A4 Box Induction Cooker

[JoNorvelleWalker]

  On 9/20/2019 at 10:19 PM, Smithy said:

Whew, I'm safe! Price is back up to $249. Even with free shipping that's enough to remove temptation...but I'll be following this topic with interest. 🙂

 

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How much was it before?

 

[Vapre]

  On 9/20/2019 at 7:47 PM, Anna N said:

Well all ye naysayers.... @Kerry Bealsort of took one for the team as you asked her to but it’s now occupying space in my kitchen!  It was purchased while we were up in Manitoulin in July and shipped to a Buffalo address and only now was Kerry able to get down there to retrieve it.   For me it is like Christmas in September.

 

 

Here it is with all five  interchangeable cooking surfaces:  plain grill pan, takoyaki pan,  wavy grill pan,  ceramic deep pan and six disc pan. For those who think that the only thing you can make in a takoyaki pan are takoyaki there’s a whole book devoted to things that you can make that are not octopus-based.  Look up The Little Book of Takoyaki on Amazon. 

 

Also included in the package is something called a shovel which is basically a silicone spoonula,  tiny fingertip protectors, a tablespoon and a teaspoon measure which click together, and the most intriguing of all:  

 

 

 A number of these resealable plastic bags. I am a verbal person not a visual person so I am still struggling to interpret what they are intended for. My first instinct of course was to assume they were used for sous vide.   Nothing in the instruction manual nor anywhere in their advertising material do I find any reference to these.   Marinade bags maybe?  That’s my best guess.

 

Here is the website for the manufacturer:

Click.  

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Try scanning the QR code in the upper left corner, some phones have this built into the camera app, others need a QR scanner app installed. I tried scanning the pic but didn't have any luck.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Vapre (log)

[Smithy]

  On 9/21/2019 at 12:19 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

How much was it before?

 

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I don't remember, but there was a "special price" deal going on for a while. Seems like it was under $100 then. Maybe someone else remembers?

[Kerry Beal]

No - just $50 off when I bought it. There was on Facebook a time when it was 30% off.

 

 

[KennethT]

  On 9/20/2019 at 9:45 PM, Anna N said:

 Me too and I would’ve left it at that but it seems to be almost a recipe.  If you look very closely in the upper right hand Square there is a notation of 30 min. In the next square there is a notation of 4 min. So I am wondering if it is actually the recipe with most of it written in Japanese?

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hmmm... unfortunately, Japanese is not anything I have attempted to learn (yet)... but it seems that the recipe is to marinate in the bag for 30 minutes, then drain on a rack for 4 minutes, then brush with the marinade...

 

Where are the Japanese reading folks when we need them?  @Duvel ??

[Anna N]

  On 9/21/2019 at 12:54 AM, Vapre said:

 

Try scanning the QR code in the upper left corner, some phones have this built into the camera app, others need a QR scanner app installed. I tried scanning the pic but didn't have any luck.

 

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 Scanned in the QR code and it took me to a page full of lovely Japanese characters (the written kind not the human kind)!  

[Anna N]

  On 9/21/2019 at 1:14 AM, KennethT said:

hmmm... unfortunately, Japanese is not anything I have attempted to learn (yet)... but it seems that the recipe is to marinate in the bag for 30 minutes, then drain on a rack for 4 minutes, then brush with the marinade...

 

Where are the Japanese reading folks when we need them?  @Duvel ??

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 Yep. I was able to figure out that much. 

[Duvel]

  On 9/21/2019 at 1:14 AM, KennethT said:

hmmm... unfortunately, Japanese is not anything I have attempted to learn (yet)... but it seems that the recipe is to marinate in the bag for 30 minutes, then drain on a rack for 4 minutes, then brush with the marinade...

 

Where are the Japanese reading folks when we need them?  @Duvel ??

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It’s a recipe for marinated “five flower meat” aka the expensive version of pork belly.

In goes honey, garlic, gochujiang and “cooking wine”. Marinate and massage for 30 min. Grill for 4 min, then brush with the remaining marinade and grill until done. Serve on a large salad leaf ...

[Kerry Beal]

  On 9/21/2019 at 1:50 AM, Duvel said:

 

It’s a recipe for marinated “five flower meat” aka the expensive version of pork belly.

In goes honey, garlic, gochujiang and “cooking wine”. Marinate and massage for 30 min. Grill for 4 min, then brush with the remaining marinade and grill until done. Serve on a large salad leaf ...

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Sounds good!

[gfweb]

But, but....isn’t this just an electric frying pan without a handle?

Edited September 22, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[rotuts]

but w inserts.

 

if it passes the  @Anna N  testing

 

I can see this might have a place in a small apartment.

 

not a college dorm.

[Kerry Beal]

  On 9/22/2019 at 1:39 PM, gfweb said:

But, but....isn’t this just an electric frying pan without a handle?

 

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And it’s induction!

[Kerry Beal]

  On 9/22/2019 at 1:08 PM, Anna N said:

So some further play time with my new toy. 

 

I had some green beans that needed using up, half a chub of kielbasa, and I knew I had seen a can of cherry tomatoes and a tetra pack of Pomi tomatoes  in the pantry.  With those I thought I could pull together a meal.

 

 Using the ceramic dish  I  sautéed some onions and some sliced kielbasa.  

 

I added the can of cherry tomatoes and was about to add the can of Pomi tomatoes when the best-before-date caught my eye.  Hmmm.  May 2017.  But what the heck. They were in a tetra pack. They should be safe to eat.  I opened the package carefully and poured out some of the contents into a saucer. Glad I took this precaution. They no longer resembled tomatoes. They were almost the colour of dark chocolate.  A tiny taste convinced me that they were not going in anything that I wanted to eat. Had this been a can of evaporated milk I would’ve had a lovely supply of dulce de leche!  

 

 But this left me somewhat short on liquid. So I quickly supplemented with some  Better Than Bouillon vegetable stock and water. 

 

 I added the green beans put the lid on and let whole thing come to a boil before turning it down to a slow simmer and letting it do its thing for about an hour.

 

 

 Made a perfectly satisfactory dinner with some orzo and a piece of garlic naan.  

 

I had to be careful and eat around the tomatoes as they are currently having a quite unpleasant effect on my system. (For those who don’t know they are a natural diuretic.)

 

 This morning, while checking all the various news outlets that I follow on my iPad, I found a grilled cheese sandwich recipe offered by the Washington Post.  I am not generally a grilled cheese fan. But this one offered miso butter and caramelized onions.  That is my language they are speaking. The Washington Post is behind a pay wall that didn’t stop me finding the recipe!   Anyway I could’ve figured it out all by myself if I was so inclined.

 

While I attended to my morning chores (that would be the ones that should’ve been done last evening), I caramelized two small onions in a mix of oil and butter  on the plain grill plate of the A4 box. 

 

 

 

 

 I made up the spread which was a mix of miso, grainy mustard and butter and spread it on some rye bread.  Then I assembled the sandwich with cheese and onions.   The outer side of the bread was spread with plain butter as the miso would certainly burn.

 

As luck would have it my bacon press fits my new toy like a glove. (So I have a panini press as well as all the other functionality of the A4 Box.)

 

 Grilled cheese sandwich with Seriously Sharp Cheddar, caramelized onions and miso-mustard butter. The rest of you can dip your grilled cheese sandwich in ketchup if that’s what you want, mine was dipped in mango chutney.

 

 One thing to think about when using the box is that’s the lid is going to be dripping condensation so you need a parking spot for it. 

 

 I think I’m going to find this toy much more than a toy. So far it has proved capable of meeting my requirements.

 

I am guessing there are some things I can bake in it but at the moment I’m not quite sure how to approach that. Any thoughts anybody?

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I know I had a Dutch Oven cookbook at one point - it had stovetop baking in it

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Kerry Beal (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The problem, as I see it, is you can cook with only one insert at a time.  Necessitating an A4 of each color.

 

[Anna N]

  On 9/22/2019 at 5:44 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

The problem, as I see it, is you can cook with only one insert at a time.  Necessitating an A4 of each color.

 

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And you’ve arranged to have my other ones delivered when?

Edited September 22, 2019 by Anna N (log)

[Anna N]

  On 9/22/2019 at 1:39 PM, gfweb said:

But, but....isn’t this just an electric frying pan without a handle?

 

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 Methinks  you are desperately in need of remedial training in the joy of kitchen toys.  

[Margaret Pilgrim]

  On 9/22/2019 at 6:50 PM, Anna N said:

 Methinks  you are desperately in need of remedial training in the joy of kitchen toys.   

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Bingo!

 

Suddenly I found myself singing

"Oh give me a pot,  and a heat source that's hot,

and I'll cook you up a good meal.

Don't confuse me with toys

They're for all you smart boys,

and for me, they are breaking the deal..

 

With apologies, I gotta go start dinner.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[lindag]

How is this different than  cooking in a pan?

 

[Smithy]

  On 12/13/2019 at 4:26 PM, lindag said:

How is this different than  cooking in a pan?

 

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I suspect it's the portability, combined with the new-toy factor, but I too would like to know whether it's better than cooking with a pan. Easier cleanup, perhaps?

 

As I write this there's a 30% discount on the A4 and the pans, for the next 48 (and counting down) hours, using the code CHRISTMAS, so it's especially tempting. That said, I would like to know the answer to lindag's question!

[lemniscate]

Portability and flexibility.  Having a cooking surface where you want it.  It's made, I believe, for the Japanese style of table cooking.  Shabu shabu, takoyaki, grilling your veg and meats at the table as you eat the meal.   The pics were of the two of us eating at the patio table as the seafood cooked, just transferring it to our plates as we wanted.   I've eaten that way at my Asian friends houses, they had similar dedicated electric shabu and grilling appliances, but I never thought to do it at home until I saw the A4.  It's easy to clean, but it is another appliance for sure.  And I am a sucker for induction, for some reason.

 

No difference than a non-stick pan on the stove in cooking style, except the stove can be on the dining table with A4.

 

 

[rotuts]

one thing

 

actually many things

 

eG'ers

 

know how to put the "' stuff "' thought its paces

 

then on decides

[JoNorvelleWalker]

At the moment the only way I'd be tempted is if the A4 were silent in operation.  Is it?

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Will no one save me from myself?

 

[lindag]

  On 12/14/2019 at 1:48 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Will no one save me from myself?

 

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I don’t see the point unless you’re like @Smithy and are traveling much of the time and don’t have access to a full size kitchen.

Does that help?

[chromedome]

To me it feels like an induction version of my large electric skillet. I'm not in the market for such a thing, but I can certainly see the utility of it.