When The Cookware Is Smarter Than The Cook
- Thread starter Andy M.
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Ah, a new way for me to burn food. I personally think it's silly.
Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
Same here, PF.
tenspeed
Executive Chef
Pan temperature is only one of a lot of variables in cooking. One of those infrared thermometers ($13.88 at Amazon) would help the clueless in that regard, but too many other things to consider.
Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
With cast iron, a simple, inexpensive heat diffuser will do more to make your meals so much better, and it will still allow yout to use those pans on an induction cooker if you want.
Gizmos that do our thinking for us make us lazy. That is, I know many people who grew up with calculators, who don't know how to do simple math anymore. For our brains to be the powerful tools they can be, we need to exercise them, learn knew things, master skills, be it mathematics, learning all of the little thing needed to build a boat, designing kites, whatever. Just like with strength of muscles, use 'em, or lose 'em.
Learn to recognize the nuances needed to prepare good food. You, and your brain will be happier,
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
Gizmos that do our thinking for us make us lazy. That is, I know many people who grew up with calculators, who don't know how to do simple math anymore. For our brains to be the powerful tools they can be, we need to exercise them, learn knew things, master skills, be it mathematics, learning all of the little thing needed to build a boat, designing kites, whatever. Just like with strength of muscles, use 'em, or lose 'em.
Learn to recognize the nuances needed to prepare good food. You, and your brain will be happier,
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
I personally think it is what the cook puts into the pot, not the pot thinking for us that is more important. 
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Chief, I have had a diffuser sitting on my stove for years. I learned years ago to make sure I turn the burner on just before I am ready to put the pan on the heat. Sort of like "Preheat your oven."
Mad Cook
Master Chef
At $199, so do I!
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Kayelle
Chef Extraordinaire
All of us have learned to cook by using common sense, although common sense isn't common for some. I can see this pan as perfect for one person in particular I can think of. 
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
When have you ever seen a recipe that directs you to heat a SKILLET up to a certain temperature?
Oh, yeah ... the ones that come with this silly appliance ...
That measures the surface temp of the food ... how helpful ...
Oh, yeah ... the ones that come with this silly appliance ...
That measures the surface temp of the food ... how helpful ...
LazyEngineer
Assistant Cook
Lot of negativity here, but I might have some insights on this particular product.
roadfix
Chef Extraordinaire
I think my coffee maker is the smartest thing I have in my kitchen.
Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
I could see it being useful for someone just learning to cook. However, I'm not sure they will ever really learn if there is a device doing the thinking for them.
My daughter, who I've recently been spending more time with in the kitchen, said the other day, "Your roasts are always perfectly salted all the way through. How do you know how much salt to add?"
It made me think about it. I add more or less salt depending on the thickness of the roast. I don't calculate it. After years of cooking, you just sort of know how much to add. But I wasn't sure how to explain that to someone who is just learning.
My daughter, who I've recently been spending more time with in the kitchen, said the other day, "Your roasts are always perfectly salted all the way through. How do you know how much salt to add?"
It made me think about it. I add more or less salt depending on the thickness of the roast. I don't calculate it. After years of cooking, you just sort of know how much to add. But I wasn't sure how to explain that to someone who is just learning.
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tenspeed
Executive Chef
I don't think that members of this forum are representative of your target market. It's not the price (note the All-Clad, Le Creuset and BGE fans here), but it doesn't offer any advantage to experienced cooks.Lot of negativity here, but I might have some insights on this particular product.
OP
OP
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
When I posted this article, It was because I wanted to share my fascination with some cool technology that directly impacts our favorite subject.
While I agree it's not for most us, I think it's super cool that such a tool can be offered. More sophisticated versions will follow that are even better.
While I agree it's not for most us, I think it's super cool that such a tool can be offered. More sophisticated versions will follow that are even better.
Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
When Sprout was a tween, she took an interest in making cookies. She wanted to know what made a cookie, a cookie. We used Toll House cookies as the standard. I then explained what the different elements used in the cookie did, the baking soda, the egg, the butter, sugar, and brown sugar, and why these ingredients formed into the ooey-gooey Toll House cookies we all know and love.
Then, I had her change ingredients, such as using baking powder instead of baking soda. We made a batch and added a little water to the recipe. We made some with no salt, etc. We explored how changing the heat up or dow, and the baking time affected the cookies. By the time we were done, she could make Toll House, or more cake-like chocolate chip cookies, Peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, basically whatever kind of cookie she desired, all without recipes, and in any amount she wanted.
She drove poor DW crazy as Sprout would come home from school, and make enough batter for one cookie. DW would smell them and imagined that Sprout was making a batch from the regular recipe, and looked forward to having a couple. When she'd ask, "Can I have One?", Sprout would answer that she'd only made one cookie. Then I'd have to make a batch so DW could enjoy them as well.
One you understand the processes taking place in cooked foods, be it a beef stew, or a doctored can of beans, then you can open your cooking horizons and become really good at cooking. If you stick to a pan that tells you every step, you gain little understanding of the cooking process.
That's my take on cooking.
Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
Then, I had her change ingredients, such as using baking powder instead of baking soda. We made a batch and added a little water to the recipe. We made some with no salt, etc. We explored how changing the heat up or dow, and the baking time affected the cookies. By the time we were done, she could make Toll House, or more cake-like chocolate chip cookies, Peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, basically whatever kind of cookie she desired, all without recipes, and in any amount she wanted.
She drove poor DW crazy as Sprout would come home from school, and make enough batter for one cookie. DW would smell them and imagined that Sprout was making a batch from the regular recipe, and looked forward to having a couple. When she'd ask, "Can I have One?", Sprout would answer that she'd only made one cookie. Then I'd have to make a batch so DW could enjoy them as well.
One you understand the processes taking place in cooked foods, be it a beef stew, or a doctored can of beans, then you can open your cooking horizons and become really good at cooking. If you stick to a pan that tells you every step, you gain little understanding of the cooking process.
That's my take on cooking.
Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
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GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
Lot of negativity here, but I might have some insights on this particular product.
Would you like to share?
LazyEngineer
Assistant Cook
Sure, I understand that most people on this forum are experienced chefs who probably would not use it, at least in the current form. The fact that someone is not the target market or consumer of something doesn't have to mean it can't be meaningfully discussed. However, I didn't join this forum with the goal to advertise; I'm actually interested in discussing and learning cooking techniques and food. If I get out of line and "spammy", please mods let me know, and I won't bring it up again.
But as someone who likes to cook, experiment with cooking, and by some definitions am an "experienced cook", I also use and like (and build) pantelligent. I think of it as a piece of technology that helps the repeatability of cooking and provides some cool insight to what is going on when food is on a pan. Experience brings an intuition of how hot a pan should be for cooking different foods and getting different results. You probably all use senses (seeing oil start to smoke, hearing a sizzle, checking for water bouncing aka the leidenfrost effect, feeling how hot the air is 6 inches above a pan, etc.) to estimate how increase or decrease the heat in cooking and know how that will affect the result. At the core, all pantelligent does is replace those imprecise senses with a number. You can communicate a number to others so they do something the same way you do. You can't explain to others your intuition. And this isn't new to cooking. People set their ovens to 350° instead of medium. People use thermometers for cooking all the time. And I don't think anyone would argue that those bring no benefit to experienced cooks.
Sure, the formulaic step-by-step recipes don't leave much room for creativity. And some of the marketing speak about "perfect-results-every-time, no-thought-necessary, we'll-even-chew-and-digest-it-for-you" can be over the top. Actually I often don't follow the directions because they can be a little constraining. But the concept of controlling the variables of time and temperature to produce better food is pretty powerful, and that's why I'm a user. (Also it's saved my dinner a few times when I got distracted doing dishes or watching TV)
I'm sure I could go on all day about different aspects of this, but I'll stop now (hopefully) before I ramble.
LizStreithorst
Senior Cook
This one sentence tells me all I need to know, "Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase."
While I appreciate the beauty and quality of tech, I still am not going to purchase much of it. A flying car would be cool...but I wouldn't want one. So a frying pan that can talk to my Smartphone is quaint...but not something I would buy. Heck I don't even own a cell phone...I like being disconnected from the world.
The more connected (Internet) we are to our things, the danger of not being able to exist without them frightens me.
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