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New Toy: Breville/Polyscience Control Freak!


CanadianHomeChef

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3 hours ago, Foodie from Boston said:

 

I did - it was relatively constant (1800 +/-20 Watt) while CF was heating up a pot of water.

 

Agree with @CanadianHomeChef that the main advantage is precision, not speed.

 

We made some crepes yesterday on both CF (using newly bought induction-friendly Staub cast iron crepe pan) and a regular nonstick pan on a gas range, side by side. CF took longer, yes - but we could leave it unattended for the most part. Dialed pan temp to 285F (according to the chart on Breville’s website), did a quick “test crepe” to measure the times with a count-up timer, then set countdown timers for 6 minutes on one side and 4 more on the other side, so it took about 10 minutes per crepe (plus turning and pouring). The regular pan on a gas burner set to medium was roughly twice as fast (it was also smaller so not an apples to apples comparison), but we had to constantly monitor it and almost burned a crepe once (luckily noticed the smell and quickly took it off before it was too late). Sorry I forgot the pictures - the ones made on CF turned out to be slightly less brown (could have increased the temperature or the timing I guess), the taste was the same as far as we could tell. Did anyone else try crepes or pancakes? What was your target temp / time per side?

 

P.S. I also tried to measure internal temperature of the crepes with a Thermapen and it showed around 200 - which is probably off as it wasn’t thick enough for the sensor to get fully submerged. Will order another one with an integrated IR thermometer from Thermaworks soon. 

 

 

Just checked my programs. I haven’t made crepes yet but I have pancakes set at 332F. I think I got to that number from a Breville video or website as it’s one of the first things I cooked on my unit. 

 

At that temp I get a nice brown. I cook 2 minutes per side. Without oil one or the sides gets really brown. The other side is paler, probably because of lack of surface contact due to a distorted shape. This is solved with a little bit of fat, but I actually just cook it in no fat and have the good side facing up. Then drizzle it in butter of course. :)

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Sizzle and Sear

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4 hours ago, Foodie from Boston said:

 

Thanks - will try crepes at this temp and report back, 285F works but takes a little too long :)

I just remembered that Elsie sent me some PDF recipes that came from TesTek, Canada’s official Control Freak supplier. In the crepe recipe, they say 350 at high intensity for 25 seconds a side. Makes sense since they are so thin. 

 

If you PM me your email, I can send you the PDFs. 

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23 hours ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

 

Just checked my programs. I haven’t made crepes yet but I have pancakes set at 332F. I think I got to that number from a Breville video or website as it’s one of the first things I cooked on my unit. 

 

At that temp I get a nice brown. I cook 2 minutes per side. Without oil one or the sides gets really brown. The other side is paler, probably because of lack of surface contact due to a distorted shape. This is solved with a little bit of fat, but I actually just cook it in no fat and have the good side facing up. Then drizzle it in butter of course. :)

 

The Control Freak temperature chart puts 248-275F for pancakes. Your temperature and timing seem to come from this PolyScience video:

 

 

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4 hours ago, ocd said:

 

The Control Freak temperature chart puts 248-275F for pancakes. Your temperature and timing seem to come from this PolyScience video:

 

 

Yes. I remember reading it off the video now. I’ve been happy with the temp. 

Sizzle and Sear

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7 minutes ago, JeremyShel said:

After reading this thread, I had to order one. My unit is arriving tomorrow. Has anyone found a location to share preset files? If there isn't one, I might setup a website for that purpose.

 

That's a great idea.  

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IMG_4500.thumb.jpg.e16328caf57a90ebd53dc18262450aef.jpg

 

 

IMG_4503.thumb.jpg.f935b2d4c55b21b34fac5e48680b46fc.jpg

 

IMG_4502.thumb.jpg.27812a134c25815cdb426d811858b3a9.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_4506.thumb.jpg.f1b927fe6c34bd06e41719e7e791336e.jpg

 

IMG_4507.thumb.jpg.1867d88d14a26f2aa06677d9967ebf74.jpg

 

Went to show an EZtemper to a chocolatier inToronto this am - she is working out of a rather interesting commercial kitchen.  She is using her Control Freak to melt cocoa butter and to heat chocolate to temper. 

 

 

 

Edited by Kerry Beal (log)
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3 hours ago, JeremyShel said:

After reading this thread, I had to order one. My unit is arriving tomorrow. Has anyone found a location to share preset files? If there isn't one, I might setup a website for that purpose.

Love the idea. I was thinking of starting a facebook group, but wasn’t sure if there’d be enough interest. 

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Sizzle and Sear

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4 hours ago, JeremyShel said:

After reading this thread, I had to order one. My unit is arriving tomorrow. Has anyone found a location to share preset files? If there isn't one, I might setup a website for that purpose.

 

Is there a reason it can't be done here, on eGullet? If not, one of you could start a topic titled "Preset files for Control Freak", or else simply include them in this topic.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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2 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Is there a reason it can't be done here, on eGullet? If not, one of you could start a topic titled "Preset files for Control Freak", or else simply include them in this topic.

 

What kind of attachments are allowed? Perhaps we could zip them up? I forget what the file extension is, but I can check. 

 

 

Sizzle and Sear

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10 minutes ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

 

What kind of attachments are allowed? Perhaps we could zip them up? I forget what the file extension is, but I can check. 

 

 

 

The list of allowable attachments is below, under the "Click to choose files" link. 

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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You people, stop this! I'm going to wind up buying one of these damn things, and I DO NOT NEED IT. Or at least, I don't THINK I need it.

 

Well, maybe I need it.

 

Y'all bunch of enablers.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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I actually have a website of my own that we can use to host a database with downloadable FA1 files. Could even host pictures and videos that are linked to the temps/times if contributors were inclined to do so. The website was a food blog that I started last summer, after I was inspired with the Control Freak. I haven't had much time to update it since the school year started, so it's not really a public site yet. But may as well use the excellent hosting I got?

 

Here's a sample that I just put together: http://sizzleandsear.com/precisioncooking/

Here's a recipe I posted that I cooked on the Control Freak with video: http://sizzleandsear.com/recipes/how-to-make-butterscotch-pudding-from-scratch/

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Sizzle and Sear

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After weeks of hesitation, I finally bought a CF unit from Amazon.uk three weeks ago.

 

I must be the only one who knows/use this induction burner in Belgium.  In fact It is not available in this country.

 

My unit (£ 1299 - ouch) is labelled Sage Commercial/Polyscience and develops 2400 W.  I am very happy so far but to boil 2-3 liters of water I prefer to use my 3500 W "ordinary" units.

 

The only problem is that the guarantee  is no longer valid (Breville do not guaranty a unit exported outside UK).  So fingers crossed for the future.

 

PS : excuse my english - I am french-speaking

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18 hours ago, kayb said:

You people, stop this! I'm going to wind up buying one of these damn things, and I DO NOT NEED IT. Or at least, I don't THINK I need it.

 

Well, maybe I need it.

 

Y'all bunch of enablers.

 

 

Ugh. I highly second this sentiment. I also own a Cuisinart CSO steam oven because of this forum.

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I spent a couple of hours reverse engineering the recipe storage format a couple of months ago, but haven't had time to write anything up. My notes are a bit inscrutable to me, but I'll post them here in case it helps anyone develop some way to  share recipes. It's very minimal, with each recipe taking only 36 bytes. The recipes are written in a continuous span in the file and overwritten without nulling out the underlying bytes first.

 

Here is my understanding of the recipe structure, italicised text representing uncertainties.

  • Bytes 1-20 are reserved for the name, each byte corresponding to the ASCII value of the letter or character, with the hex sequence `00 30 31` denoting early return.
  • Bytes 21-30 are empty.
  • Byte 31 corresponds to the temperature in Fahrenheit. If the temperature is above the max decimal value expressible by a byte (255), the high bit on the next byte, 32, is high (e.g has a value of `1` rather than `0`), indicating that `255` is to be added to the integer value represented by byte.
  • Byte 32's 4 minor bits represents some sort of bitmask corresponding to the power level, I believe. 0000 = 1, 0010 = 2, 1000 = 3, 1100 = 4
  • Byte 33 corresponds to the hour timer value.
  • Byte 34 corresponds to the minute timer value.
  • Byte 35 corresponds to the second timer value.
  • Byte 36 possibly corresponds to the action(s) to take after the timer ends and/or when to start the timer? Possibly a split byte like 32.

Provided the uncertainties are done a way with, it should be a trivial matter to write a small piece of software (a web service, perhaps?) to generate these files from shared recipes.

Edited by flippant
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45 minutes ago, flippant said:

I spent a couple of hours reverse engineering the recipe storage format a couple of months ago, but haven't had time to write anything up. My notes are a bit inscrutable to me, but I'll post them here in case it helps anyone develop some way to  share recipes. It's very minimal, with each recipe taking only 36 bytes. The recipes are written in a continuous span in the file and overwritten without nulling out the underlying bytes first.

 

Here is my understanding of the recipe structure, italicised text representing uncertainties.

  • Bytes 1-20 are reserved for the name, each byte corresponding to the ASCII value of the letter or character, with the hex sequence `00 30 31` denoting early return.
  • Bytes 21-30 are empty.
  • Byte 31 corresponds to the temperature in Fahrenheit. If the temperature is above the max decimal value expressible by a byte (255), the high bit on the next byte, 32, is high (e.g has a value of `1` rather than `0`), indicating that `255` is to be added to the integer value represented by byte.
  • Byte 32's 4 minor bits represents some sort of bitmask corresponding to the power level, I believe. 0000 = 1, 0010 = 2, 1000 = 3, 1100 = 4
  • Byte 33 corresponds to the hour timer value.
  • Byte 34 corresponds to the minute timer value.
  • Byte 35 corresponds to the second timer value.
  • Byte 36 possibly corresponds to the action(s) to take after the timer ends and/or when to start the timer? Possibly a split byte like 32.

Provided the uncertainties are done a way with, it should be a trivial matter to write a small piece of software (a web service, perhaps?) to generate these files from shared recipes.

 

Any chance it could be hacked so that after 10 minutes at one temperature it switches to another? You can currently set it to “keep warm” (forget the exact temp 140f?) after a set amount of time, but it would be nice to be able to have more control. 

Sizzle and Sear

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https://www.sizzleandsear.com/

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1 minute ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

Any chance it could be hacked so that after 10 minutes at one temperature it switches to another? You can currently set it to “keep warm” (forget the exact temp 140f?) after a set amount of time, but it would be nice to be able to have more control. 

 

Given how bare-bones the recipe structure is, I don't think there's room for much of anything you can't already get interacting directly with the CF.

 

There are 10 empty bytes there though – they might yet add some functionality to make use of that space, but that would require a firmware upgrade first.

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I’ll start filling out that table on the website tonight with my various temps. Let me know if anyone else has some temps that could be added. 

 

I think adding pics will be helpful as I’m sure that there isn’t consensus on the perfect temp for a pancake. A visual for 3 different temps could be helpful. 

 

Let me know if anything else would be useful. I could also link to pages with full recipes. 

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