Review: Cook By Numbers With The Hestan Cue
WIRED—July 13, 2017
IN THE KITCHEN, people have an amazing tolerance for imprecision. Ovens might say 400 degrees, but many regularly veer 20 degrees above or below that mark, if it’s calibrated correctly in the first place. On the stovetop, we don’t even have the specificity of degrees. Turn the dial up to “high†or “medium-low†or just “seven,†even though every manufacturer has a different standard for what that place on the dial means.
In the past several years, a string of mostly smaller companies have made a push toward real numbers. Sous vide machines cook food in a water bath held at a steady, exact temperature. Precision countertop ovens with less temperature range are hitting the market. The Breville PolyScience ControlFreak is an induction burner that uses both a nub with a thermometer to measure the heat of the bottom of a pan and a probe that reaches into the pan to take the temperature inside. It can control the intensity of the power that goes into getting it up to speed, then turn on cruise control so the temperature stays right where you want it.
Cookware manufacturer Hestan has a new take on this with the home-chef friendly Cue, a 1600-watt induction burner that looks like a miniaturized Roomba. A custom 11-inch fry pan with temperature sensors in the base and a tiny circuit board in the handle sits on top. The fry pan and burner are sold together for pause-inducing $500.
Read my WIRED review here and find out if the Cue’s kind of connected cooking is worth it.
