Precision induction: Tasty Onetop

[Anna N]

51 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N

 

in thinking about your Darto failure 

 

did you hit the ' start ' after selecting the number of blue dots you selected ?

 I am continuing a number of tests and I did retry the Darto pan and I do believe my original result was operator error!   It seems they’re almost always two more steps than there ought to be to do almost everything or is that just my bias showing?  I really really wanted this device to fill a gap. For instance if it was trustworthy I could maintain a temperature one could heat the milk and make cheese. That is something I was able to do with the Sous Vide supreme.  Not that I plan on getting back in the cheesemaking but nevertheless it was one of the things that crossed my mind when I first heard of this unit.  It does not seem able to maintain a temperature particularly well. By that I mean not as well as the ANOVA or the Joule.  I was hoping to monitor with a probe the moment are forgetting that they don’t work all that well in the presence of magnetic energy!   However I did cook my steak sous vide and we’ll see what we get later this evening. There should be no surprises. The temperature varied only a degree or two and it was a very short time cook. So even though it was close to the danger zone of 53°C, it’s not likely to have time enough to grow any botulism nasties. 

[rotuts]

I tried some poached eggs w the fixed temp buttons ;

 

I used a 10 " T-Fal pan :

 

 

it would have been easier in a deeper pan , but I don't really have one that InductionReady

 

the eggs are refrigerator eggs and did not have tight albumin :

 

 

 

the fixed temps for this larger pan , vs the 8 " I tested out yest.  are very different.  

 

I ended up w 5 blue lights that gave me a water temp of 165 or so

 

about 5 minus later :

 

 

and since Science has it won rules , a rare MoneyShot :

 

 

they were of course delicious  , and I need to make them more often.  but Im quite lazy some times.

 

the one thing I like about water-poached eggs is the skin, when poached at a higher temp

 

has a brief firm feel in the mouth.  

 

I realized I have a large  induction-ready  saucier from Demeyere

 

Ill try that next time.

 

and yes , I know how to water poach eggs ' in a traditional manner '

 

 

[Anna N]

7 minutes ago, rotuts said:

the eggs are refrigerator eggs and did not have tight albumin :

 It is worth the minute it takes with older eggs to just drain off some of that albumen in a small strainer.  It has now become second nature to me. I put the small strainer over a long handled measuring cup, break the egg into it and let the albumen drain off, dump the liquid  that drains off and pop the egg from the strainer into the measuring cup which is a handy device for transferring it into the hot water. 

[rotuts]

Ive done that when I remember I forgot this time

 

Ive also put the egg in-the-shell in the hot water for a minute or so,

 

the cracked it very carefully in a med. pyrex clear bowl

 

which also works.  the ' weak ' albumin firms up nicely

Edited March 16, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Ive done that when I remember I forgot this time

 

Ive also put the egg in-the-shell in the hot water for a minute or so,

 

the cracked it very carefully in a med. pyrex clear bowl

 

which also works.  the ' weak ' albumin firms up nicely

 

 I shall try that next time. 

[BetD]

I installed the iPhone app on my iPad and it works just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

I sent mine back today via  UPS in Ogdensburg.  

[Anna N]

 I did a few more tests and after I fixed my operator errors I think it worked more or less as advertised. It certainly is not as accurate at maintaining a temperature as the Joule or the Anova.

 

Nonetheless I found it frustrating. It seems that every adjustment made on the iPhone must be followed by pressing the power button on the unit itself.  If you don’t remember to do this then any adjustment you have made doesn’t have any effect. 

 

My only reason for even considering one would be if I were going to make cheese in it and I don’t think it would do well maintaining temperature precisely enough. 

 

Other than that my purpose-built sous vide units and my induction range seem less annoying to use. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[ElsieD]

I have received my refund and thanks to the exchange rate, made 8 bucks on the deal.  Kudos to the TT people though - they have always been unfailingly polite and helpful and processed my refund immediately upon receiving my return.  Excellent customer service.  Too bad it didn't work out.

[rotuts]

@ElsieD

 

Im sorry it didn't help you out.

 

I got mine to 

 

1) replace the Burton induction top , that seems to be on its last legs .  it sometimes makes a lot of noise , and a good smack changes that.

 

2) i like an easy way to set a T-Fal pan on it at a low temp w scrambled eggs on it that give me time to fiddle around and wake up in the AM

 

3)  once I get the App on a Pod or a Pad , Id like to take some commercial ham , on sale of course  which is now

 

    some shoulder perhaps ?   break it down into smaller segments, then  cook it in a lot of water at a low temp   ? 140 until very tender

 

   and thus remove a lot of the salt.   vac-freeze for sandwiches , macaroni & cheese & ham     etc

 

Ive found that if you can remove some of the commercial salt on these No-Name hams  they taste much better

 

as long as you've removed the demand of your Tongue for massive amounts of Commercial Salt.  I think you get more taste information

 

via your tongue if you can decrease the amount of Commercial Salt  you assault your Taste Buds w from time to time

 

or every day.

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  I  bought the TT mainly for deep frying stuff outside as I loathe the smell of doing it indoors.  A secondary benefit was cooking small items sous vide.  My cook top is induction so I didn't need it for that.  One day someone will come out with one that is accurate and easy to use, which for me, the TT had it's drawbacks.

[ElsieD]

Does anyone still have theirs and if so, are you using it?

[CanadianHomeChef]

I still have mine.. but it's obviously been put away in a deep cupboard. When I buy my place next year, I might keep it for outside near the BBQ.

[CanadianHomeChef]

It made good poached eggs, and could keep the temp in a small pan. The pan control would always overshoot by a few hundred degrees... making it unusable for nonstick. I just found the limitations of the burner size a real draw back, along with the app. I really discovered that I don't like "smart" appliances. I like being able to control it on the device itself.

[ElsieD]

I guess what I had hoped for was a home version of the Control Freak.  It sure isn't that.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Nope I chalk it up as being just as useful as most other portable induction units on the market (but it could be 1800W). I will pull it out to boil water for pasta. Or maybe to poach eggs while my Control Freak holds a hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict (now that's an idea). 

[dtremit]

On 8/2/2018 at 8:58 PM, ElsieD said:

Does anyone still have theirs and if so, are you using it?

21 hours ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

I chalk it up as being just as useful as most other portable induction units on the market (but it could be 1800W).

 

This about sums it up for me. I do like it for tabletop cooking (hot pot and the like) because it's way more attractive than my Duxtop. (Of course, the $50 one from IKEA is attractive, too.)

 

I dragged it out a few days ago to cook up some vegetable fritters in a cast iron skillet -- wanted to cook sitting down after a knee sprain --  and it worked just fine. Cast iron seems to throw off the temperature control, but it does a great job of evening out the heat from the small induction element. 

 

I also think I could get back to using the temperature regulation at *low* temperatures; it seemed to work fine for that, but my poor experiences at high temps kind of soured me on the thing.

Edited August 4, 2018 by dtremit (log)

[Tuber magnatum]

On 8/2/2018 at 8:58 PM, ElsieD said:

Does anyone still have theirs and if so, are you using it?

Yes I do.  My first attempts at using it showed the that there was a discrepancy between the temperature showing on the app and with a Fluke thermometer.  Fortunately it was consistent, ie precise but not accurate so I could compensate (Hopefully I remember the terminology correct from my schooling!).  Like others, I wanted a "deep fryer" for outdoors.  I just used it this weekend for fries, heated the oil to 400F in a cast iron pot with their temperature probe.  I checked with Fluke and it worked well for me.  It is relatively inexpensive so I wasn't expecting too much.  My main complaint is the temperature probe which is too short and the holder which only allows  the probe to be held in only one spot. If you don't have the correct height pot you cant adjust the probe so it is as correct depth.  This should be an easy fix for them.  Also the rubber holder doesn't hang on to the side of the pot well, especially if it has a lip.  However, given the price, it has served its purpose well enough.

[Auspicious]

2 hours ago, Tuber magnatum said:

My first attempts at using it showed the that there was a discrepancy between the temperature showing on the app and with a Fluke thermometer.  Fortunately it was consistent, ie precise but not accurate so I could compensate (Hopefully I remember the terminology correct from my schooling!).

 

Absolutely correct. The difference between accuracy and precision is more important and less subtle than a lot of people think. Much more important than most people think. The third leg of the stool is repeatability.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 minutes ago, Auspicious said:

 

Absolutely correct. The difference between accuracy and precision is more important and less subtle than a lot of people think. Much more important than most people think. The third leg of the stool is repeatability.

 

Precision is even more important if one has a four legged stool.

 

[Auspicious]

2 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Precision is even more important if one has a four legged stool.

 

 

Accuracy is more important. You want the legs to be the same and the differences with a little pad.

 

Precision measurement to hundredths of an inch doesn't keep the stool from wobbling if you have a rubber ruler (or one of those folding ones with worn out hinges).

 

This actually comes back to cooking. For example Thermapen thermometers measure to tenths of a degree (that's precision) but are only "right" ±2°F (accuracy) according to the manufacturer. A measurement within a tenth of a degree in a four degree window isn't very meaningful.

[TheAvidHomeChef]

Has anyone been able to find new precision induction cooktops?

[dtremit]

20 hours ago, TheAvidHomeChef said:

Has anyone been able to find new precision induction cooktops?

 

At some point these were rebranded as "Goodful by Cuisinart" — those appear to be discontinued but available a fair number of places

[TheAvidHomeChef]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:27 PM, dtremit said:

 

At some point these were rebranded as "Goodful by Cuisinart" — those appear to be discontinued but available a fair number of places

I bought one a while ago and returned it. Apparently, Tasty or Cuisinart no longer updates the One Top app. The app's latest update was in 2021/2020. There're only 40 or so recipes on it. Half of them suffer from crashing or not usable.