My kitchen is full of tools that are more or less completely unnecessary.A $500 microwave is also an air fryer.A $1,000 espresso machine with an LED screen that whips milk into foam that can be used in latte art.An $850 oven with a camera inside.Perhaps the most disgraceful: a $500 machine that makes only ice cubes.As redundant as these devices may seem, it’s hard to imagine life without them.Recently, however, a new feature has been added that is both contemptuous and satisfying: the Breville PolyScience Control Freak induction cooking system.
This induction cooker does it all.Well, anything an induction cooker can do anyway.But it does it better, and with incredible precision.Designed for restaurant kitchens, the Breville Control Freak is easily intimidated by the technical heat it brings to home cooking.But for its price, is all this culinary magic worth it?Mostly right.Does this mean everyone should have one?Absolutely not.
— Dimensions: 8″W x 19″D x 5″H —Weight: 24.7 lbs —Temperature Range: 86 – 492°F —Temperature Stability: ±1°F —Features: Heat Intensity Control, Dual Fan Cooling System, Durable Durable stainless steel housing, high temperature ceramic glass, Tritan polymer LCD display, color TFT screen, USB port, dishwasher safe control knob
The aptly named Breville PolyScience Control Freak is an induction hob with the exacting technical specifications that culinary perfectionists will drool over.For those unfamiliar with induction cooktops, here’s a quick primer: Unlike gas and electric cooktops, which transfer heat into a cooking vessel, induction cooktops are powered by an electromagnetic coil, which heats pots and pans with an electromagnetic current.This means that pans not only cook food faster, but also more efficiently and precisely.The cooking vessel heats directly, so the surface stays cool.That way, in the event of an overflow, the mess doesn’t become stubborn — or worse, dangerous.One downside is that you need to use an induction cooker.If the pan can’t hold the magnet, it can’t be heated on the induction cooktop.Fortunately, if you do any serious cooking, chances are you already have drawers full of induction cookers.This includes all cast iron, enameled cast iron and stainless steel cookware.A fair number of new nonstick pans can also be induction.
Breville Control Freak is huge.The device weighs nearly 25 pounds in the box.Most of that is the device itself, but it also comes with a cute black travel case and a separate container for the thermometer.My last induction standby was the Tasty One Top, which is very familiar to anyone who has watched Buzzfeed cooking videos.The device’s size and weight dwarf it.Control Freak takes up space on a medium-sized countertop; moving it from place to place is as difficult as moving a stand mixer.If the stovetop on your oven is flat, you can take advantage of the real estate there, as long as you don’t turn it on while you’re using the stovetop.The ceramic glass cooktop is wide enough to accommodate pots and pans 4.5 to 10 inches in diameter and has a weight limit of 200 lbs.
There is a small glass block in the very center of the Control Freak cooktop.It contains multiple sensors to ensure the temperature of any given pot is as accurate as possible.This glass sensor tip checks the temperature 20 times per second.It’s precision you can count on.In terms of temperature ranges, pans can range from a mild 86 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 482 degrees Fahrenheit.In addition to the built-in sensor, the Control Freak can also be paired with its matching probe thermometer to add an extra layer of precision to liquid and oil cooking.
Home cooks control various cooking options and modes via two dials, one for heat and one for time.The gorgeous LCD screen shows what’s going on.Buttons next to the LCD screen allow for further customization, including adjusting the cooking mode and how fast you want the pan to heat up.You can also plug in a small thumb drive to save cooking presets if you want to save programs that come up on the fly.
Because it’s designed for restaurant kitchens, the Breville Control Freak is powerful.At 1,800 watts, it can generate a lot of heat, though a dual-fan cooling system keeps the device running smoothly.The device can also run for up to 72 hours with a built-in timer.Not only does the Control Freak maintain a consistent cooking temperature, but it also has a “keep warm” feature similar to the old Crock-Pot.The heat is distributed at three speeds, depending on how sensitive the food you’re cooking is to temperature, or conversely, how fast you want dinner to be served.
It’s easy to assume that the Control Freak is more or less as big as any other induction burner.The Tasty One Top is lighter and smaller than the Control Freak, and does more or less what it’s supposed to do.Even better, because the Tasty One Stop is a portable cooktop, it does it on the fly.The Control Freak is also portable and even comes with its own carrying case so you can tow it from place to place.But that doesn’t stop it from being a tank of machines.Last October, I paid for this device as a birthday present for myself, and here are some reasons why I love it, even though I’m stuck buying it.
How can they justify spending so much money on a single stove when they can easily buy a complete stove/oven combo to reduce scratches?Home Depot sells a variety of cooktop/oven combos for as low as $1,100.But I thought of one word that sets Control Freak apart: versatility.It’s not just an induction cooker.Control Freak is also a precision fryer, sous-vide and even a chocolate temperer.Many previously untapped avenues of cooking are now at your fingertips!
Control Freak makes it easy to cook mixtures containing dairy or eggs to adjust the temperature without worrying about curdling or boiling.Not only can Control Freak fry at high temperatures, the appliance can also cook fish and duck at lower temperatures.If anyone wanted to, they could put the sugar in a pot and walk for hours as Breville Control Freak cooked it to perfect caramel.The induction cooker heats up more efficiently, which is good for even cooking.Plus, it cuts down on your cooking time.A pot of concern will boil on an induction cooktop, that is, much faster than a standard cooktop.
My first step was to test this efficiency.Using the Breville Control Freak’s built-in probe thermometer, I set up a stopwatch to test how long it would take to boil a quart of water (212 degrees Fahrenheit) in an uncovered pot.It took five minutes and one second from start to finish.I repeated this process on a standard Frigidaire electric cooktop burner, heating the same pot with the same amount of water to the highest temperature possible, this time using a separate probe thermometer.It took an astonishing 9 minutes and 51 seconds to reach the same temperature.This means that the Breville – at least as far as boiling water is concerned – is nearly twice as good as a regular stove at heating the pan as well as food.
My first practical cooking assignment with the Breville Control Freak was making a batch of frozen French fries.This is done by slicing potatoes, cooking them in boiling water, and quickly frying them in 340-degree peanut oil.If you’ve ever bought fries in the freezer section of the grocery store, this is basically what you’re buying: fried potatoes.Making them at home reduces the cost of these pillars, not to mention plastic waste.
The Breville Control Freak Thermometer has settings specifically designed for frying.When food is added to hot oil, the temperature of the oil drops by about 20 degrees because food tends to draw heat away from the fat.Fortunately, it returns to temperature immediately after about 5 to 10 seconds, all without fuss with the dial.Frying on the stove with an analog or digital thermometer isn’t nearly as sensitive, and you have to watch your food like a hawk.With Breville, the first frozen fries are ready in about 90 seconds.And when frying foods like bone-in chicken thighs, it’s handy to not have to fuss to make sure the temperature is right.Don’t worry about undercooked chicken or overly browned crust.If a recipe calls for cooking at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes, you can bet that Control Freak will do it, for more or less seconds.
Precision frying means food will cook faster and more thoroughly, which also means less cooking fat is absorbed into your actual food.Homemade doughnuts and churros are especially difficult to make because what is pastry dough other than a large, porous sponge?Now, it’s hard to imagine recreating churros, doughnuts, or doughnuts without Breville Control Freak.This doubles for criss-cross fries and mashed potatoes.
As mentioned above, Control Freak works fast, but sometimes the speed kills.This is especially true when cooking foods with unstable temperatures, such as sugar, eggs, and perhaps most importantly, chocolate.Luckily, Control Freak not only allows you to choose the temperature at which to cook your food, it also allows you to apply that specific temperature using three speeds: slow, medium and fast.After all, when it comes to cooking certain foods, a single degree can be the difference between delicious and devastating.
This is especially true when melting chocolate.That’s why modern convention calls for melting it in a double boiler, a bowl over a pot of hot water.With Breville Control Freak, you can melt dark chocolate chips with just a pan.After most of the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat and add some solid chocolate to cool the mixture to the perfect consistency.When the chocolate is in the “temper” state, it becomes shiny and has a satisfying bite.Skipping all the fuss makes the chocolate gooey and sticky, which makes the dessert trivial.
Medium speed is ideal any time you make anything with eggs, including custard, pudding, and ice cream bases.Many ice cream bases will let you strain the mixture after cooking, as even the most diligent cook will slightly overcook it.I strained my first batch of vanilla ice cream cooked on Breville Control Freak just to see if it was as accurate as eggs and chocolate.All that was left in the strainer was a used vanilla pod, no trace or smell of overcooked eggs, just a silky layer of heavy cream.
Immersion circulators are as ubiquitous as food processors in the kitchen these days.By circulating water to maintain temperature, they cook food with precision.Breville Control Freak also claims it has a sous-vide function.The only way to test this is to cook a New York Strip steak I bought in late August, which was abandoned deep in my fridge.The coolest thing about cooking sous-vide is that you don’t have to worry about defrosting anything.
I adjusted the temperature of a medium dutch oven filled with water to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.The bag contains frozen steak and some seasonings.The water isn’t circulating so I wonder if that makes a difference to the finished product.The timer is set for two hours and the rest is reserved for the control freak.After the alarm went off – so loud it could be heard in the other room – I fished the bag of meat out of the water.It looked very similar to a sous-vide steak made before: very bad.The final step in most sous-vide meat recipes is a final heat that makes the food golden brown and delicious (rather than looking like something that has been submerged in salt water for the past few months).
I put a trusty carbon steel pan on the cooktop and set the dial to the highest.Although it was set to 492 degrees, the pan was up to 510 degrees before I put the meat in the pan.It grills steaks to perfection in less than 20 seconds.After all, the meat inside was already half cooked, so I didn’t want to spend too much time on the final browning process.In less than a minute, the meat was golden brown on all sides, and after turning the burner down, it baked into a delicious pan sauce.The result is very good.The perfect pink meat came out as I cooked it with the immersion circulator.Given that Control Freak offers the best sear ever, this device could completely replace an immersion circulator, at least as far as cooking steaks goes.
Breville Control Freak does what it can and does it very well.Despite its extraordinary precision, it’s still hard to justify the cost.I don’t (and don’t plan to) run a restaurant anytime soon.Most meals don’t need the kind of firepower and precision that the Breville Control Freak can provide.In fact, it’s rare for such a splendid device to be used more than a few times a week.Does this mean I’ll be refunding it soon with a full or partial discount?Don’t bet on it.Breville PolyScience Control Freak is more than just an induction cooktop.It’s the secret weapon for making restaurant-quality food at home.But that doesn’t mean I have at least a hint of regret in my heart because I put a lot of cash into it.
This article was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, owner of Futurism.Futurism may receive a portion of sales for products linked in this post.
Post time: Jul-18-2022