It's the fancy pants kitchen appliance on every wedding registry and foodie wish-list around the country.
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And it turns out the Governor-General wants one too, although he is not quite sure why.
A Senate hearing in Canberra has examined just why Sir Peter Cosgrove's office is tendering for a Thermomix - the luxury German kitchen contraption that steams, emulsifies, blends, kneads, chops and grills (among about 12 functions).
It is so complicated that you need a professional demonstration before you buy one.
As part of a $100,000 or so tender for new cooking equipment, the Governor-General's office has also put in a bid for stick blenders, food processors, a KitchenAid, deep fryer and pasta maker.
But of all the pieces of equipment, it was the Thermomix that captured the imagination of the Senate's Finance and Public Administration Committee on Tuesday.
"You're going to have to help with with this, a Thermomix," Labor's Joe Ludwig asked innocently. "I don't know what a Thermomix is."
Official secretary to the Governor-General, Mark Fraser, was similarly ignorant in reply.
"I don't know what a Thermomix, Senator, is," he added apologetically.
In the end, it was up to committee chairman and South Australian senator Cory Bernardi to educate the room.
He explained that a Thermomix was a food processing machine "very popular amongst the home master chefs of today".
Senator Ludwig then wondered aloud if this was something "elite trendies" use.
"In Queensland you may refer to them as that. I just refer to them as those who have a particular interest in cooking," Senator Bernardi lobbed back at his Sunshine State colleague.
Mr Fraser explained to the committee that the tender for new kitchen equipment was "routine", given the Governor-General entertained thousands of guests each year.
He also confirmed Sir Peter did not personally request any of the items, including the deep fryer.
In response to questioning, Mr Fraser also told Senate estimates that the first he heard that Prime Minister Tony Abbott was handing back the power to name knights and dames to the Order of Australia Council was when Mr Abbott made his public announcement about it in February.
He would not go into the "specifics" of the Governor-General's recent termination of convicted paedophile Rolf Harris' honours, but said that the honours committee monitored public events and waited for legal proceedings to be completed before making a decision.
Honours can be cancelled if the recipient is convicted of a crime either in Australia or overseas.
