New Toy: Breville/Polyscience Control Freak!

[CanadianHomeChef]

2 hours ago, paulraphael said:

You got it for the right price! I'd love to see something like this, but 1) much cheaper, and 2) with a lab-style magnetic stirring rod.

 

It may not be possible to do both induction and a magnetic stirring rod ... anyone know about this? But for many things I'd rather have the stirrer and a hot burner than induction without.

 

I dunno. A automatic stirrer would be nice, but once I went induction, I find cooking on an electric element so frustrating. Love the instant changes in temperature. I also don't think you could be as precise as it would overshoot to regain temperature after you add a cold item to the pan. To get it back down, the burner would have to cool down. With induction, it's much more smooth.

[CanadianHomeChef]

In response to Rob123:

I'm intrigued. I'm interested in what kind of material the base is made out of. I have a pizza steel but find it a bit frustrating in an electric oven as the broiler is unpredictable. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[CanadianHomeChef]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

Yikes !

 

nice w a reasonable price

 

and precise enough for a dial-In-suggesting accurate.

 

that being said

 

Id be interested in 

 

Why Brevvile  is so allergic to water , i.e. in an oven  

 

ie a Steam Oven ?

 

they do make fairly decent things  

 

but no Steam Oven

 

 

is Steel the S.S. variety 

 

a problem , or a what ever Down Under ?

 

Yes. A Breville Steam oven would be nice I like the cusinart one, but would like a bit more control over humidity. I think if Breville made one they'd add in that control.

[CanadianHomeChef]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Click

 Control freak appears to still be a poly science product?

Polyscience is owned by Breville now. I've been surfing both websites. Breville has better customer service, as they were able to get me the firmware update for the Control Freak in 2 minutes. Polyscience still hasn't responded to my email from yesterday.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Just got a table/counter clamp phone mount for filming. Should be here on Friday. If it works I'll take some overhead videos of the cooking, and share them here.

[CanadianHomeChef]

After pancakes, caramel, omelettes, and home fries, I finally made my first meal on the Control Freak. Spaghetti Carbonara. Starting to want a second one...

 

Used my less fancy induction unit to boil water for pasta, while I slowly simmered a wine, pepper, and garlic infusion for the sauce. And sautéd the bacon hitting the Maillard reaction spot on 🙂

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Induction plus stirring...KitchenAid Precise Heat Mixing Bowl.

 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Took the caramel I made yesterday out of the fridge after preparing tonight’s dinner. Set it in a warm bath set at 140f. Came back to it ~1 hour later, and it was perfectly pourable for my ice cream

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[CanadianHomeChef]

Brown butter for my scrambled eggs. Took about 5 minutes. But I think I could actually walk away from this for 30 minutes and it would be just as good. Created a custom program for easy future applications.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[CanadianHomeChef]

An idea of what the carrying case is like. Very sturdy walls. Would feel comfortable keeping it safe in this.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Heston Blumenthal style eggs, sans ban marie. 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Breville Smart Oven Air from Airmiles arrived today. For a basement suite kitchenette, it’s not too shabby. I will say my kitchen is 100x more functional than it was last week. 

I got a sink on the other side, with a bit of counter space on either side. I also have 3 other induction burners (my OneTop, and two belonging to the landlord) that I can place on those extra bits of counter space if I need more burners. Pretty much use the cheaper burners to boil water for pasta and what not (where temperature doesn't matter). Where my scale is located, that's where I do most of my mise en place. 

 

Now I just need a smaller Dutch oven as my 7.25 quart one won’t fit in the oven. But I should slow down on my spending 😆 

Edited August 1, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[ElsieD]

You are going to love that oven.

[CanadianHomeChef]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

You are going to love that oven.

Used it to reheat yesterday's Spaghetti Carbonara, and it did a good job. Also kept my French Fries that I shallow fried on the Control Freak warm. I obviously have a lot more to do, but it sure beats the Black and Decker my land lord provided, with mechanical timers  I especially like that the racks in the middle of the oven pull out when you open the door. Especially helpful when I have it up high like that.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Made the Korean deep fried wings from the Modernist Cuisine at Home cookbook. It's one of my favorites, and the Control Freak did not disappoint. I got some video of me cooking this up. I'll post it to YouTube soon.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Normally when I do this on portable induction units, the unit will overheat and shut off. Happened this time too... but not with the unit... my iPhone that was filming it! haha

[CanadianHomeChef]

Had fun making a food vlog for this... still learning how to edit videos and my apologies about the annoying repeating generic sound... I'll get better #GrowthMindset

 

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[adey73]

did the unit maintain the preset frying temp or did it over shoot trying to compensate after the addition of the chicken?

[CanadianHomeChef]

It mainted it pretty well. If I have it set to "fast" the overshoot will be about 10 degrees but it drops pretty quick. If I set the intensity to medium or slow it's even less. I find that if I keep it at fast at first in order to build up the temperature quickly, and then change it to slow when it's within 20 degrees, it's minimizes overshoot within a degree. For frying I'm not so worried about a 10 degree overshoot for a minute. 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Never mind, I lied. I just finished the final stage of Heston Blumenthal's triple cooked french fries, and paid closer attention. Dropped from 356 to 320 when I added the potatoes. And it never rose above 356 in the 7 minute fry. Pretty impressive.

[CanadianHomeChef]

Off to cross the border in Oroville, Washington tomorrow to pick up a All Clad D7 3qt Saute Pan I got for a deal on Amazon Warehouse Deals. It's got a 10.5" base, but it's known for conducting heat very well -- so we'll see. It'll be the biggest pan I got  (as the rest of mine are in Calgary). Went with the saute pan rather than fry pan, because the D7s are very heavy. Won't be flipping any food in them. Also I can shallow fry and braise more easily in the saute pan, and it's got a bigger cooking surface. I just hope it's not too big. 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Heston Blumenthal Triple Cooked Chips: 

 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Just got back from the USA with my D7 3 quart sauté pan. It’s cooking surface is the equivalent of a 12 inch frying pan.  Tested its ability to hold and spread heat today and I’m impressed. Cooked up some frozen perogies and you can see the edges of the pan are sizzling. On its own the control freak does a good job at spreading the heat. But if you help it along by off centring the pan a few times, it’s fantastic. The D7 holds the heat in the other parts of the pan that have already heated up so it going off Center for 15 seconds doesn’t effect it that much. And induction gets the edges up to temp really fast. 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Made Kenji's cherry tomato sauce and spaghetti tonight on the control freak with the new saute pan. Very delicious, and took in the opportunity to program in "sweating" garlic for future use.

 

Kenji:

 

[ElsieD]

I doubt I'd ever buy one of these, but I'm really enjoying going along for this ride.  It's quite the machine.