U.S. Costco is Offering A 157-piece Le Creuset Kitchen Ware Set

The price is US$4,499.99 for the set which comprises the following items:

1. Dutch ovens galore, in all shapes and sizes.
2. Heatproof baking and roasting dishes to make your kitchen feel like a five-star restaurant.
3. Frying and saucepans that’ll have you cooking up a storm.
4. Stockpots to make soup for an army.
5. A whistle-blowing kettle that knows when your tea is ready.
6. A French press to help you stay caffeinated.
7. Prep and mixing bowls for all your mise en place needs.
8. Ramekins for your mini soufflé experiments.
9. A kitchen tool army including spatulas, ladles, wooden spoons, and measuring cups.
10. Wine accessories for those fancy dinner parties.
11. A 32-piece dining set in Le Creuset’s signature red, because style matters.
12. Lids for all your pots, pans, and dishes, because no one wants a kitchen with a splash zone.

 

 

 

 

Gadget: Portuguese Grilled Pan for Bread

‘AI-Powered’ Grill That Cooks the ‘Perfect Steak’ in Two Minutes

Michael Wolf wrote . . . . . . . . .

AI is seemingly everywhere nowadays, so it was only a matter of time before it would show up at the backyard BBQ to help us cook the perfect steak.

That’s the vision of a UK startup named SEERGRILLS, which debuted the Perfecta this week, which the company describes as the world’s first AI-powered grill. The grill combines high-temperature infrared cooking with its AI system called NeuralFire, which automates the cooking process.

According to SEERGRILLS CEO Suraj Sudera, the AI works through a combination of sensor data, cook preferences inputted by the user, and intelligence built into the software around different food types.

“The device will capture the starting temperature of, say, chicken breast and adjust the cooking in line with the preferences you’ve inputted in the device,” said Sudera. “Whether it’s a three-inch or five-inch chicken breast, it doesn’t matter. It will be whatever adjustments it needs, just like your cruise control on your car will adjust to keep you at the preferred speed.”

When a cook is done, users can rate the quality of the cook, which informs and optimizes the NeuralFire algorithm for the next cook. Suraj says that SEERGRILLS is also constantly updating its food database, so if, say, a new type of steak from Japan becomes popular, the AI engine will be updated to optimize the cook for that meat type. The company says its AI will also optimize to reach each type of meat’s sear and doneness, as well as help to perfect the Maillard reaction.

The hardware itself is somewhat unique compared to other infrared grills on the market in that it cooks meat vertically. The user puts the meat in a holder, which will sense the temperature and thickness of the meat. Once inserted, both sides are cooked simultaneously using infrared heat, powered by propane, which SEERGRILLS says can reach 1652ºF. According to the company, the grill can cook three ribeyes in one minute and fifty seconds, six burgers in a minute and thirty seconds, and four chicken breasts in two minutes and thirty seconds.

In addition to the grill itself, the company is also building accessories such as a rotisserie module, a pizza module, and a grill station. The company will start taking preorders in July and plans to begin shipping the Perfecta by the end of this year. Pricing for the grill and its accessories has not yet been disclosed.

Source: The Spoon

 

 

 

 

Gadget: A New Machine Keeps Your Sour Dough Starter Fresh and Alive

Allen Weiner wrote . . . . . . . . .

One of the byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic was the rise (no pun intended) of sourdough baking. Quicker than you can say, “cabin fever,” a nation of wanna-be bakers turned their homes into warm and crusty boulangeries. Key to the process is what’s known as a sourdough starter, a mixture of flour and water that has been fermented by naturally occurring yeast and lactic acid bacteria.

While hearty in nature, starters need a bit of TLC to do their thing optimally. Enter Sourhouse co-founders Erik Fabian and Jennifer Yoko Olson, two bakers who brought their skills as marketers and industrial design, respectively, to create Goldie, an appliance built to keep sourdough starters at an ideal temperature. The proper temperature for a sourdough starter is between 75-85°F (24-30°C), and this range provides the warm environment needed for the yeast and bacteria in the starter to thrive. Too hot and the starter may over-ferment, while too cold can slow or halt the fermentation process.

Fabian and Olson’s entry into the world of sourdough baking is called Goldie, as in Goldilocks of The Three Bears fame. Goldie is built to provide just enough warmth to keep a sourdough starter consistently in the “Goldilocks Zone” (as in not too hot, not too cold).

In a recent interview with The Spoon, Fabian explained that the idea for Goldie preceded the pandemic and was born out of his sourdough starter issues. “You know, New York apartment, it was getting down below 60, and it was just too cold for my starter,” he said. “I didn’t really understand the way temperature interacted with my starter at that point. So, I found a warm spot, which became a DIY trick. As I continued to bake, I found that my starter was kind of like always searching for a warm spot.”

Once COVID came along, with the assistance of Olson, an experienced product designer, discovery met opportunity.” We didn’t want to make something like smart technology. We wanted to be like dumb technology for marketing because there’s enough complexity to baking with sourdough, so we wanted to create something simple. My basic idea early on was like a warming base with a transparent dome,” Fabian said.

The next step was Kickstarter, where Goldie was introduced in April 2022. Ending in October, Sourhouse’s offering drew 1,007 backers who pledged $103,948, almost triple the $39,000 original ask. Along with the Goldie apparatus, the Kickstarter kit came with a cooling puck that a baker can keep in the freezer if the starter overheats and needs quick cooling.

With fermentation a thing now, what are the thoughts about the extensibility of Goldie? Would it work for other types of fermented foods? While Fabian wouldn’t be specific about such next steps, it’s clear he and Olson are on to something, given proper fermentation for everything from sauerkraut to kombucha works best with controlled temperatures.

“Our focus on bread is really because, from my point of view is like I think it’s one of the most accessible points to entry into fermentation,” Fabian commented, “probably along with sauerkraut. And you know, I think it’s just easier to launch a brand and a business around a more targeted kind of idea.”

Spoken like a true marketer.

Source: The Spoon

 

 

 

 

Samsung Will Launch a Smart AI Oven in Q3 2023

Mitchell Clark wrote . . . . . . . . .

Samsung’s Bespoke AI Oven has a trick up its sleeve hinted at by its name: the company says you can put food in it, and it will automatically recognize what you’re asking it to cook, and recommend the appropriate temperature, time, and mode. Part of its smarts even include “burn detection,” according to a press release, with EU models having the ability to warn you that your food is getting overcooked.

The in-wall oven can recognize “80 different dishes and ingredients” via an internal camera, though you can also use a 7-inch touchscreen to manually adjust settings and check the status of your cook. The company notes that the European model is capable of recognizing 106 dishes — which, given that it calls out burn detection as specifically an EU feature in a footnote, it does sound like you’ll want to check what features the oven has in your region before picking it up.

Livestream your croissants’ path to crispiness straight from your oven

That internal camera isn’t just for the AI to use. Samsung says you can even livestream the view from inside your oven to social media (the company’s fact sheet says this is “great for content creators and avid chefs who want to share their dishes”), take pictures of your food as it cooks, or just use it to check your bake without having to open the oven’s door.

By the way, if you’re like me and are wondering how you even would even do that given the door’s lack of a handle, the answer is that it’s push-to-open. I’d definitely have reservations about the reliability of that kind of mechanism, but more importantly I’m not sure where Samsung expects you to hang an essential (but admittedly not aesthetically pleasing) kitchen towel.

The Bespoke AI oven has several modes, according to Samsung, including air fryer, steam cooking, dual temperature zones, and even something called “air sous vide.”

While this isn’t the first oven that promises to recognize and cook your food — the June Oven did a similar thing in a counter-top form factor, and other companies like Bosch are working on their own AI ovens — Samsung does have the power of an ecosystem and a brand consumers recognize. The company says you can connect it to Wi-Fi and use its SmartThings Cooking platform to set timers, preheat the oven, and view the camera stream from your phone. It also integrates with Samsung Health to “analyze users’ workout stats and diet goals to recommend meal options.”

The company says the oven will launch in the US and EU in Q3 2023, but there’s no word on pricing yet.

Source: The Verge