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(Full disclosure: I'm an engineer and co-founder of Pantelligent, a Y Combinator-funded company.) For a wider view of this space: Temperature-controlled cooki

(Full disclosure: I'm an engineer and co-founder of Pantelligent, a Y Combinator-funded company.) For a wider view of this space: Temperature-controlled cooking "version 1" = thermostat on an oven. (A real innovation in it's own time!) Temperature-controlled cooking "version 2" = sous-vide. (Steady-state thermal equilibrium -- that is, waiting until temperature has equalized throughout the entire mass.) Temperature-controlled cooking "version 3" is about going beyond steady-state thermal equilibrium to controlling transient heat transfer. That gives you the delicious repeatability of sous-vide, with the fast cooking times of non-steady-state cooking, and the controlled, desirable temperature gradients at the exterior of your food. (Note how any sous-vide recipe ends with cooking the exterior in a pan for extra deliciousness!) We built "v3" and called it Pantelligent. Macworld just produced a video review and said, "Most importantly, the results are fantastic. I’ve made eggs, salmon, risotto, seared tuna, and steak using Pantelligent’s recipes, and everything turned out delicious. The salmon was my favorite, since the pan’s sensor made it nearly impossible for me to overcook it" [1]. TIME Magazine just called it one of the "Best Inventions of 2015" [2]. And there are plenty more press and customer reviews on our website [3]. [1] http://www.macworld.com/article/3006950/holiday/6-chef-caliber-cooking-gadgets-for-the-connected-kitchen.html http://www.macworld.com/article/3006950/holiday/6-chef-calib... [2] http://time.com/4115398/best-inventions-2015/item/the-pan-that-teaches-you-to-cook/ http://time.com/4115398/best-inventions-2015/item/the-pan-th... [3] https://www.pantelligent.com/ https://www.pantelligent.com/

MegaDeKay 11y ago
> Note how any sous-vide recipe ends with cooking the exterior in a pan for extra deliciousness More correctly, I'd say that many sous-vide recipes end with searing the exterior in a pan for extra deliciousness. The food is already cooked, assuming you are post-searing. This of course gives you that maillard reaction goodness. Having said that, I took a quick look at your links. A few comments. - Non-stick pans aren't so non-stick after a while. How does your pan hold up? - Lightweight, non-stick pans are poor for searing. I'm guessing that I'd need a second pan for that? Related to this are those times you actually want those crispy burned on bits for a follow-on sauce of some kind.
- compumike 11y ago
  Great questions! 1) Surface coating lifetime is mostly a temperature-related effect. By controlling the temperature (i.e. avoiding unintentional too-high-temp excursions), you get longer lifetime. Plus we start with a thicker/heavier cast aluminum base than you may be used to on low-end non-stick pans. This reduces hot spots and uneven thermal expansion which both contribute to relatively shorter working lifetimes of low-end cookware. 2) We get delicious browned crusts on steaks etc in roughly the 380-420 degree F surface temperature range. You get a nice controlled browned crust, rather than a fully black crust. IMHO this is way better!
cwyers 11y ago
I think you're selling sous vide short. The Pantelligent can only control heat on the contact surface, the rest of the food is cooked through heat transfer through the rest of the food or through the air. Sous vide lets you cook a whole piece of meat to a consistent temperature with practically no gradient. The Pantelligent doesn't have that feature.
- compumike 11y ago
  Not zero gradient, but you may be surprised how much control we have over the interior. Thermodynamics lets you get that by controlling the exterior temp plus time. If you study the heat flow involved with cooking (see some simulation graphics on our site), you'd find that the interior generally cooks with low gradient to start with. The results are really delicious.
  - cwyers 11y ago
    Here's Pantelligent's picture of various steak doneness levels: https://www.pantelligent.com/static/img/many_steaks_board.jpg https://www.pantelligent.com/static/img/many_steaks_board.jp... Here's a picture from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, of various levels of steak doneness cooked sous vide with a post-bath sear: http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2015/04/Anova-Steak-Guide-Sous-Vide-Photos21-rare-to-well.jpg http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2015/04/Anova-Steak-Guide-... I know there's a lot of variables here besides just the Pantelligent versus sous vide, but there's a pretty stark contrast between the two in the kind of temperature gradient you see throughout the meat. I'm sure you can cook a delicious steak in a Pantelligent -- you can cook a delicious steak a whole lot of ways. But you're not going to be able to produce sous vide results with this thing.

MegaDeKay 11y ago

> Note how any sous-vide recipe ends with cooking the exterior in a pan for extra deliciousness More correctly, I'd say that many sous-vide recipes end with searing the exterior in a pan for extra deliciousness. The food is already cooked, assuming you are post-searing. This of course gives you that maillard reaction goodness. Having said that, I took a quick look at your links. A few comments. - Non-stick pans aren't so non-stick after a while. How does your pan hold up? - Lightweight, non-stick pans are poor for searing. I'm guessing that I'd need a second pan for that? Related to this are those times you actually want those crispy burned on bits for a follow-on sauce of some kind.

compumike 11y ago
Great questions! 1) Surface coating lifetime is mostly a temperature-related effect. By controlling the temperature (i.e. avoiding unintentional too-high-temp excursions), you get longer lifetime. Plus we start with a thicker/heavier cast aluminum base than you may be used to on low-end non-stick pans. This reduces hot spots and uneven thermal expansion which both contribute to relatively shorter working lifetimes of low-end cookware. 2) We get delicious browned crusts on steaks etc in roughly the 380-420 degree F surface temperature range. You get a nice controlled browned crust, rather than a fully black crust. IMHO this is way better!

cwyers 11y ago

I think you're selling sous vide short. The Pantelligent can only control heat on the contact surface, the rest of the food is cooked through heat transfer through the rest of the food or through the air. Sous vide lets you cook a whole piece of meat to a consistent temperature with practically no gradient. The Pantelligent doesn't have that feature.

compumike 11y ago
Not zero gradient, but you may be surprised how much control we have over the interior. Thermodynamics lets you get that by controlling the exterior temp plus time. If you study the heat flow involved with cooking (see some simulation graphics on our site), you'd find that the interior generally cooks with low gradient to start with. The results are really delicious.
- cwyers 11y ago
  Here's Pantelligent's picture of various steak doneness levels: https://www.pantelligent.com/static/img/many_steaks_board.jpg https://www.pantelligent.com/static/img/many_steaks_board.jp... Here's a picture from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, of various levels of steak doneness cooked sous vide with a post-bath sear: http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2015/04/Anova-Steak-Guide-Sous-Vide-Photos21-rare-to-well.jpg http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2015/04/Anova-Steak-Guide-... I know there's a lot of variables here besides just the Pantelligent versus sous vide, but there's a pretty stark contrast between the two in the kind of temperature gradient you see throughout the meat. I'm sure you can cook a delicious steak in a Pantelligent -- you can cook a delicious steak a whole lot of ways. But you're not going to be able to produce sous vide results with this thing.