All Activity

Miso salmon ramen bowl with roasted cabbage, purple daikon radishes, and the first bunch of chives from the garden

The pan detection doesn't work properly/dependably.

Breakfast this morning was a tender omelette, meaning it was barely cooked with tiniest amounts of fish sauce and soy sauce, with chilli crisp and coriander.

Adding some heat this yr!!

Bolognese over spaghetti squash

Most of my measurements were of a nonstick pan, not stainless. When I did measure stainless I put oil in the pan so I was measuring oil rather than metal. Any advice on buying a thermocouple I can tape to the pan without spending a lot? And type of tape to use? (The thermocouples I have are for sous vide, pointy probe shape tips.) Note that now that I understand how things work the thing that is bothering me is that the steady state temperatures I'm getting are higher than the set point by 20-40 deg depending on the pan. And yes, this doesn't make sense thermodynamically, so it suggests that either the Freak is misreading the temperature or my thermometers are. It seems important to figure out which one. On this very thread people have been suggesting the Analon copper pans. These are advertised to have a layer of copper in the base that spreads the heat and visibly appear like they have a quite thick layer. But Analon (like almost every other pan manufacturer, I'll note) says nothing about how thick any of the layers are, and the pans are cheap at $70 for a set of two skillets. I asked them and have not heard back. This is not uncommon, though. The pan companies tell you how many layers there are but not how thick anything is, like Demeyere is supposed to be great because it has 7 layers! Maybe it'll be even better next year when the 9 layer version comes out! I asked another vendor about their pan thickness and they didn't know but did eventually get the information---it took a week. Wouldn't cast iron be uneven on every heat source? The Freak manual says minimum pan size is 5.5 inches. Why do you think it is actually 6.3"? What goes wrong if the pan is smaller than 6.3 inches?

C'mon. $70??? I guess there is one born every minute.

@FauxPas I see that you live on Vancouver Island and according to a quick check you're in a zone 8. You should get some great tomatoes and peppers.

The last of the braised ribs. Meat taken off the bone, shredded , and mixed with sauteed mustard greens and mushrooms. Incorporated into quesadillas with pepper jack and served with a romaine, cucumber and tomato salad.

Not just yet, though. Here is a maybe a fifth of the line outside my favourite luosifen place (which I can't go to anymore) this noon. The malatang place round the corner had three customers.

Chicken Big Mamou over rice

I think her name is Gaga and she is a respected singer … 🤭

I also saw a post on Reddit that was an actual baguette where the crust of the bread was somehow preserved and coated in some type of polymer (I’m guessing) that is sold out in various countries for about $3500. I’ll keep looking for it. I like nice things but the day I would even spend a cent to make something like this? Sign me up! 🤣

This is a Fendi “bag charm”. It takes me back to playing the same game about predictions while laying on a jungle gym in the sun as a kid. I likely will not buy it, I have never bought a bag charm but it is tempting https://www.fendi.com/us-en/woman/accessories/shoulder-straps-bag-accessories/fendi-fortune-teller-charm-yellow-nappa-leather-charm-7as286k47f1ozu?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvunm0JXuhQMVFVpHAR1zxwWIEAAYASAAEgJR2_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This must be why all those questions about pasta water. We’ve finally figured out what some others are up to!

@adrianvm if you're seeing that big of a discrepancy when measuring the temperature of your pan and the readout of your Control Freak (Home or otherwise), the #1 culprit is going to be the IR thermometer. It can be rather tricky to get the emissivity dialed in exactly for stainless steel pans. I use contact sensors when I'm trying to get exact numbers (or an IR camera which I can calibrate to the pan). Stainless steel also tends to reflect IR light, so that makes readings even more complicated--especially near the corners. As far as temperatures go, it's pretty unlikely that the top of your pan is going to get hotter (or at least significantly hotter) than the bottom of your pan, since heat travels from hot parts to cold parts--and the bottom of your pan is where the heat is being applied. Also of note, the Control Freak's temperature sensor should be accurate within 1C (or better) for the point it's touching -- and the induction ring is surrounding that contact point. That means that technically the heat induced into the pan via the induction coil has to travel (via the pan) to its center before the Control Freak sees the temperature reading. That's one of the principal reasons why you can get some overshoot when warming up pans: the Control Freak doesn't get the message that the pan has reached the temperature setpoint until the part that its sensor is touching has reached that setpoint. If you were using super-thin pans which heat extremely quickly then, sure, it's possible to get quite a bit of overshoot from a ~1700 watt induction coil heating at maximum speed. But with 2.3mm+ stainless-clad pans with an aluminum center, I wouldn't expect such a massive amount of overshoot. I primarily use Falk Copper Core and Demeyere Atlantis/Proline pans on my Control Freaks. The Falk are my daily drivers, giving me versatility (lids for each pan, a bazillion pan size options) and quick heat transitions--with a fairly smooth temperature gradient. The Demeyere disc-based pans tend to give me a pretty consistent temperature across the bottom of the pans. I have All-Clad pans in several series as well as several other brands. I've found that pretty much any pan can make good food when there's a human involved using their repertoire of cook skills, but I tend to do a lot of simple "set it and forget it" kind of cooking so I invested more in the pans (which frees up my time and gives me consistent results). Copper isn't super expensive, but it's rare to find pans which have a significant amount of copper. When I'm looking for induction-compatible copper pans, I'm looking for ones that are actually copper (i.e. more than half the volume of the pan is actual copper, or ideally closer to 80%). If the vendor won't give you any numbers to tell you how much copper is in the pan, the answer is usually "enough to say we put some in there." Cooks know that copper pans work well historically, so having some of the material in a pan is great for marketing and justifying the price of a pan. I would also avoid any pans that aren't flat on the bottom. Some pans that say they get flat as they heat up are designed (or marketed) to get flat on the TOP surface but not necessarily on the bottom surface. I would also avoid any pans that have handles that are so heavy that the pan falls over if there's nothing in it. I have a couple of those, including some really nice smaller pans--and I have learned that I have to load them up with sufficient weight if I want to cook with them. One final note... The Control Freak, in my experience, is designed for pans with a bottom in the 16cm to 26cm range (6.3 to 10 inch). With induction, it's usually ideal to match the size of the pan to the coil--especially if the pans aren't pushing the energy out to the edges for you. And if you're going to be using cast iron, be aware that it's technically compatible with induction cooktops but you're probably going to mostly get a ring of heat directly above the coil. I use cast iron in the oven -- or I preheat it on the oven before putting it on the induction cooktop to maintain temperature. The only induction stove I'd want to heat cast iron on, and this is a maybe because it's untested, is a continuous-coil cooktop like the Freedom Induction Cooktop.

Just in discussion with Bhavani around melangers, etc. Have a look at Melangers.com I'm going to get him to send some good video of his new small winnower so we can admire it (and covet it)! What do you need him to send up? Unfortunately he isn't going to be able to attend this year.

Me too since it is a salad that Ann actually likes. I love salad but for some reason, I hate making it.

@C. sapidus, I love your photos. Day off so I decided to make a curry dinner. Started earlier in the day. Lamb curry with Aloo Gobi, basmati rice and fresh made Chapati.

Gladly. It was this one. Next time I think I would bump the temperature 25 degrees. They tasted great and even better split and toasted. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/hot-cross-buns/

I have no words...

Yassa, apparently based on a Senegalese restaurant in DC. Grilled chicken with a sauce of mustard, green olives, onion, lime, chile habanero, and a bay leaf. Marinade was a paste of garlic, chile habanero, black pepper, salt, and oil. Jasmine rice to go with. Mrs. C air-fried asparagus with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Chicken off the grill: Plate:

I have some plants that I started from seed, including tomatoes (3 kinds) and peppers (jalapeno, serrano and sweet). They are really getting big and I'm getting tired of bringing them in at night so hope tonight is the last night for that. We're supposed to get back to warmer overnight temps tomorrow. Here are photos of some of them. Also, we have blossoms on the strawberry plants!

I would LOVE to see a Fuji in action! I have been intimidated about getting one.

Renee says "'They can order online and choose pick up' (that would be the US orders) or order by email and pay by e-transfer when I bring it to them (that would be the Canadians)."