Heston Cue vs Breville Control Freak

northwestshowers

Hi there!

I've decided that it's worth a bit of a splurge to get an induction cooktop that has pretty high quality temperature monitoring and regulation. Initially, it seemed that the only option for this was the Breville Control Freak. That looks great, but it's also very expensive for just home use. I just came across the Heston Cue cooktop and system, which looks very intriguing. As far as I can tell, it should provide the same type of temperature monitoring and regulation as the Control Freak, albeit it requires that you use an app (with the app in the "Control Mode" scenario).

I was wondering if anyone had experience with the Heston Cue? Or if someone could help me understand what I'd be giving up with the Heston Cue in lieu of the Control Freak? (Besides the obvious of being limited to their pans).

Thanks!

Brandon_Byrd_40557

In addition to the app, the Hestan Cue also requires you to use their cookware (as you mentioned) and I take that to be a significant limitation. On its own, the burner only offers 10 power levels, which isn't a lot of control. I also think that there's a big limitation in only registering the temperature of the pan itself without having a probe that can also measure the temperatures of the contents. Measuring the temperature of the pan surface isn't nearly as useful as being able to measure the food inside it. The latter opens up the opportunity for things like pseudo sous vide cooking, super accurate poaching, and tempering chocolate. For me, this is the area where accurate induction cooking really seems to offer advantages worth paying for. I just don't see many applications for controlling just the pan itself. You don't need accurate temp control to sear a steak or cook scallops. And though it seems like it can be helpful for delicate items like eggs... I just don't see it being that useful.

The most important part of making this (or any other) kitchen equipment purchase is getting clear on why you need it. What particular applications do you want this for? What techniques do you want to use that you can't with your current equipment? For me, the Control Freak has a bunch of distinct advantages over the Cue Iincluding build quality) and the Cue has virtually no distinct advantages over my existing cooktop. But the cost of the Control Freak isn't worth what it offers me. I will say that the Hestan App does seem to have a Joule-like level of helpful guides and recipes that may be useful to a novice.
With all that said, I just saw that Hestan recently introduced a probe that should make it more useful. I don't know how well it works since it's only been on the market for a short time. But their promo videos show it being used for deep frying -- something that you don't really want or need accurate temp control for. What matters most for frying in a pot on induction is power. When you add food to oil, the temp is going to drop a lot, and the primary thing that matters is how quickly the element can recover that lost heat. Anyway... I go on too much. I hope you found my reflections helpful. I've considered buying a Control Freak since they first came out, but the benefits don't outweigh the significant costs. My hope is that they introduce an updated model at half the price -- or even less -- and that they introduce a higher wattage 240 version for commercial kitchens at the current price point. Even $750 for a 1800W burner is tough to swallow, no matter how nice it is. But I'm not holding my breath.