After a couple of years of shopping and foot-dragging, I got a lab hotplate with magnetic stirrer. The main use will be pasteurizing ice cream, which for various reasons I like to do at a moderate temperature for a long time (usually 30 minutes). I've been doing this sous-vide for many years now, which is imperfect; there's no simple way to know the actual temperature of a blob of thick liquid in a bag. It's also a little cumbersome, and you waste a lot of plastic.
I do like that a sous-vide bag is sealed, to keep in any aromatics. The most challenging part of moving to a hot plate was finding a lid. My old stainless-lined copper saucepan is a perfect vessel—non magnetic, so it will let the stirring rod spin. But my only lid for it is an ancient Calphalon one, which I don't want to drill for the temperature probe, and which i can't find any more of online. These French copper pans are non-standard sizes. And I'm not getting a 2nd mortgage to buy a Mauviel copper lid, just to drill a hole in it.
Restaurant supply store to the rescue. I brought my measurements and a tape, and just dug through everything. This Chinese glass lid was so close I was afraid it would be too tight. It actually fits like it was made for the pan. It has a little metal-rimmed vent hole that's exactly the right size for the probe. Score! Only $10.
The lab hotplate works well. It's a cheap Chinese model that cost $180 on Amazon (the serious ones that they use in serious labs cost many times this). It feels solidly built and all the controls are intuitive (except for the programming features, which I'll pretend don't exist). The only shortcoming is the power. It's not listed anywhere but I'm guessing it's just a few hundred watts. Great for holding a big pot of stuff at temperature, but too weak to get it there in a reasonable time. So I start out on the stove on high heat and move to the hotplate when it gets within a degree or so.
The stirring motor / magnet is also not very powerful. It struggles to get a strong vortex in 1kg of ice cream mix. This may be because I've been using supermarket cream that has added gums—my mixes have been more viscous than usual. When I get a better source this may stop being a problem. Nevertheless, the company says this hotplate has a 5 liter capacity, which seems hugely optimistic. It's adequate for my purposes. I'm also looking forward to keeping things warm with it at dinner parties.
[Edited to add:] This thing is forcing me to be disciplined about adding a straining step. I really don't want to serve—or blend—a magnetic stirring rod.
