andrewducker | Can anyone recommend a temperature-controlled induction hob?

So, I really wanted an induction hob. And I really wanted it to be able to hold a stable temperature. After all, if you've got something that delivers heat (in this case an induction coil) and something that measures heat then it should be trivial to set things up so that the temperature is swiftly raised to that level and then held there pretty perfectly. Or so you'd think...

The first issue I hit is that the vast majority of induction hobs that claim to let you set the temperature read that temperature using an infrared sensor. One that's under the glass hob surface. Glass isn't transparent to the wavelengths of IR that let you measure temperature, by the way. Which means that what you're actually measuring the temperature of the glass under the pot. Which gives you a lag of 5-10 minutes, which is obviously completely useless. So you can instantly exclude about 90% of all portable induction hobs that claim to let you set the temperature.

That being the case there are two options for how to measure the temperature. Either with a temperature probe or with an exposed metal thermometer in the middle of the hob (that sits on a tiny spring so that it touches the pot but doesn't hold it in the air). So, let's have a look at the options there:
1) The Breville Control Freak. Just amazing, works perfectly, incredibly precise, would love to have one. Is £1,400. So, no.
2) The Njori Tempo. A crowdfunded cheaper version of the Control Freak. Looked very cool, but suffered from Kickstarter Syndrome, where they clearly couldn't help tweaking things all of the time, expected to use the Kickstarter money to create an initial version so that they could get the money together to do a proper production run, ran smack into issues trying to talk to Chinese electronics manufacturers in the pandemic, and eventually went dormant about three months ago. So, no.
3) Klarstein Cook n Roll. This one uses a temperature probe, and is made by a reputable-looking German manufacturer! Who then turn out to be lying about the size of the heating area. Despite claims of a 26cm surface, the induction coil is only 10cm wide. Which means that it will end up superheating the central part of your pan and not heating the rest of it at all. So, no.
4) Cusinart Tasty. Looks pretty good. Would ship from the USA. Isn't actually made any more. In order to control by temperature you have to use an app. So, no.
5) Tokit. Some lovely reviews, and looks like exactly what I want. But...if you look at the 1 star reviews you see that a fair chunk of people have real issues with them breaking, and in a couple of cases it seems that it's not watertight, which is kinda essential for a device you're going to want to boil water on without being electrocuted. So, no.
6) Salton - looks good. Except for being slightly lower wattage than the headline says. But is another US import, which is a bit of a pain, because it means that if it does die on me then it's not easy to get fixed. It's the current front runner though, as being the only one that's a not-ridiculous price, won't kill me, and doesn't require an app to set the temperature.
7) Caso TC 2400 - looks awesome, only available in Germany, 10% of the reviews are "It didn't work". *sigh*

So, if anyone can recommend an induction hob with a temperature probe which actually makes direct contact, and won't kill me, doesn't cost over a grand, and I can buy from a UK supplier then I'd appreciate it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

channelpenguin

The same thing has annoyed me (but not to the point of doing the research you have! I find induction WORSE than the old "coil" electric rings that at least you could set to "full volume" until things boiled then turn down. Instead of waiting twice as long because the damn thing switches itself on and off and on and off instead of just staying on full.

I'd be happy with a hob that lets me dictate a FIXED input energy, but gas seems the only game in town for that. Which I have. Plus extractor hood that goes up an actual chimney :-)

I can't comment on the Caso hob. I had a Caso microwave/grill that was awesome for 6 months then fault with a short circuit that killed it. So the reviews may be right.

From:

andrewducker

Hmm. My induction hobs let you set an amount of energy and then seem to happily supply that. But I haven't done that at full power, so I don't know if they stop doing it after a bit.

From:

channelpenguin

Well, the ones I have had might not have been induction? But they definitely did temperature "control" by switching on off on off even when set to full

From:

danieldwilliam

I would be surprised (delighted but surprised) if you could find one at a price much below the Breville offering.

Reading through your description of what you want it sounds like quite a fiddly thing to do - therefore pricey.

From:

andrewducker

I'm not sure why "When temperature hits X+2 turn power off. When it drops below X-2 turn power on" is a tricky thing.

I mean, I assume it must be in some way. But I don't understand why that is hard.

From:

danieldwilliam

I think it's the measuring the temperature of the pot that's your problem - getting the measuring device to interact with the pot. The pot is not part of the hob. It's exact composition is unknown to the hob. It's exact position is unknown to the hob and is variable. Lots of variables.

Then you want to probe to not get in the way of e.g. cleaning, or cause a leak or get broken if someone knocks the pot over it.

From:

andrewducker

Cooking temperature probes are really cheap and common though. Amazon has hundreds of them for cheap - I have these really nice ones for £18: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThermoPro-Digital-Cooking-Thermometer-Backlight/dp/B074XND445/ It's a solved problem.

So one of those, and I can just dump the end of it in the water like this:
Temperature Probe

(And in the case of that one, the Salton, it's not the temperature measuring that's the problem, it's that it seems to be a cheaply made model which stops working for some people after a few months. Which I'd risk if it was shipping from the UK and I could return it easily, but not for a US model.)

From:

danieldwilliam

You have to put stuff in the pot?

Ah, I thought we were trying to do this from inside the induction hob, hands free.

From:

andrewducker

Two options - either with a temperature probe or with an exposed metal thermometer in the middle of the hob (that sits on a tiny spring so that it touches the pot but doesn't hold it in the air)

The Klarstein,Caso, and Salton and ones do it with a temperature probe. Which is...fine. I can live with that.

The Breville, Njori, and Tokit ones do it with the exposed metal thermometer. Which is clearly a bit fiddlier from a design point of view, but easier to use. Alas, one of those never made it to production, one possibly leaks into the electrics, and one costs £1,400.

(There are also designs from Bosch, etc. which use entirely separate temperature monitors and wireless links to talk to the hob. But those are all ridiculously expensive too.)

From:

danieldwilliam

I can see why the Breville might cost a lot.

The ones with a hand positioned probe seem to me like they ought to be straight forward.

I'm now as baffled as you I think.

From:

fub

What's your use case? Why do you need to keep something on the stove at a (configurable) temperature for prolonged periods of time?

From:

andrewducker

To cook it at the right temperature, so that it produces something that's well cooked without getting overly cooked on the outside. Or to bring water to just below boiling and hold it there without me having to adjust up and down. Basically, like with sous vide, having accurate control over the temperature of what you're cooking gives you nicer outcomes.

From:

ninetydegrees

I can't recommend portable hobs as I've always had cooktops but, in my experience, induction in general already does what you want it to --raise the temperature more quickly and maintain it at the level you need. Unless the device is badly made or has too few settings (let's say less than 10) so you can't do a gentle boil vs a rolling boil or a low simmer vs keeping something warm, it's a matter of learning which setting works for what you wanna achieve.

Edited Date: 2024-04-09 02:10 pm (UTC)

From:

andrewducker

That setting varies dramatically depending on the pan and its contents. So it absolutely doesn't keep it at a stable level unless you work out, and memorise, which setting does what in which context.

"I want this frying pan at 66 centigrade, which will coagulate egg white perfectly, but not egg yolk" isn't something you can do unless you have actual temperature control.

From:

ninetydegrees

I wouldn't say dramatically but, yeah, I believe that's what I said. You learn. Well, I don't have temperature control and that's how I eat it so... but I think I get that, to you, it would be more convenient (it'd make it bothersome for me). It makes sense now.

From:

andrewducker

Maybe not *dramatically* dramatically :-)

And it might be that when it comes to it, I won't like it. But at the moment I'd quite fancy the ability to say "Boil that water!" and have it bring it to 98 degrees and stop there, with no risk of water all over everything.

From:

channelpenguin

To be picky, the temperature that water boils at is dependent on atmospheric pressure, boiling at lower temperatures at lower atmospheric pressure. The primary variable for this is your altitude, but dramatic low or high pressure could also have effects.

This is why canning recipes have longer times for higher altitude (the water will boil at a lower temperature, therefore to make the food safe takes longer).

So your 98C may or may not cause boilover, depending upon the weather. I can actually see that having an effect as the difference between boiling nicely and boiling over is a very fine one!

From:

andrewducker

I will happily adjust down a degree as necessary.

From:

channelpenguin

Yeah, adjusting once is probably not your annoyance!

From:

channelpenguin

In your egg example, it depends on the egg, the pan, the oil or fat what the right temp is and for how long til "perfection". since it only takes minutes I would just observe. It will be different every time. Theres no repeatable seqeuence. The egg matters a LOT more than the temperature - its age for one thing, if you are frying!

I think I have never in my life paid any attention to the exact temperature of ANY cooking. Literally never.

Ovens (except gas) have notional temperatures, as do air fryers etc. but are usually variable and sometimes wildy inaccurate - I would never rely upon them - but I have never needed to. It usually does not matter.

I feel that there is enough unavoidable variabilty each time, even if one were to follow a recipe pretty exactly, there is no guarantee of the same result and it is better to observe when something is "done" directly, by sight, smell feel or maybe poking things in to see clear juices or lack of sticky cake mix.

I follow recipes rarely, and never exactly. 99.99% of the time everything turns out fine.

The only temperature control I need and use is on my bottling (canning) automat for processing preserved food.

I guess there may be a whole world of fancy cooking where this stuff is needed, but I don't even know what that might be... And I bet it doesn't matter as much as people think it does... i could be wrong.

(I cook 99% of my meals from raw ingredients from scratch and have done for my whole life)

From:

andrewducker

"I think I have never in my life paid any attention to the exact temperature of ANY cooking. Literally never."

Well, absolutely. But until very recently in history it wasn't possible to *have* exact temperatures most of the time. Until Sous Vide came along nobody was cooking exactly outside of sugar thermometers and the like. But being able to say "I know that this piece of meat is cooked to the middle, without having to chop it open" has been great for me, for instance.

From:

channelpenguin

Sure. There are other approximate ways to tell how "done" meat is that can be learned, and for most of us for most of the time, that is totally fine. Not sure about candy machine, but we used to do that too so I guess so!

But if you can and do want to know, and you have a probe then I can see you might want to.

When I still ate meat, here in Germany, the hygiene standards for meat are so high that people regularly eat raw minced pork "Mett" or "Zweibelmett" (with onions), and have pork steaks rare - medium rare.

My own only use case for exact temperature measurement inside did would be preserving as there are clear safety rules about how long at which temperature it takes to kill nasties.

Because we can only ensure the water or pressure vessel itself is at a specific temperature, not the contents (industrially, of course, that can be, and is, donel. Hence there being certain stuff it just not safe to do at home, mostly any sort of purée or mushy stuff that's not acidic - courgettes, pumpkin etc... The USDA in America do experiments in the lab to work out home safe instructions - have done for decades.

Of course, because we can't measure inside the jars at home, there's safety margins on the instructions, so everything is processed for longer. If we could measure inside, we could process for a shorter time and preserve more nutrients (for most foods. Some release MORE when cooked long, notably tomatoes, carrots and celery).

Some people get irrationally upset when the USDA runs a set of tests and finds that you really should not home preserve, say, yellow squash any more (mushy), or elderberry cordial (there now exist cultivated low acid elderberries) and so on.

But now I'm truly OT!

From:

lsanderson

When I moved into this house, a couple of years ago, it had an older apartment-sized gas stove in it. The main burner had a temperature probe in the middle of it that contacted the pan, although I don't remember how the knob was calibrated. It ain't exactly new tech.

From:

andrewducker

I've heard of those, but never seen one! Seems like an obvious thing to do, if possibly a bit fiddly.

From:

lsanderson

It was Harvest Gold, so probably early 1970s. It worked for as long as the stove was here.

From:

movingfinger

If your ideal induction top is 1400 and your limit is 1000, and if you don't need this immediately, would chucking a couple pounds a week into a jar (I know, no cash, but doing it cash might be easier to keep it apart) for a while help you bridge the gap? If you need it now, though, that doesn't work, of course.

I do not have induction, but this is a critical piece of household happiness, so if there is a really good one out there, it is worth waiting to install that rather than anything else IMO.

From:

gingicat

Huh, we use a laser temperature gun on pans for things that need to be cooked precisely (we have a gas stove). Now I want to see if it would work for induction.

From:

andrewducker

It should be easy enough!

From:

channelpenguin

Of course!

I've seen folks use lasers for wood fired pizza ovens!

Ooh, try it try it. Might need a Pi / Arduino for easy control programming?

From:

matgb

So, um, yeah. I've been hoping/waiting for the prices to come down for ages for one of these
The Control °Freak™ Induction Hob - Sage Commercial by Polyscience® | sousvidetools.com
Tim Heyward wrote a rave review of it and plugged it in a guardian Q&A, etc (I can find the latter not the former, think it might've been on fucking instagram linked from his twitter).

It think it's the commercial brand of the Breville but that site has it for £999 not £1400. Regardless, it's meant to be really good.

I want it for deep fat frying where exact temperature control for different types of thing is useful(chips want high, pakora low, where high is >200C and low is ~160C). Jennie wants it for sous vide stuff, especially soft boiling eggs, plus also stock making where "just below boiling for 8 hours" is really useful

So, um, if you do get one let us know if it's as good as the hype?

From:

andrewducker

Alas, not unless I win the lottery.

From:

channelpenguin

I thought matgb was saying it was £999? It's more?

From:

andrewducker

It's £999. I can't justify paying more than a couple of hundred for a kitchen gadget. (The "under a grand" was hyperbole, it does need to be significantly less than that.)

From:

matgb

Yeah, that's my feeling as well. I'd love it, but it's too expensive pending major cash injection. It does, however, fulfill your stated criteria so ;-)

(I'm slightly baffled by some of the "why" comments above, there are so many uses with modern food science)

Plus side of this--it hadn't occured to me why the temp control on my cheap portable one were crap, fairly obviously the glass is in the way so it's no use for frying, need to get a new sugar thermometer