CanadianHomeChef

Just a heads up that washing doesn’t get rid of ecoli from vegetables that have been contaminated, as it’s not just ok the surface of the vegetable but also inside the cells.

Yes. I reserved 2 tbsp of the chicken fat/butter for the gravy. Used the NYT recipe as the basis for this.

Smothered chicken. Cooked slowly in butter at 266F (temp at which butter browns) for 50 minutes. Final 30 minutes of cooking at 205 in a gravy.

I read somewhere that the sugars begin to caramelise at 320. It seemed to have worked well but I’d like to experiment a bit more.

45 minutes

This is 35 minutes at 325.

Anyone try caramelizing onions on the CF yet? I got a recipe that calls for it; it has it's own method, but I think I can achieve more reliable results by figuring out the correct temperature to set the control freak at.

Here’s a handy chart from Hestan. Sorry about the low resolution. Said I could get the chart (presumably higher resolution) if I signed up to the mailing list. I did that and nothing in the intro email. Originally found here: https://www.hestancue.com/cooking-off-the-charts/

Looks like Hestan has a full sized induction range now ( https://home.hestan.com/product/36-smart-induction-cooktop/). Still need to use their special pans, so that’s a turn off. Curious if Breville will ever make a full sized control freak.

@ElsieD Have you tempered your chocolate yet? I'd love to hear your review. I've used melted chocolate on the control freak in a brownie recipe, hot chocolate, and a couple other recipes. I did some more reading though and apparently I was "melting" the chocolate, and not "tempering" it. Still the control freak has low enough settings for "tempering", so I'm curious for future applications.

Might have to make adjustments as some recipes require quite the reduction to produce a sauce. Caramelization as well. But it intrigues me.

I'm thinking of taking some slow cooker recipes and cooking them in a dutch oven on a control freak. Look up the protein temperature on sous vide websites... add a couple extra degrees for safety (temperature of the pan bottom might not make it to the top). With the lid on I should be able to have a pretty accurate slow cooker that cooks proteins to a precise temperature? I'll be double checking with a thermapen, of course. Next weekend.

Program it and you never have to remember it again (Although I do find myself remembering very precise temperatures--in both Fahrenheit and Celsius--to achieve certain cooking applications, ever since getting a Control Freak :P)

Made some orange chicken tonight.

Using the induction range as counter top space for the control freak

I have a Kenmore Elite range at my house in Calgary, and two Polyscience Control Freaks (got the first one because I was living in a basement suite in BC, and the second one because I was impressed). Just recently procured the latter but I've been cooking on the Kenmore for the past 2 years and wouldn't go back (to electric in my case). The speed for boiling water is a huge plus for me. I don't have much experience with gas, but my experience with electric is that it takes forever. Of course it's all relative, but I can get a pot of water boiling in minutes on my Kenmore where it could take 15+ minutes on an electric. Responsiveness. If I want to bring down the heat, I just lower the setting and tada, it instantly changes. Even heating (with proper cookware); mind you I was cooking on coil tops and not flat ceramic electric. The Kenmore has knobs and I agree that touch controls don't really belong in the kitchen. I like the tactileness and feel of a knob. I also don't like controlling things with my phone (as I discovered with the Tasty One Top). I've come across cheap portable induction units that are only good for boiling water (too much of a temperature range between settings).... so it could just be that you haven't tried one you like? The Kenmore has 20 settings which I found to be enough until I came across the Control Freak (haha)

Yes. I misspoke! Follow the recipe.

I purchased the All Clad butter warmer from Bed Bath and Beyond. On my newer Control Freak it doesn’t register. On my older CF it registers, but warms up way too slow. Similar to what happens when I try to heat up my super small stainless bowl on my regular induction range. But the butter warmer works fine on the smaller burner of my regular induction range. Love the idea of having a small pan but if it doesn’t work properly on the CF, I don’t think I’ll be using it much. Think I will return it. Such a shame.

Came out in one piece. Growth.

Well for the first time I was able to remove the tart from the pan without losing a bunch of the crust. Next time I think I will try not freezing it first so it’s more pliable.

Lemon Tart from Heston Blumenthal at home cookbook. I’ve made this twice before without Control Freak. CF made it a bit easier for the custard. Best pastry I’ve had for this recipe despite a bit of it bubbling up on one side. Used one of those pie crust bags to get a good circle. Heston calls for freezing the dough but I have trouble shaping it around the edges when it’s so cold and stiff.

The butter warmer I have my eyes on is 4.5 inches wide. Hopefully it works.

Made Heston Blumenthal’s chocolate melting cake yesterday, making the ganache on the Control Freak. Took a couple out of the freezer after lunch today and they baked almost perfectly. Still a bit cold in the center—nothing a couple extra minutes in the oven won’t fix next time. Also did Eggs Benedict again this morning. One control freak for the hollandaise another to keep the bacon and smoked meat warm. And I used the Tasty One Top for poached eggs. Probably easier to just get away with using the two control freaks and the normal stove top. Not convinced the preciseness of the One Top/Control Freak improves poached eggs that much (gotta compromise somewhere— and I really don’t like using the One Top even though the probe works adequately — hate having to use an app - I need my buttons and knobs 😛 Pan Control on the One Top is also crap. I need excuses to get rid of it, not keep it. ) I halved the hollandaise sauce recipe again, but this time put it in a 2 quart pan. Still found the sauce to be too shallow for an accurate probe reading (it was getting the temp from the bottom of the pan. Wasn’t confident the sauce was being kept at a temp to ward off salmonella, but it was used quickly enough. Either I need to use the original quantities or find a pan with a smaller diameter (I’ve always had my eye on the 0.5 quart All Clad butter warmer — wonder if it’s large enough for the Control Freak to detect?)

I did mine for about 25 minutes. Covered in oil, so no flipping.

Pisco sour. Pasteurized the egg whites and made the simple syrup on the Control Freak