dtremit

I think you've summed up my reaction pretty well. It's not useless, but I don't have much love for the device, and I have had enough frustrating experiences with it that I haven't been motivated to play with it much. I was aware of its design limitations when I got it, and was perfectly happy to live with a device with a limited feature set, but I haven't found the implementation to be particularly reliable. My completely unsupported theory is that it has inadequate cooling, and ends up running into thermal protection limits when trying to sustain temperatures above boiling. I've had no major issues with it when cooking with water (or for low temperature tasks), but things like frying and candy making have not turned out particularly well for me, nor has cooking with cast iron. The clip for the temperature probe also fits on absolutely nothing. It is an unusually attractive burner for tabletop cooking, though... The lights in manual mode correlate to wattages: Cooking power levels: 1- 100 Watt 2- 200 Watt 3- 300 Watt 4- 400 Watt 5- 600 Watt 6- 800 Watt 7- 1000 Watt 15 8- 1200 Watt 9- 1400 Watt 10- 1500 Watt So not quite linear, but you can roughly think of it as 10% - 100% of potential output.

I am speculating, but I think it's because they already had separate versions of the Tasty app for iPhone and iPad, and didn't add the feature to the iPad version. They added the One Top as a new feature to an existing app, rather than releasing a new app. There is no technical reason the iPad couldn't control it.

I don't know why you think there's any extrapolation going on. The surface temperature setting on the TOT is just that -- the temperature of the bottom surface of the pan. It's not trying to guess what the internal temperature is at all, just control the output based on the temperature sensed by the center button. Does it cycle? Of course it does. But so does my radiant electric stove, at any setting except "high." And when my radiant stove cycles, the steam output on my PC cycles with it. The PC's steam output is much more consistent on the TOT than I have ever been able to achieve on my stove, suggesting the overshoots and swings are being maintained in a fairly small window.

My experience with my pressure cooker has been that it's *extremely* sensitive to changes in burner output.

Well, I think in this case, the unit is demonstrating good precision, and the accuracy is irrelevant. I mean, it may well be doing a great job of accurately measuring the bottom of my pan, but until I can figure out how to cook under the pan, the number doesn't matter much. But the fact that the steam output stayed super consistent after the pan temperature stabilized does demonstrate that it's holding the arbitrary temperature pretty well.

In this case, I am essentially using surface temperature as an arbitrary numerical setting. You could replace the surface temperature controls with a color wheel and I'd be just as pleased. I'm just stating that the surface sensor regulates the pressure cooker better than any standard radiant or induction burner I've used in the past.

The value here is not control of internal temperature (which is regulated by the pressure valve) but ease of use. Setting a consistent pan temperature (rather than a consistent burner output) means less overshoot, and therefore less liquid lost through the pressure valve. And in a purely practical sense, it means less time fiddling with the burner.

One good use for the surface sensor: pressure cookers. I dug my Fagor Duo -- which I basically quit using when I moved into my condo with an electric stove -- out of storage, and did a water test today. Setting a surface temperature of 267F resulted in a nice, reliable burble from the valve. I lost about half a cup of water over a ~15 minute cook and natural release, but I suspect a lot of that was when I was adjusting the temperature. Not quite as "set-and-forget" as my Instant Pot, but pretty close, and the extra capacity will be nice to have. Will probably try a recipe in it tonight or tomorrow.

Glad to see those improved results! Thanks for doing all this testing. The manual lists 410F as a maximum temperature, IIRC. As for why you can set the surface temp -- it's for cooking things without measurable liquid (with the probe unplugged). Useful for e.g. scrambling eggs gently, or making pancakes or grilled cheeses. The little metal dot in the middle measures the temperature of the pan directly. Less accurate, of course, but I actually find it pretty helpful.

I’d be interested to see what the same amount of oil does, in that same pan... I’m also curious to repeat your tests with my TOT but am traveling until next week. Assuming the probe is just a thermocouple, I wonder if there’s just an issue with the conversion? That could theoretically be fixed in firmware.

I think it might be worth trying this with a lighter weight pot. Cast iron pots are fantastic for many applications, but temperature control isn't one of them; they have extremely high thermal mass and very poor thermal conductivity. So it is probably throwing off the algorithm that the One Top uses to regulate temperature. The other potential option would be skipping the probe for cast iron, and just figuring out what surface temperature produces the desired oil temperature.

Modernist Cooking and Food Lab both have variations on that with boiling water -- MC does SV first and then shocks in boiling water, while FL boils briefly, chills, and then SVs. I've done one (I can't remember which!) and it gave me a texture I enjoyed. I could see the OT being helpful to set the center of a poached egg more than you'd get otherwise. Cook the outside traditionally to set the whites, cool, then transfer into a precisely controlled bath at your target yolk temperature. As an aside, the temperature control of the OT is really nice for scrambled eggs, though I need to play more with target temperature.

Mine shipped directly from Shenzhen, China. 9.9 lbs / 4.49 kgs and 19x18x6 in, if FedEx is to be believed.

The thing is $150 -- given that, I think it's a pretty impressive package; the fit and finish is better than other cheap induction burners I've used. And you can buy both a One Top and an iPod Touch for less than the price of the standard version of the Vollrath (and I suspect a smart version would cost something closer to the Breville) I am hopeful that someone will reverse engineer the Bluetooth protocol so that third-party apps and devices can control the unit -- for future proofing if nothing else.

@rob1234 The fried tofu recipe instructs you to use the probe. Maximum set point is listed as 410F; I think the 450F might be the maximum operating temperature of the unit in manual mode.

@rotuts probably best to use the app store directly on the iDevice rather than the mac one -- tends to be more reliable. This is the direct link from the Tasty One Top page; if you open it on your iPad or iTouch it should open the app store directly to the Tasty app: http://tstyapp.com/m/MfFr8Oqe6E

@rotuts as far as I know, it's not available as a Mac app -- only an iPhone/iPad one. The listing on that app store says it supports the iPod Touch as well. @ElsieD I am embarrassed to say I didn't actually check -- I was really just playing around -- but I'll do it next time and report back. I did notice that the target temperature drifted a bit more than I'm used to with my Anova; it went over by 4 degrees at one point. I used a fully clad pan; I suspect using a lighter pan might actually be preferable with this if really precise control is needed.

I don't think you can add recipes yourself -- but the manual modes do include some limited timer functionality. I took a couple of screenshots this morning to illustrate that. The "basic" mode timer is just a standard timer; it starts when you tell it to and dings when it's done. In "Sous vide" mode, the timer starts when the target temperature is reached, and notifies you at the end; it also appears to switch the burner off 30 minutes later. Also including the summary information it shows when you minimize the controls; that's the only place I can find both the probe and surface temperature (though I swear I saw it in the main interface once yesterday). Hopefully they will add the ability to create recipes later -- while there aren't a *huge* number of use cases for that, I would love the ability to, say, create a profile to temper chocolate.

Just got mine today! Super excited about it, though I'm not entirely sure what chance I will have to use it with holiday craziness. Nevertheless got it set up and tested it with the probe and some water in a saucepan. Pairing to the app was easy and quick. There is a spring-loaded temperature sensor in the center of the cooktop, which measures the temperature of the pan. The probe attaches near the power cord with a headphone-style plug and there's a silicone "clip" that holds it on the edge of a pan. If you put the handle of the probe in the clip, it's a little too tall for a saucepan, but it still works decently well with the probe handle sitting on top of the "clip." Anything shorter than a saucepan might be challenging. There is a little bit of a discrepancy between the manual and the app regarding operation modes, but the manual clearly outlines how it works without any app connection. The + and - buttons set it to 10 preset wattages as displayed by the 10 LEDs, from 1 @ 100W to 10 @ 1500W. At least at the moment, the app can only connect to one One Top at a time. The app-based mode lets you set the target temperature. It seems that if you plug in the probe, the temperature setting is controlled by the probe temperature; if the probe is not plugged in, the pan temperature is used. It still reports the pan temperature if the probe is used; when I tested with a probe at 175F, the pan temperature was 204F. NB that there are a couple of safety modes -- using it in standalone mode on high power it will make you press the + button after 30 minutes to continue at full heat; otherwise, it will drop to power level 6 (800W). Likewise, if you cook at a temperature above 214F using the app, you have to confirm operation every 45 minutes. Generally speaking, you have to press a button on the device to confirm any settings made in the app. There is also a "recipe mode" in the app that interests me very little. There's also some mismatch between the manual and the app (the app has "basic" mode and "sous vide" mode, but you can set the temp in "basic"); I'll need to experiment a bit to figure out how it works. Hopefully that info will be helpful for someone!

This one wasn't worthy of being photographed -- but last night I made the stir-fried potato slivers with chile and sichuan peppercorns from Every Grain of Rice. I am pleased to report the leftovers make excellent hash browns.

I should have taken a picture, alas -- but we ended up with a nice breakfast this morning, inspired by the (Thai-style) sweet roti that are a common street food in Thailand. On our recent trip, it was the one thing I really wanted to try, but never did; when we encountered them, we were always either looking for savory food or already stuffed to the gills. Plus I had coconut milk left over. I started with the "light and fluffy" pancakes from How To Cook Everything (with whipped egg whites), and used a 2:1 mixture of coconut milk and buttermilk. I added a bit of sweetened shredded coconut (and omitted the sugar from the recipe to compensate). They were cooked on my Baking Steel griddle with coconut oil. To accompany them, I sliced two bananas lengthwise, sprinkled the cut surface with some sanding sugar (palm sugar might have been better, but I had some leftover sanding sugar to use up). These were griddled rather thoroughly alongside the pancakes. To serve, instead of syrup, I topped them with condensed milk and crushed peanuts. Definitely worked well; I was worried they would be too sweet, but that wasn't the case. I served them with a starfruit and orange salad to provide a bit of tart contrast.

Resurrecting an old thread, but I too was looking for this gadget after seeing it in a YouTube cooking video. It turns out it is a Vietnamese water spinach splitter: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/06/water-spinach-s.html Available on Amazon for $10ish shipped here: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01JR0IZRI

The 2nd-gen Anova (BT/WiFi) is rated at 800W; I'm not sure it actually pulls that, but people have complained that it's underpowered compared to the original Anova (1000W). Here's some power benchmarks on a variety of cookers. The one critical question would be whether it actually reduces the heat output of the element after the cooking temp is reached, or whether it just "bursts" it at full blast for very short intervals. In re: the Electrolux acquisition, it's been noted elsewhere that Electrolux actually pulled out of the small appliance market in the US. I wonder if their play is to use the Anova brand to get better traction in that area.

This one is for a 1.5lb loaf. Hope you enjoy it!

This is a late reply, but I have the same breadmaker, and also got terrible results with the included recipes. I have had much better luck with recipes from good bread machine cookbooks -- if I had to get only one, it would probably be Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. I've also had good luck with recipes from King Arthur Flour's website. (Note that there are a *lot* of used bread machine books available cheap on Amazon or Alibris or elsewhere.) My SO is fond of a particular commercial whole grain sandwich bread, and I wanted to come up with a recipe -- this is what I have landed on. It's adapted very loosely from a KAF recipe. Healthy, Nutty Bread Ingredients: 300g lukewarm water 25g olive oil or vegetable oil 78g maple syrup 350g White Whole Wheat or Whole Wheat Flour 50g rye flour 25g cornmeal 25g sunflower, sesame or flax seeds, or a combination (I use a TJ's seed blend sometimes) 35g nuts 1.5 tablespoons vital wheat gluten 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast Directions: Put all of the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed. Select whole wheat bread setting, and press Start. Remove the bread from the machine when it's done. Either cool on a rack, or turn the "keep warm" setting off and prop the machine door open to prevent the crust from wrinkling.