstaCart.

The latest entrant into robot chefs is Posha, a device emerging from Silicon Valley via Bangalore that aims to cook autonomously in a single pot, by simply chopping the appropriate ingredients into small boxes. The Posha kitchen robot launched in January for $1,750 and sold out immediately, as has been the case with each successive batch. The device comes with a robotic stirring arm and a camera to monitor humidity and browning. Press a button, and Posha will add ingredients at the right moment, season and stir your food, add water and oil, and cook it, all without your input.

I used both the Posha and Thermomix to make a range of Thanksgiving dishes: candied potatoes, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and Brussels sprouts, a more complex wildcard entrée chosen because I thought my Aunt Katherine might like it—and I rated the overall cooking experience. Think of it as facing off against a robot chef.

Here’s my experience with both Thermomix and Posha, and how each worked for five Thanksgiving side recipes.

Cooking experience with Thermomix

The history of Thermomix goes back nearly 60 years. This is a good thing. It started out as a blender that could cook. It’s still a very powerful blender that can cook. Oh lord, it makes pesto or mashed potatoes as quick and easy as anything else. I literally stood in awe of the power of raw culinary blending.

But it’s also evolved into much more than that, an all-in-one appliance that aims to replace almost every appliance in your kitchen. Today the Thermomix is ​​a multi-functional beast.