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New Kickstarter: Meld - WOW


nickrey

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this is not a Chef-in-a-Box, ( nor is an Anova ).

 

i really like the thinking behind this.

 

Kudos your way.

 

get it in William-Sonoma and Sur-la-Table as soon as you can.

 

its a time - temp controller 

 

hopefully a good one that will last.

 

the Red knob probably makes the 'best' poached eggs.

 

that's why its in the vid.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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this is not a Chef-in-a-Box,...

I don't believe it was a temperature/time controller, but wasn't Justin Timberlake promoting something similar a few years back? Not sure if the internal components were particularly unique.

p

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This is an interesting device. At this point I'll wait to see how the reviews turn out after it's been released. The gas issues concerns me but with adjustments I see where it can be set to not go too low as to lose the flame but that will effect cooking at very low temps. Anyway kudos on a new device that certainly has application

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'Hot-Plate' smokers ?

 

rats   I should have 'Punched In Early'

 

Im thinking more  :  'Dumplings'

 

I went through a long  ' Dumpling Phase '

 

a la Mimi Sheraton 

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0394401387/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3521291638&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5dmdrx23hz_b

 

note the date.  way ahead of its time

 

Im now thinking :

 

extra delicate quenelles.

 

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVvATHSRV_xMAeS0nnIlQ?ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&p=quenelles&SpellState=&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top

 

of course, perfect water poached eggs

 

" Sunday Morning " when well, one's not sure if its the Left Hand or the Right Hand

 

etc.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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I don't really have a problem poaching an egg. Just 4 minutes of simmering is fine.  But the bottom always sticks slightly, and the pan has to be cleaned.  If this device can avoid that I'm in.

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It was mentioned in the LA Times today:

"Game-changer? An automatic knob reads, controls the temperature of your stove"

Sound like a good idea? More than 450 Kickstarter backers think so. Meld’s campaign hit its $50,000 goal within seven hours of its launch Tuesday.

Congratulations.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Is it really this hard to adjust the temperature of a pot like for example ragu bolognese by hand so that it simmers ? I wonder how Italians have survived over the centuries. There is limited use for this tool but mainly for people who have little idea/intuition about cooking. It seems to me that it is more product trying to solve a "problem" which doesn't really exist.

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Yes  and ....  no

 

its not hard to adjust the """"  simmer  ''''''

 

but well

 

we live in a new """ app *** universe   

 

Its not for me  

 

but this is for those ..............

 

with a  .........  a few means ............

 

and there is it is

 

I like to think

 

they have thought a bit out side the box

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For me they are actually the opposite of thinking outside of the box. In todays world mainstream is having an app controling something, outside of the box is learning (in this case cooking) from scratch and to really understand it. So this tool might allow you to program different temperature profiles but if you don't really understand why you are doing it you will never understand cooking. At the same time if you understand why you are doing it you have enough intuition to not rely on an app but your hands to adjust the temperature. This is a tool for people who don't really care about cooking

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""  This is a tool for people who don't really care about cooking  ""

 

not so

 

this is for people who  ....  

 

are more interested  ....

 

in what's on their plate   ...

 

note above  " recipes "

 

this just controls  the temp of their

 

"" waters  ""

 

you buy this  thinking you will get recipes ?

 

best of luck

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On the other hand there are those of us who understand cooking perfectly and integrate these devices into our everyday cooking easily. As did those people who bought those new fangled ranges when they came out instead of being happy with the metal bits on their stove heated by the burning wood below: untalented mob the lot of them.

 

Rotuts, the app comes with many recipes. I'm not sure where you get your information from.

 

I also have a Thermomix, which is a very expensive piece of food processing technology. They have just incorporated recipes into the machine that tell you how much of what ingredient to add and will set the temperature (yes it cooks), time and type of stirring. Like most more experienced cooks (and many many chefs use these), I tend to control it manually to get the effect that I want. Think about the people who use a manual setting on a camera versus the automatic. And, yes I still stir my risotto by hand because that gives a better outcome.

 

I seem to remember conversations like this when sous vide first came into the mainstream. As for this, I was an early adopter -- as were many chefs who now just consider it to be a normal part of cooking. I think even some of the early cynics are coming around.

 

Like many new innovations, you won't know how you'll use it unless you try it and explore what it can do.

 

As those who are scientifically minded know, evaporation occurs when you are simmering. As a consequence, the thermal mass changes. Thus maintaining a set temperature is a continual iterative process. If you want to waste time on continual adjustments it's your choice. I'd rather free myself up for some more creative pursuits in my cooking.

Edited by nickrey (log)
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Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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It seems to me that it is more product trying to solve a "problem" which doesn't really exist.

 

 

I agree.

This thing won't work for me.

I already use a PID to control a hotplate that's MUCH more versatile than this could EVER be on my gas stove....with MUCH less to go wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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On the other hand there are those of us who understand cooking perfectly and integrate these devices into our everyday cooking easily. As did those people who bought those new fangled ranges when they came out instead of being happy with the metal bits on their stove heated by the burning wood below: untalented mob the lot of them.

 

Rotuts, the app comes with many recipes. I'm not sure where you get your information from.

 

I also have a Thermomix, which is a very expensive piece of food processing technology. They have just incorporated recipes into the machine that tell you how much of what ingredient to add and will set the temperature (yes it cooks), time and type of stirring. Like most more experienced cooks (and many many chefs use these), I tend to control it manually to get the effect that I want. Think about the people who use a manual setting on a camera versus the automatic. And, yes I still stir my risotto by hand because that gives a better outcome.

 

I seem to remember conversations like this when sous vide first came into the mainstream. As for this, I was an early adopter -- as were many chefs who now just consider it to be a normal part of cooking. I think even some of the early cynics are coming around.

 

Like many new innovations, you won't know how you'll use it unless you try it and explore what it can do.

 

As those who are scientifically minded know, evaporation occurs when you are simmering. As a consequence, the thermal mass changes. Thus maintaining a set temperature is a continual iterative process. If you want to waste time on continual adjustments it's your choice. I'd rather free myself up for some more creative pursuits in my cooking.

This new tool would be much more interesting if cheap sous vide application wouldn't already exists. Everything else with this new tool is just of little use.

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Is it really this hard to adjust the temperature of a pot like for example ragu bolognese by hand so that it simmers ? I wonder how Italians have survived over the centuries. There is limited use for this tool but mainly for people who have little idea/intuition about cooking. It seems to me that it is more product trying to solve a "problem" which doesn't really exist.

Is it really that hard to twiddle with vents and throw more coals on the fire every 10 minutes? The people who just mindlessly dial 350F on their fancy new "auto adjusting ovens" won't have any idea/intuition about how baking really works. Seems like it's a product trying to solve a "problem" which doesn't exist.

I think Meld is a clunky solution to a real problem. Cooking with traditional methods, you end up controlling the first or second derivatives of the variables you want. We're slowly moving towards devices that directly control the variables. Starting with the oven, then the sous vide machine, then things like Cinder and Meld, it's a real step forward in how cooking is done.

Just like recipes now say "Bake your cookies for 8 minutes at 350F", recipes of the future will say "Sear your steak at 500F for 3 minutes on each side, then lower the heat to 140F, cover and cook until the center reads 130F".

That being said, I wouldn't back the Meld on kickstarter. It seems like the classic v2 product where you want someone else to work out all the inevitable kinks before getting the much improved version.

Edited by Shalmanese (log)

PS: I am a guy.

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I can think of some things that would be really nice about this, and I'm tempted except I'm also trying to be less materialistic.

 

- keeping pots from boiling over

 

- ramping temperature up faster without burning stuff on the bottom when you look away

 

- controlling the temperature for deep frying without burning the oil

 

- not having to bend over and peer at the flame to adjust the heat

 

Downside: an undersize pot could end up in a ball of flame

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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