New Toy: Breville/Polyscience Control Freak!

[CanadianHomeChef]

So you cook anything on it yet, @ElsieD? 

[ElsieD]

8 minutes ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

So you cook anything on it yet, @ElsieD? 

Funny you should ask.  I was about to post tonight's dinner.  This is a green curry shrimp soup.    I learned that pot temp of 202F is a perfect simmer when simmering in a covered pot.    So I learned something useful.  

[CanadianHomeChef]

10 hours ago, ElsieD said:

@Kerry Beal and/or @ChocoMom can you look at the above video on tempering chocolate and tell me what you think?  I'd value your opinion before I go out and spend a small fortune on chocolate.  The video is not very long.

I used that video as a reference for melting chocolate for brownies, and also hot chocolate. Didn't use the probe, but melted at 75C using pan control. Happy with the results.

[CanadianHomeChef]

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Funny you should ask.  I was about to post tonight's dinner.  This is a green curry shrimp soup.    I learned that pot temp of 202F is a perfect simmer when simmering in a covered pot.    So I learned something useful.  

Looks delicious! I found that the simmering temperature depends on viscosity of the liquid (e.g. straight up water will be simmer at a different temp than tomato sauce). Good thing is you can make fine adjustments and learn as you go

[ElsieD]

3 minutes ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

Looks delicious! I found that the simmering temperature depends on viscosity of the liquid (e.g. straight up water will be simmer at a different temp than tomato sauce). Good thing is you can make fine adjustments and learn as you go

 

I  am making notes on the recipes themselves such as the pot temp for simmer in this case, and I also plan on making a chart of all temps that I use.  (Right now my chart has one lonely entry - this one.😀 )  I want to make some fries and do a test batch of truffles using the video as a guide.  I sure liked the look of yours and may try that method.  Have you deep fried fish?  We both love fish and  chips but they are often not very good in restaurants.

[CanadianHomeChef]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I  am making notes on the recipes themselves such as the pot temp for simmer in this case, and I also plan on making a chart of all temps that I use.  (Right now my chart has one lonely entry - this one.😀 )  I want to make some fries and do a test batch of truffles using the video as a guide.  I sure liked the look of yours and may try that method.  Have you deep fried fish?  We both love fish and  chips but they are often not very good in restaurants.

Haven't tried deep fried fish yet, but funny enough I made olive oil poached salmon last night! I started with the recipe from Serious Eats which called for 100F oil. I found that a little low and looked up other recipes. Most sous vide sites were 125F or 128F. It was delicious and had a great texture, but the white spots that Kenji warned about formed (I think it's just oil from the fish). I want to do a bit more research about the parasites found in salmon, and make sure they're all killed at 100F. Mind you, if the salmon is previously frozen, it should be okay, as the freezing is supposed to kill parasites for sushi preparation.

 

[ElsieD]

Just now, CanadianHomeChef said:

Haven't tried deep fried fish yet, but funny enough I made olive oil poached salmon last night! I started with the recipe from Serious Eats which called for 100F oil. I found that a little low and looked up other recipes. Most sous vide sites were 125F or 128F. It was delicious and had a great texture, but the white spots that Kenji warned about formed (I think it's just oil from the fish). I want to do a bit more research about the parasites found in salmon, and make sure they're all killed at 100F. Mind you, if the salmon is previously frozen, it should be okay, as the freezing is supposed to kill parasites for sushi preparation.

 

 

Interesting. I was on the Moderniste Cuisine site today looking at fish and if I recall correctly, they did their fish at 113 or maybe it was 115.  I like mine a bit more cooked than that.  I forgot to mention eggs.  Doing poached eggs tomorrow.

 

 

[CanadianHomeChef]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

 

Interesting. I was on the Moderniste Cuisine site today looking at fish and if I recall correctly, they did their fish at 113 or maybe it was 115.  I like mine a bit more cooked than that.  I forgot to mention eggs.  Doing poached eggs tomorrow.

 

 

Should clarify that I ended cooking mine at 128F. I'm curious what 100 would be like, but I want to do more research before food poisioning myself

[CanadianHomeChef]

Looks like my second unit cleared customs and left Mississauga yesterday. Should arrive by the weekend  I think another round of Eggs Benedict is in order, but I’d like to try something a little more challenging if I can catch a break from marking papers. Not too sure what right now though....

[Eric Srikandan]

I shouldn't have seen this.....£1200 in the UK. And I want one. Even though I definitely don't need it!

[CanadianHomeChef]

Second one is in Winnipeg now. Getting closer

[ElsieD]

4 hours ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

Second one is in Winnipeg now. Getting closer

🙂

[ElsieD]

I practiced my poached eggs today although I had some problems.  I started with the probe, cooked a few, adjusted temperatures and noticed I was on pan heat, for how long, I have no idea.  Re-started with the probe and did some more, again adjusting each egg hoping to get it where I wanted it.  For some strange reason, the temperature dropped to 176 I think it was from 183 but the water was boiling.  A full rolling boil.  As I stood there in amazement, the boiling stopped and the temp shot way up before settling down to 183, which is when I turned it off and wrote a bit to testek.  Yan advises I should be using 'probe oil' for this activity so I tried again using my last 2 eggs.  Temp was set for 183 but the display never got past 181.  But, the last two eggs were good, the way I like them.

 

@CanadianHomeChef or anyone else who has one of these, have you experienced these fluctuations?  Which probe do you use for what?  If it possible I got a faulty unit?  It sits on my counter which is granite and perfectly flat.  It has the required 8" clearance space.  Below is a picture of my eggs.

 

Edited to add:  I broke the yolks, they did not come out of the pan that way.

Edited September 28, 2018 by ElsieD (log)

[CanadianHomeChef]

I’d use a low intensity for poaching and Sous Vide. Maybe fast to get started but then slow. On fast you will get a bit of overshoot but if you wait it should stabilize. 

 

What kind of pots do you use? I use oil probe only for oil.

 

When I use pan control, it’s not unusual for it to be a couple degrees under target. Probe control is better if you want preciseness. 

[CanadianHomeChef]

I’m assuming the probe was fully submerged? I started boiling something that wasn’t meant to be boiled because the probe was sticking out of the sauce. Therefore getting a lower reading. 

 

Sounds like the probe wasn’t sending back a reading until after it started boiling 

[ElsieD]

I thought intensity simply meant the speed it got to temperature and that once at temperature, it didn't really matter whether it was set at slow, medium or fast.  You say for something like eggs and sous vide, you recommend slow.  Why do the intensity levels matter once the temperature has been reached?

 

I don't know why Yan suggested I use the oil probe for my eggs.  The recipe calls for a regular probe.

 

The probe was submerged, about an inch.

 

You said something started to boil because the probe was sticking out of the sauce.  Why would it do that if the temperature setting was below the boiling point?

 

My pots are stainless steel and also some cast iron.  I have been using them on induction for years.

 

There is definitely a learning curve to using the Control Freak and I thank you for your help.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Intensity can cause some overshoot. But yes. Once the temperature settles down to the target temp it should stay there (unless you add something that drops the temperature significantly - it may overshoot again on high intensity and then settle down again). Hope that makes sense? 

 

If the probe probe is not submerged, it could cause the liquid to boil because it’s reading a lower air temp. The liquid could be at the boiling point but the machine is registering a temperature well below the boiling point (the temp of the air above the liquid) so it keeps heating up trying to reach the target. 

[boilsover]

15 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I practiced my poached eggs today although I had some problems.  I started with the probe, cooked a few, adjusted temperatures and noticed I was on pan heat, for how long, I have no idea.  Re-started with the probe and did some more, again adjusting each egg hoping to get it where I wanted it.  For some strange reason, the temperature dropped to 176 I think it was from 183 but the water was boiling.  A full rolling boil.  As I stood there in amazement, the boiling stopped and the temp shot way up before settling down to 183, which is when I turned it off and wrote a bit to testek.  Yan advises I should be using 'probe oil' for this activity so I tried again using my last 2 eggs.  Temp was set for 183 but the display never got past 181.  But, the last two eggs were good, the way I like them.

 

@CanadianHomeChef or anyone else who has one of these, have you experienced these fluctuations?  Which probe do you use for what?  If it possible I got a faulty unit?  It sits on my counter which is granite and perfectly flat.  It has the required 8" clearance space.  Below is a picture of my eggs.

 

Edited to add:  I broke the yolks, they did not come out of the pan that way.

 

The Post-Its look delish...

[boilsover]

1 hour ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

Intensity can cause some overshoot.

 

It's been reported on another site that, if "Slow" is selected, there is no overshoot: 

 

"As for run up temps another feature of the CF is the control of ramp up time. Slow/Med/Fast. If on fast, and I was heating egg yolks for hollandaise, for example, I'd likely cook the yolks if I kept it on the burner. When on slow I can literally set the temp at say 160/170 and walk away without any risk of the yolks cooking. In other words the control is so precise that there's no overshoot whatsoever."

 

Do you agree?

[ElsieD]

34 minutes ago, boilsover said:

The Post-Its look delish...

 

They were the best part 😄

[boilsover]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

 

They were the best part 😄

 

You can never get too much fiber.

[CanadianHomeChef]

2 hours ago, boilsover said:

 

It's been reported on another site that, if "Slow" is selected, there is no overshoot: 

 

"As for run up temps another feature of the CF is the control of ramp up time. Slow/Med/Fast. If on fast, and I was heating egg yolks for hollandaise, for example, I'd likely cook the yolks if I kept it on the burner. When on slow I can literally set the temp at say 160/170 and walk away without any risk of the yolks cooking. In other words the control is so precise that there's no overshoot whatsoever."

 

Do you agree?

 

Yes. Maybe 1 degree if that... but nothing big enough for me to notice. If i want no overshoot and want to walk away, I set it to slow. 

 

Second one just arrived! Temp differences is because it was outside in the near zero weather. Gotta run back to school but will test it out tonight. 

[boilsover]

How does the design address leaks/spills through the button hole?

[CanadianHomeChef]

1 hour ago, boilsover said:

How does the design address leaks/spills through the button hole?

 

The USB and probe port have rubber flaps that push in when a USB or probe is plugged in, so they are always blocked. 

 

The power butter seens seems enclosed but I’ve noticed it getting a little sticky on my first one (takes a while for it to spring back into place). Thinking it might b a result of an oil boil over I had (too small pan - my bad ). Hoping that it’s just a nuisance and doesn’t turn into a problem. Applied some rubbing alcohol to it and it helped a lot.

 

the knobs are all dishwasher safe 

[ElsieD]

5 hours ago, boilsover said:

 

You can never get too much fiber.

😀😀