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New Toy: Breville/Polyscience Control Freak!


CanadianHomeChef

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any Control Freak plans for the Christmas season? I’ve been super busy at work (teaching), and I feel like I haven’t had the time to really play with my units. Looking forward to the free time to experiment :) the problem is choosing what to try 😂 

Sizzle and Sear

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FYI, before anybody runs to buy the Breville, there is a new precision induction cooker on the imminent horizon.  I think I saw it on Chefsteps packaged with a Joule, (but can't find it at the moment, so maybe it was someplace else.  I think it's roughly $500.

 

I love the aesthetic and functional design of Breville stuff, but I feel very burned with my two malfunctioning SmartOvens with the identical start button defect and would think carefully before spending so much money on another one of their products.

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34 minutes ago, IEATRIO said:

FYI, before anybody runs to buy the Breville, there is a new precision induction cooker on the imminent horizon.  I think I saw it on Chefsteps packaged with a Joule, (but can't find it at the moment, so maybe it was someplace else.  I think it's roughly $500.

 

I love the aesthetic and functional design of Breville stuff, but I feel very burned with my two malfunctioning SmartOvens with the identical start button defect and would think carefully before spending so much money on another one of their products.

 

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153880-current-sales-deals-and-bargains-part-2/?do=findComment&comment=2180967

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Made some mushroom risotto on the Control Freaks for lunch today. Simmered a broth on one (207f), while I fried some mushrooms on the other (250f). Kept the broth warm (140f) and ladeled it onto the risotto at the end. 9089A364-DDC4-4589-A901-025F2A845715.thumb.jpeg.2d6bedf66192d599491fa1a04d08b561.jpeg00C023B1-A5CB-4CB2-AF50-12F5A5F119A3.thumb.jpeg.0d9132de26e508ff7f4133475b770415.jpeg75A7689B-DD75-4784-BC0C-FEB8B6AE6EF8.thumb.jpeg.694aaa1d376297c072c9dfb83d2e6786.jpeg13B41C94-ED14-4968-9E86-0D06EBC7DDBE.thumb.jpeg.ea7d822ae59473cd8f21ae513082c154.jpeg

 

ACCA79F8-F267-4004-A27A-DBB76C956306.jpeg

Edited by CanadianHomeChef (log)
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Sizzle and Sear

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Thinking about trying some slow cooker recipes on the Control Freak, using a enameled dutch oven. For temps, I'm going to use Cook's Illustrated's top rated slow cooker. They say that at "low" the cooker got to a max temp of 193.5°F. And at high 203.8°F. I will start with those temps, but may adjust as I'm at a relatively high altitude (Calgary), so simmering happens at different temps. Also on the Control Freak I expect consistency of temp, whereas in a crockpot it probably fluctuates a lot (meaning an overall lower average temp). But I think these two temps are a good place to start.

 

I'd also like to program a rice cooker temp. Already did one for my stove top pressure cooker. The Control Freak is making many of my counter top appliances redundant :)

Edited to add: Also might need to adjust temps a bit since Cook's Illustrated measured content temps, not pan temp. If I use a clad pan, fill it with water, and set the pan temp, I usually find the temperature of the water to eventually equal the pan temps (+ or - 1 degree). Thicker viscosity contents (e.g soups or stews), might be a few degrees off.  I could solve this by drilling a hole in my dutch oven to take a probe temp, but I don't really want to do that, and I really don't think slow cooking needs that kind of accuracy :P 

Edited by CanadianHomeChef (log)

Sizzle and Sear

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6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Depends what you are slow cooking.

 

 

True. And with the kind of precision and accuracy the Control Freak affords, I can get better results than traditional slow cooking. Just want a starting point for existing recipes though. Then I will adjust. 

Sizzle and Sear

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I've done slow cooking in a dutch oven with limited success.

 

With the slow cooker, the heat comes from the side of the pot (cooking vessel) so the content is heated quite thoroughly.

 

With the Control Freak, the heat only comes from the bottom, and the top portion of the food stays under-cooked (tough).

 

It will work out a lot better if you use a braiser instead of the dutch oven.

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On 12/12/2018 at 9:59 AM, iPat said:

I've done slow cooking in a dutch oven with limited success.

 

With the slow cooker, the heat comes from the side of the pot (cooking vessel) so the content is heated quite thoroughly.

 

With the Control Freak, the heat only comes from the bottom, and the top portion of the food stays under-cooked (tough).

 

It will work out a lot better if you use a braiser instead of the dutch oven.

Must depend on what you’re cooking? Most of the things I slow cook are submerged in a liquid. I have a stew going right now on the CF and the liquid matches the pan temp exactly. Any parts sticking out are in a steam environment heating it up. Once it starts to thicken up, maybe I’ll run into problems?

Edited by CanadianHomeChef (log)

Sizzle and Sear

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https://www.sizzleandsear.com/

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  • 2 weeks later...

LOL "When you have a hammer..."


(Not judging even a little bit. I remember using my first Swiss Army knife for everything, up to and including giving my friend a haircut with those tiny scissors.)

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/16/2018 at 3:24 AM, CanadianHomeChef said:

Must depend on what you’re cooking? Most of the things I slow cook are submerged in a liquid. I have a stew going right now on the CF and the liquid matches the pan temp exactly. Any parts sticking out are in a steam environment heating it up. Once it starts to thicken up, maybe I’ll run into problems?

 

 

Could be.

 

It also depends on the size of your dutch oven too I guess. I always cook in a giant one. LOL.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I deep fried these jumbo wings using the Control Freak.  They were cooked at 375F and went in straight from the fridge.  I was amazed at how quickly the oil came back to it's temperature, I'd say within 2 minutes.  Also, it was nice to just put them in the oil, set the timer and walk away until my timer went off.  

20190203_185647.jpg

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2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Not to be snarky, but my $150 deep fryer does the same thing.🙃

Poke, poke.

The wings look wonderful.

 

my Dutch Oven does it well too.

I do have to pay attention to it.

So there’s that.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/4/2019 at 8:06 PM, Okanagancook said:

Not to be snarky, but my $150 deep fryer does the same thing.

 

On 2/4/2019 at 10:50 PM, gfweb said:

my Dutch Oven does it well too.

 

I deep fry in a tall narrow $20 asparagus pot with a clad bottom.

I went with it with the idea of using less oil—works a treat!

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~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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