6 ms·

Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same. Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a

Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same. Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One. It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD ($67 USD) on Marketplace. My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too. I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)

Gigachad 4y ago
You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.html https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht... I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > advice meant for a gas stove Can't imagine it would be any different result. 10 minutes preheat on any range is a lot. My cast iron pan started turning silvery blue well before the 10 minute mark with my gas range on high.
- rodgerd 4y ago
  Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature. It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's extremely convenient and useful.
  - lathiat 4y ago
    Particularly useful for "fast heat-up" combined with "don't fry the pan"
  - newaccount74 4y ago
    Do you have experience with such a hob? I'd like to get one, but have found little info except marketing from manufacturers. I would assume those would be mostly useful for frying/searing meat, vegetables, and eggs with little oil. As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom. Do they work well with different pans?
    - TeMPOraL 4y ago
      > As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom. That sounds like an interesting engineering challenge! Assuming we have a stove with a fast-acting heat source (e.g. induction) and high-frequency thermometer (> 1 Hz), what can we learn about the contents of the pot/pan? I'm thinking: dump a set amount of energy into the pan (say, 0.5 seconds at "power boost" level), then watch the thermometer. Do it several times, with varying pulse lengths (say, 0.1 to 1 second - you don't want to burn anything on the pan, nor wait too long for it to cool down). This should give you a good idea of the pan's step and impulse response, and - I think - you could guesstimate what its contents are - particularly, if there are any liquids in it, and what they are. Then, continue with normal cooking, but keep a continuous record of power output vs. temperature measurement, and possibly occasionally pause and do a round of such pulse tests again. I see no obvious reason this wouldn't give a stove quite good control authority even in the presence of liquids, including those that are added or naturally seep out during cooking. I also don't expect any of the appliance companies to ever include this level of sophistication in their products.
      - zejn 4y ago
        Actually, I have a portable induction stove that I can set the temperature and it kind of works exactly the way you described it.
- orbital-decay 4y ago
  Serious cooking books always focus on reproducibility and actual processes happening at certain temperatures in your food.
  - TeMPOraL 4y ago
    Any recommendations? Can't think of any such book owned by anyone I know. I often jest that cooking is just process chemistry, but done without proper tools and without caring about quality of the outcome.
    - zingplex 4y ago
      Modernist Cuisine is one I highly recommend.

Gigachad 4y ago

You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.html https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht... I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> advice meant for a gas stove Can't imagine it would be any different result. 10 minutes preheat on any range is a lot. My cast iron pan started turning silvery blue well before the 10 minute mark with my gas range on high.
rodgerd 4y ago
Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature. It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's extremely convenient and useful.
- lathiat 4y ago
  Particularly useful for "fast heat-up" combined with "don't fry the pan"
- newaccount74 4y ago
  Do you have experience with such a hob? I'd like to get one, but have found little info except marketing from manufacturers. I would assume those would be mostly useful for frying/searing meat, vegetables, and eggs with little oil. As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom. Do they work well with different pans?
  - TeMPOraL 4y ago
    > As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom. That sounds like an interesting engineering challenge! Assuming we have a stove with a fast-acting heat source (e.g. induction) and high-frequency thermometer (> 1 Hz), what can we learn about the contents of the pot/pan? I'm thinking: dump a set amount of energy into the pan (say, 0.5 seconds at "power boost" level), then watch the thermometer. Do it several times, with varying pulse lengths (say, 0.1 to 1 second - you don't want to burn anything on the pan, nor wait too long for it to cool down). This should give you a good idea of the pan's step and impulse response, and - I think - you could guesstimate what its contents are - particularly, if there are any liquids in it, and what they are. Then, continue with normal cooking, but keep a continuous record of power output vs. temperature measurement, and possibly occasionally pause and do a round of such pulse tests again. I see no obvious reason this wouldn't give a stove quite good control authority even in the presence of liquids, including those that are added or naturally seep out during cooking. I also don't expect any of the appliance companies to ever include this level of sophistication in their products.
    - zejn 4y ago
      Actually, I have a portable induction stove that I can set the temperature and it kind of works exactly the way you described it.
orbital-decay 4y ago
Serious cooking books always focus on reproducibility and actual processes happening at certain temperatures in your food.
- TeMPOraL 4y ago
  Any recommendations? Can't think of any such book owned by anyone I know. I often jest that cooking is just process chemistry, but done without proper tools and without caring about quality of the outcome.
  - zingplex 4y ago
    Modernist Cuisine is one I highly recommend.