Photo cross-post

[andrewducker]

My brother Mike got me this for my birthday, and it just takes a weight off my mind being able to say "bring the steam temperature up to 95 degrees and hold it there"

(Control over oil temperature when frying eggs is also awesome.)
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Comments

[rmc28]

Interesting! Does it work with any pan? How does it measure the temperature? (takes it from the pan?)

[andrewducker]

The metal thing in the top is a temperature probe, connected to the hob on the bottom right.

(At swimming lessons right now, will do a proper answer later on)

[rmc28]

Ahhhh cunning! I somehow completely failed to notice the LARGE METAL THING in the top right :-)

[bens_dad]

You have put the probe through the steam hole. Is there still room to stop the pressure going up ?

[andrewducker]

If the pressure goes up a bit then some steam comes out around it. Or just around the lid. It's not a perfect seal in either case.

[magedragonfire]

Induction? We got one of those before we upgraded our cooktop to induction, and aside from a squeal that makes me a bit squirrelly on the highest power levels, it worked great.

(The full cooktop is beautiful and not squeal-y and also has wireless sensors that you can put on the outside of your pots to hold ‘em at a temperature, too.)

[andrewducker]

Contact temperature sensors are definitely the current best approach. It's a shame that the systems that use them tend to be so expensive.

What one do you have?

[magedragonfire]

The cooktop's a Thermador Freedom series - 36", and has one huge surface that you can put your pot or pan anywhere on and it'll find it and just heat that surface. I really like it, aside from some quibbles with the UI.

(I really wish they'd had an equivalent thing with knobs instead of a touch-screen-only surface just for adjusting temperature. So much easier and more responsive! But doesn't look as clean and sleek, or something, I s'pose.)

The portable burner was an $80-at-the-time (CAD) Secura. No neat little probe attachment for it, though.

[bugshaw]

What make/model is it? I want a standalone induction thing, I have one but it's really bad at the low simmer I frequently need. This looks like it might work better...

[andrewducker]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klarstein-Cook-Roll-Temperature-HeatControl/dp/B086WDKH2V

It's not perfect. The UI could do with a bit of work, and sometimes it can be tricky to get the probe to stay touching the bottom of the frying pan. But it's the best that I've used that costs under £1k. And for £57 you can't go too wrong.

(There are temperature sensors on the way that are better than this, and can read the temperature of your pan through glass. But nobody is actually selling hobs with one of those in it yet.)