Tag Archives: Food & Cooking

Fellow Aiden review: A highly customizable pour-over coffee machine

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When it comes to hot coffee, my preference is for pour-over. Sure, it’s a manual brewing method that takes time and attention, but I want all of the nuanced flavors and aromas that slow pouring extracts from the locally roasted coffee I resupply weekly. I can make as much or as little as I want (within the capacity of my Chemex, of course) and control all of the parameters of the process, varying them based on the characteristics of my beans. Plenty of companies have tried to offer a similar experience in a countertop drip machine, but many of them only get about halfway there.

Enter the Fellow Aiden ($369). For the first time, an automatic brewer promising pour-over quality actually delivered. The machine can accurately and precisely maintain water temperature, even offering a bloom cycle to appropriately begin the extraction process. The Aiden has both guided brewing and minutely customizable options for achieving your ideal cup whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been a coffee snob for decades. It’s this abundance of control that sets Fellow’s machine apart, and why it actually gives you coffee that may have you ditching your pour-over dripper for good.

Fellow is well known for its design prowess when it comes to coffee gear like grinders, kettles and drinkware. The company usually takes a more mechanical looking approach, with an aesthetic that resembles lab equipment instead of coffee devices. For the Aiden though, the company went for a more minimal design, giving it a plainer cube structure that’s a lot more modern than many automatic drip machines on the market. It won’t appeal to everyone, but I do think it’s unique.

A removable water tank sits on the left, complete with volume markings for your desired quantity of coffee. You don’t have to take the tank off to fill it, but if you’re working from a faucet the fact that you can makes things easier. Inside the brewing chamber, there’s a spray head adjustment which allows you to reconfigure the Aiden for single-cup use. The machine also comes with a second brew basket for this purpose that can deposit coffee straight into your favorite cup.

The adjustable spray head allows for one-cup use
Billy Steele for Engadget

Down below, a double wall carafe provides enough heat retention to keep your coffee warm for a few hours. The lid doesn’t close off the container entirely, but if you consume all of your morning joe in under three hours, you’ll be fine. I would’ve liked to see a second lid that would seal things to keep them at just-brewed temps, but Fellow did design the carafe so that it pours easily without a mess. I can’t say the same for the 2020 model Moccamaster the Aiden replaced in my kitchen.

Instead of the typical on/off switch, the Aiden has a one-button, knob-based interface where you make all of your selections. A small, circular display sits at the top left of the front panel, and turning the knob navigates the plethora of menu options. Once you find what you’re looking for, simply press the dial to make a selection. (Reviewer’s note: The display on my review unit was damaged before it arrived, but since the machine still performed as intended, I didn’t feel the need to return it just for that reason.)

There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of automatic or semi-automatic drip coffee makers that promise the quality you’d get in a manually brewed pour-over. Sadly, almost none of them actually deliver. I’ve used a Moccamaster for four years, and while there’s a lot to like about the machine, the straight-line arrangement of the shower head doesn’t give you the even water distribution you’d want for quality pour-over simulation. Other machines don’t get hot enough, and many don’t allow you to adjust the bloom cycle, water ratios or brew temperature.

On the Aiden, Fellow addressed all of my gripes with machines I’ve used in the past. First, the dual shower heads’ spouts are spaced out so that coffee grounds are evenly saturated throughout the bloom and brewing cycles. The two easily switchable modes mean you can make a full 10-cup carafe or as little as one cup with the same quality. You will have to keep two types of filters on hand for the two baskets, but those are much easier to store than a second, single-cup pod machine. This alone would be a big innovation for drip brewers, but the company didn’t stop there.

Three roast-specific profiles and an option for cold brew are available right out of the box
Billy Steele for Engadget

Fellow also accounted for customization, another area where coffee nerds want room to experiment. The Aiden allows you to adjust brew temperature, coffee-to-water ratio and pulse behavior as much as you’d like. You can dial in the number of pulses of water, the time between them and even set each one to be a different temperature. For the bloom cycle, Fellow unlocks duration, temperature and the bloom ratio (amount of water in the initial pour).

Instead of having to live with the one setting a company programmed into its machine, you’re in complete control of all of the parameters here. The degree with which you can dial in the brew cycle to your every whim is the biggest reason why the Aiden will be so attractive to serious coffee lovers. What’s more, another important piece of the machine’s customization abilities are brew profiles, so you don’t have to start from scratch.

If you’re not familiar with the term, the best way to think about brew profiles is like recipes. The Aiden offers three out of the box — light roast, medium roast and dark roast — so you don’t need to immediately start tweaking and saving things. But if your favorite coffee roaster is like mine (Hi, Vignette Coffee Roasters), it will offer brewing guidance for things like water ratios. Of course, those companies may not always nail your preferred flavor or strength, but they provide a good starting point since they’re aware of the nuances. And with the Aiden, you’re able to actually employ that advice for each single origin or custom blend you use.

Eventually, Fellow will allow roasters and coffee shops to create and share profiles so you can brew like they do in a cafe. If you subscribe to Fellow Drops, a coffee lineup curated by the company, your Aiden will be able to automatically download the profiles for the beans that are headed your way.

Don’t fret if you aren’t at that level of coffee snobbery just yet. The Aiden provides guided brewing based on those three roast profiles and your desired number of cups for quick and easy use. These aren’t just helpful for beginners, but also for the times when more advanced users want a pot of joe without much thought. I found them helpful on the weekends when I wasn’t sure when I’d be getting out of bed and didn’t want to wake up to a cold pot of coffee. During the week though, the scheduling tool is a big advantage that much of the competition lacks.

I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss the Aiden’s heating system, since this tech is what enables to-the-degree temperature control throughout the brew cycle. Any moderate or advanced coffee lover knows that water temperature is a key aspect of brewing great coffee. Lots of automatic drip machines simply don’t get hot enough to extract all of the flavor from the grounds, leaving you with a more muted flavor profile. Inside the Aiden though, Fellow designed a heating setup with single-degree precision that even lets you adjust temperatures while the machine is brewing without stalling the process. The way this machine heats water offers consistency and control that many coffee makers can’t match.

There’s also an Aiden app, but it doesn’t do much right now. You can connect the machine to the software for firmware updates, to set the time and to name the brewer. Eventually, Fellow plans to enable the shareable profiles I mentioned earlier, in addition to scheduling and remote control from your phone. However, those items have been listed as “coming soon” since the Aiden’s launch in September. I’ve asked Fellow for the current status and I’ll update this review if I hear back.

The Aiden looks great alongside Fellow's grinders
Billy Steele for Enagadget

Before I tested the Aiden, I used a Moccamaster KBT that I purchased in 2020. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to upgrade my coffee setup at home, where I’d been brewing manual pour-overs via Chemex for years. I wanted something I could turn on and have it make coffee comparable to what I’d been doing, and that’s what I got.

Moccamaster coffee machines have a reputation for being well-built and reliable, and I found that to be true. My KBT worked well daily, providing coffee that was more akin to pour-over quality than a much cheaper auto-drip brewer. The KBT still comes with an insulated carafe, although the 2020 model didn’t have a pour spout like the updated version does. This made pouring difficult and often messy. And while the machine brews at temperatures between 196 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit, the straight-line design of the shower head doesn’t provide the best saturation during the brewing cycle.

With all of that said, I still think Moccamaster machines are the best alternative to the Aiden. They’re slightly cheaper, starting at $329, and will serve you well for years. Plus, there are options for glass carafes with heating elements if you prefer that to an insulated one. For many of the models though, you’ll have to live without an automatic drip stop when you remove the carafe during brewing. There’s a manual slider on the brew basket for most of the options, but an auto option is only available on machines like the KBGV Select. The 40-ounce Moccamaster models also brew about nine ounces less than the Aiden at max capacity (1.25 L/44 oz vs. 1.5 L/52.9 oz), so that’s something else to consider. It’s almost another full cup of coffee per pot.

It’s clear Fellow recognized all of the shortcomings of so-called pour-over simulators on the market when designing the Aiden. The company finally delivers on the promise of the smoothness and flavor of manually brewed coffee in an automatic drip machine. The Aiden gets hot enough, offers adequate saturation and segments the brew cycle just like you would for a pour-over or Chemex. Plus, there’s a host of customization options, which allow you to dial in your process based on the beans you’re using. And that means I can actually get rid of a lot of the clutter I needed for a single-cup pick-me-up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/fellow-aiden-review-a-highly-customizable-pour-over-coffee-machine-172028575.html?src=rss

A $105,000 robot arm nobody needs cooked me a delicious lunch

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London’s W1 is somewhere to go if you’ve got too much money to spend on something. Within minutes of each other, you can visit the city’s priciest private doctor, buy a Steinway and a pair of designer glasses that cost more than my mortgage. Wigmore Street is also where the ultra rich go to buy a kitchen that Thorstein Veblen would weep at the sight of. It’s also the new home of Moley Robotics, a company selling luxury kitchens and the robot arm that’ll kinda/sorta do all of the cooking for you, too.

Moley is the brainchild of Dr. Mark Oleynik and is one part kitchen showroom and one part robot lab. It’s a spartan space with three demo kitchens, a wide dining table and some display units showing you the different types of artisan marble you can have for your countertop. The point of interest is the working X-AiR robot just behind the front window that acts as a lure for would-be consumers. It’s got its own cooktop, shelves, oils and utensils and, with the proper help, can even whip up a meal.

Image of the Moley Robotics X-AiR kitchen robot while cooking.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

Oleynik explained he wanted to create something to help people eat better food with less reliance on preservatives. His dislike of reheated and processed food sent him looking for alternatives, which led him to finding a way to automate fresh cooking. If you’re coming back late from work, the obvious temptations are microwave meals or delivery food. He believes people would much rather healthy recipes where you just prep the raw ingredients and let the robot do the rest. The focus on health extends to the database of potential meals, many of which have been created by the SHA Wellness Clinic.

Moley has its own in-house chef, James Taylor, who adapts each recipe so it can be made by a one-armed robot. The company says it hopes to add two or three new recipes each month, and that if you have a family dish you’d love to see automated, you can send it in. Oleynik said the movements are mapped onto the robot after watching a human chef prepare the same meal. And that, once it had learned what to do, the robot would be far less error-prone than its human counterpart.

The initial demonstration of Moley’s vision (above) used a two-armed chef that ran on overhead tracks that earned the company so many plaudits initially. Unfortunately, Oleynik admitted the cost for such a robot would have likely reached north of £250,000 (Around $330,000). Which is probably too rich even for the sort of people who frequent Wigmore Street for their kitchen appliances. To reduce the price, the company stripped down the project from a mobile, two-armed version to a single arm. The robot that Moley is actually selling is bought off-the-shelf from Universal Robots, an industrial robotics company.

Image of the Moley Robotics X-AiR kitchen robot while cooking.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

The one-armed version that’s currently up for pre-order is known as the X-AiR, which is what sits in the front of Moley’s showroom. If you want one for yourself, you’ll need to buy a new countertop, two custom shelving units, a cooktop, control tablet and the robot itself. The prices are in the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” range but the price to get in the door is £80,000 (around $105,000). So far, Moley hasn’t installed a single robot, but expects the process to begin in the next three to six months. But there are people who have already laid down cash to get one of these in their homes, and the kitchen that goes around it.

X-AiR has no built-in vision or sensing technology enabling it to perceive or engage with its environment. The system does come with a camera, embedded in one of the shelves, that I understand is more for technical support than to aid cooking. Instead, the robot arm moves around its space from memory, knowing where all of the ingredients, oils and tools should be. The saucepans are held in place over the jobs on the cooktop to keep the environment as controlled as possible.

I was present to witness Moley’s now standard demonstration using an SHA Clinic recipe for Asian Tofu Saute. Staff members had pre-prepared the ingredients and placed them in the pots necessary for the robot to grab. In order to start the process, the user needs to tell the system which ingredients are in which sections. There’s even a little diagram of the shelf layout, so you can tap “Bean Sprouts” and tap that the pot with them is seated in position A1, for instance. Once you’ve done that, you can set the machine going and theoretically leave it be until it’s time to eat.

The system is set up to call out every instruction from the recipe so it’s easy to follow along with it. In the video, you should be able to see why it’s an interesting thing to watch as the arm starts its ballet to start cooking your food. It almost theatrically turns on the cooktop before pouring a liberal quantity of oil into the pan to begin warming. After that, it begins adding the ingredients as and when commanded to, and stirring the mixture in between. The stirring is more of a back and forth pushing of the mix, which is obviously less thorough than a human would be. After each stir, the robot scrapes its spatula on the side of the pan before returning it to its hook.

There are similar touches when the robot adds the next ingredient from its dedicated bin, double tapping the pot on the side to ensure everything falls out. I noticed, however, that there were a few ingredients still attached to the spatula and the pots when they were returned to the shelf. This is the big issue with a robot that lacks any sort of vision to perceive its local environment. During my demonstration, a few strips of leek clung to the spatula and fell off, onto the cooktop itself, while in motion. It was quickly wiped away, but I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if it’d landed a millimeter closer to the burner and pan and started burning.

Image of the Moley Robotics X-AiR kitchen robot while cooking.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

I’m much happier tending to a pan and actually cooking than I am peeling carrots and trying to dice onions. The obvious question, then, is why Moley sought to automate the ostensibly fun part of cooking rather than the bit people dislike? Oleynik said it might be possible in a far-flung future but there are just too many variables to make a carrot-peeling robot work. Not to mention, he added, the safety risks inherent in giving a robot a bladed instrument to wield.

Moley’s first-generation robots are also limited by the volume of food they can cook in a single session. Depending on the meal, they can make between eight and ten portions, enough for a dinner party but nothing more extravagant. Not to mention the robots can’t make much of any adjustment if you don’t have exactly the right ingredients ready for use. You can remove any you don’t have, naturally, but there’s no ability to improvise beyond that, or to variate its program to take into account seasonal differences in ingredient quality.

Image of the meal produced by the Moley X-AiR kitchen robot
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

When I was told the robot was making me tofu, I had to work hard to keep myself standing upright. If they could have seen my soul, they’d have watched my shoulders droop so hard they fell through the floor, through the basement, and into the subway line below. Friends, I cannot stand tofu and grimace my way through it whenever my vegan chums insist we go to a meat-free restaurant. Even when they insist I’m eating “really good” tofu, it just tastes like stringy matter, devoid of any inherent flavor as I try to mash it in my mouth. So bear that in mind when I say that the tofu the robot cooked me was actually delicious. It had a nice texture and tasted pretty delicious, meshing beautifully with the vegetables.

Oleynik believes his robots will find a variety of niches to fill, first with money-rich, time-poor folks in London and beyond. The internet tells me that a private chef would set you back around £300 a day, so you’d burn through that £80,000 in less than a year. Naturally, it’s likely anyone who can drop £80,000 on a cooking robot can probably afford to buy their ingredients pre-prepared, so they could just dump them in the bins and set things going.

After that, Oleynik believes the technology could be used to prepare fresh meals for business and first-class airline passengers. Or in small kitchens where one employee supervises a production line of robots all making fresh dishes. His vision stretches to any situation where there may be a desire for fresh-cooked food, but the economics of a trained chef won’t allow it.

He cited the example of a hotel with 24/7 room service, where people are paid to wait around on the off-chance someone wants food. Or service stations in remote areas where there’s potential demand for meals but no need to hire a professional chef. Similarly, Oleynik cited care homes where there’s a similar conflict between a desire to produce good food but limited budgets.

Of course, it’s not clear, given there would need to be a human preparing the raw ingredients and dishing up, how much labor is being saved. And anyone who is involved with food would likely need to be trained and paid accordingly, which may eliminate any potential savings. But Oleynik is certain that a business can expect to see a return on its investment within its first year of service.

As for the price, Oleynik believes the technology will refine to the point that the cost will fall quite far. He gestured to one of the demo kitchens in the showroom, which had a Miele-branded oven and fridge, saying each model cost £5,000 (around $6,500) each. He hopes he’ll be able to sell a cooking robot for £10,000 to the sort of people who don’t blink when spending £5,000 on an oven and another £5,000 on a fridge. But, if nothing else, it’s entirely in keeping with everything else you can buy on Wigmore Street.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/a-105000-robot-arm-nobody-needs-cooked-me-a-delicious-lunch-140050065.html?src=rss

Google tests feature to show full recipes in search results

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It's an experience many of us know all too well: open up a food blogger's recipe only to scroll past a mountain of content you don't care about to actually reach the ingredients and method. Google is trialing a feature that could eliminate this step, even though it's the result of the company's own policies.

The Verge noticed a new button on the thumbnails for select recipes called Quick View. This button brings up the complete recipe without leaving the search results page. In their testing, a search for "chocolate chip cookie recipe" revealed this Quick View button for the site Preppy Kitchen. 

"We’re always experimenting with different ways to connect our users with high-quality and helpful information," Google rep Brianna Duff told Engadget about these Quick View recipes. "We have partnered with a limited number of creators to begin to explore new recipe experiences on Search that are both helpful for users and drive value to the web ecosystem. We don’t have anything to announce right now." While Google does have agreements inked with the participating bloggers, the company declined to reveal any further details about the scope of this testing.

It's quite a catch-22 Google has created when it comes to recipes online. Home cooks may find this Quick View feature appealing since so many food blogs front-load their posts with photos and personal stories before actually sharing the recipe. But it was Google's own rules that pushed bloggers toward that approach in the first place, with longer posts generally indexing higher up in search results and thus getting more traffic. (And no offense to the food bloggers of the world, but the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you need is the one on the back of the chocolate chip bag.)

While this recipe feature is just an early trial, Google has been rolling out other tools aimed at keeping users on its own webpages and platforms. The AI Overviews in search are one of the latest (and occasionally surreal) ways the company is changing the rules of engagement for web content.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-tests-feature-to-show-full-recipes-in-search-results-212257585.html?src=rss

Breville’s Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is $100 off for Prime Day

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If you’re looking for a versatile oven and have a little counter space to spare, this Prime Day deal may be for you. Amazon has the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro on sale for $100 off. The stainless steel appliance that can do everything from toasting and roasting to slow cooking and dehydrating usually costs $400, but today, you can get it for a mere $300.

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is Engadget’s pick for the best budget air fryer toaster oven. The appliance has a versatile skillset, including (deep breath) toast, broil, bake, roast, warm, pizza, proof, air fry, reheat, cookies, slow cook, keep warm and dehydrate. It has an internal capacity of one cubic foot — enough to fit a 14-pound turkey, five-quart Dutch oven, 9 x 13-inch pan or 12 muffin trays.

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro makes for a terrific second oven. But you could even use it as your primary one if you aren’t in the habit of cooking things like a giant rib roast or full-sized New York-style pizza. However, it does take up a decent amount of counter space (at least as far as toaster ovens go), so make sure you can accommodate the 21.5-inch wide x 17.5-inch deep x 12.7-inch high appliance.

The oven has an LCD to indicate which mode you’re using, and you control it with a snazzy-looking series of knobs and buttons. It supports temps from 80 to 480 degrees Fahrenheit and includes a feature that automatically begins counting down the cooking timer when it finishes pre-heating. One thing to note is the appliance isn’t app-friendly despite its “smart” branding. For that, you would need the Joule upgrade model, which (unfortunately) isn’t on sale.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/brevilles-smart-oven-air-fryer-pro-is-100-off-for-prime-day-163111071.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day kitchen deals are up to 54 percent off during October Big Deal Days

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In the waning hours of Amazon's October Prime Day sale, we're still seeing plenty of discounts on products in just about every category — that includes kitchen tech and cooking gadgets. While prices may go lower on Black Friday, that won’t help you with Thanksgiving dinner prep. Or maybe you just need something now, and aren't worried about minor price fluctuations. 

If so, here's a list of the best October Prime Day kitchen deals we could find on gadgets and accessories from brands like Instant Pot, Vitamix, Ninja and Breville and more. These are all pulled from the multiple buyer’s guides, reviews and personal purchases conducted by the many food-obsessed editors on staff at Engadget. 

The COSORI Air Fryer 9-in-1 sits on a countertop with food surrounding it.
Corsori

Of all the kitchen gadgets in my home, my favorite is my Instant Pot air fryer. Food I would otherwise microwave comes out crisp and far tastier in not much more time. In second place for cooking MVP has to be the classic Instant Pot, which I rely on to keep me in beans and curry. I picked up both after reading our buyer's guides (to air fryers and kitchen tech, respectively) — but I foolishly paid full price. Reader, don’t make my mistake.

As Engadget’s Avery Ellis found out recently, sous vide machines can do far more than just cook a steak. To use her words, they are “Millennial crockpots,” whipping up low-effort meals as needed — and fancier fare when called for.

The Juice Fountain Plus juicer sits on a blue and white countertop surrounded by celery, carrots, apples, lemons and cucumbers.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

For soups, sauces, soothies and more, there’s not really a substitute for a good blender. Prime Day is a fine opportunity to upgrade an aging model — or snag one for a home cook you know that could use the extra muscle. A juicer can make it easier (or at least tastier) to get your vitamins. And the one we recommend isn’t a pain to clean.

Ninja Creami review
Photo by Sam Rutherford / Engadget

Here you’ll find all the harder-to-categorize gadgets that make home cooking simpler and more enjoyable. These are the smaller and more specialized devices we’ve tested that have proven their mettle in our own kitchens, or in the case of the pizza oven, the backyard.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice for October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-amazon-prime-day-kitchen-deals-are-up-to-54-percent-off-during-october-big-deal-days-085751938.html?src=rss

Save $40 on the Ninja Creami ice cream maker with this Prime Day deal

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An early Amazon Prime Day deal lets you save $40 on the Ninja Creami Deluxe ice cream maker. The 11-in-1 kitchen accessory, one of our favorite kitchen gadgets, is on sale for only $210 (usually $250).

The Creami is based on a patent for an innovation previously only found in the restaurant biz. Once it expired, Ninja leaped at the chance to incorporate its design into a relatively affordable consumer product. The result is fast, easy and surprisingly yummy ice cream made from home.

Instead of the churning method used in most ice cream makers, the Ninja Creami uses a drill-like utensil to blend a frozen liquid base into a tasty dessert. Although it’s pretty loud while doing its thing, it’s still quieter than most countertop blenders — and only stays noisy for a few minutes.

When reviewing the standard Creami model (this Deluxe one includes extra containers and settings), Engadget’s Sam Rutherford concluded that tasting its resulting ice cream was “the best part.” It produces desserts with intense flavors and smooth textures. This higher-end model also makes smoothies and Frappuccino-style coffee drinks.

“Because the base is spun instead of churned, there’s less air inside your finished product,” our reviewer wrote. “This is good because it increases flavor intensity and delivers a slightly denser, more luxurious mouthfeel. It’s almost closer to a frozen custard than ice cream.”

You can get the Ninja Creami Deluxe right now on Amazon for $210.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/save-40-on-the-ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-with-this-prime-day-deal-195620493.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals include the Ninja Creami ice cream maker for $150

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It’s not quite Amazon Prime Day yet, but the early deals continue to show up. For example, the Ninja Creami ice cream maker is down to $150. This is a discount of $50 and close to the record-low price of $130. It’s the perfect gadget for those who scream for ice cream, but also scream about paying over $6 per pint.

We absolutely loved the Ninja Creami in our official review, calling it a “fast and easy” way to make “surprisingly tasty” ice cream and other frozen desserts. This is actually a consumer-friendly design of a mainstay appliance at restaurants, so the results are going to be a bit better than an average ice cream maker.

To that end, we admired just how easy it is to use and that most of the components are machine washable. It’s also surprisingly versatile. It handles ice cream, of course, but also sorbets, gelatos, frozen yogurt and more. We recommend just throwing stuff in there to see what happens, having had a fantastic experience with a combination of cow milk and coconut milk. It’s really tough to make something disgusting with this machine, unless you throw in pickle juice or something. Heck, even that could work.

So what’s the downside? The regular $200 price tag inches it away from “impulse buy” territory, though this sale helps with that. It’s also fairly loud during use, but so is that local ice cream truck careening down the block, am I right?

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-include-the-ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-for-150-130835252.html?src=rss

Weber Slate griddle review: A smash burger machine with clever features

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Flat-top griddles are insanely popular. Even if an aspiring grill master prefers charcoal or pellets for their main machine, chances are they’re packing a griddle for smash burgers, breakfast and other items that need an even surface. Or, at the very least, they have an insert that transforms a grill into a flat top. Griddles are versatile and they keep a lot of the mess of cooking things like cheesesteaks, fajitas and fried rice out of your kitchen. However, they all basically offer the same premise: a large metal slab on some sort of cart that runs on propane. Since there’s not a ton of variation in the general design, the devil is in the details for companies like Blackstone, Traeger and Weber.

The Weber Slate ($649 and up) is the company’s second attempt at grabbing a foothold in the popular griddle market. With a more refined design and tons of clever features that make the flat-top cooker more fun to use, Weber is trying to set itself apart from the competition in a few key areas. But, even the most affordable Slate is pricier than some of the other options on the market, so those finer points will likely determine if this griddle is right for you.

On the Weber Slate, the company developed a more sophisticated look than its first griddles that debuted last spring. Those had more of a cart design akin to Weber’s most affordable gas grills, while the Slate has almost a hybrid cart/cabinet stand where the storage varies based on the model. Some configurations have semi-closed space while others have weather-resistant storage bins or a fully enclosed area underneath the cooking surface. Every version has a mid shelf directly under the cooktop, where you can place tools and other supplies for quick access.

Weber flanks the cooking area with sizable side tables, with some versions offering a fold-down extension for even more work space. The top of the side table on the right is removable, which allows the remaining frame to accommodate a line of accessories known as Weber Works. You can move those storage bins up to this area and the company has a convenient caddy/serving tray combo that also fits this space nicely. With either of these, you can put seasonings, oils, sauces and more within reach at all times. You can also replace the table top with a cutting board if you want to do your prep or slicing outside. Weber Works also includes items that clip onto the edges of the Slate’s side shelves, including a cup holder, condiment bin and an “organizer kit” that comes with a paper towel rack, tool hooks and a trash bag holder.

The digital temperature display is easy to read and comes in handy during every cook.
Billy Steele for Engadget

The Slate has an attached, hinged lid like most premium griddles. This component pays homage to previous Weber grills as it has the company’s signature black and silver scheme like you’ll see on Genesis and other grills. The one area of this griddle that feels slightly cheap are the wheels. The four casters do the job, but they’ve obviously plastic with little polish. Even something slightly more robust like the sturdier rollers that come on the Genesis series would’ve been nice.

I’m also constantly frustrated by the grippy texture inside the Slate’s cover. It has two handles on the top so you should be able to lift it straight off the griddle easily, but the cover’s interior coating catches on the side tables, making what should be an easy task more of a chore.

A key feature of the Slate is its digital display, which sits between two of the burner control knobs. It runs on two AA batteries and shows the temperature of the cooking surface based on data from a probe underneath the cooktop. I like that the screen is easy to read, thanks to its high contrast and large numerals, and it handily shows how much juice is remaining on the batteries, too.

The Slate is a smash burger machine.
Billy Steele for Engadget

I’ll admit I didn’t see the utility in a griddle until I actually used one. I’ve been smashing burgers and sizzling other things on a full-size insert for a Weber Genesis for a while now. But the Slate is actually better since it's purpose-built with a grease chute that’s in a better position along the front so it takes up minimal cooking space. You have free rein to use the back and the sides of the cooktop to help you flip and move foods.

I’ve cooked smash burgers, hibachi chicken, fajitas and a full breakfast with hash browns on the Slate. My wife, the pancake pro in our house, also used it and loved having the extra space to cook enough for the four of us in less than half the time it takes indoors. The Slate distributes heat edge to edge, so things like pancakes cook evenly. The 30-inch version I tested has ample space for my needs, and Weber says the 30-inch x 18-inch cooking area on this unit can hold up to 22 burger patties.

Once you fire up the propane burners, the 30-inch Weber Slate takes about eight and a half minutes to reach a maximum temperature of around 565 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes just over five minutes to hit 450 degrees, which is what you’d want for smash burgers and what I prefer for fajitas. For more delicate things like pancakes, you’ll want to turn it down to the burners’ lowest setting, which is around 350-355 degrees.

The Weber Works accessories make cooking with the Slate much easier. I primarily used the caddy with a lid/serving tray, which allowed me to take various seasonings, sauces, tools and more to the griddle in one trip. It’s also nice that the caddy can replace the side table for quick access, with the lid/tray beside it to rest tools or foods when they’re done. Those larger side tables also ensure you have enough space for supplies and food, with the mid shelf underneath and the side table extension providing more places to rest things if needed. Not once did I panic wishing I had another spot to put something while using the Slate. It’s great that the Weber Works storage bins can remain outdoors without much worry about weather. I wouldn’t store ingredients there, but it’s a good place to keep cleaning supplies and towels, for example.

Plenty of room to cook on the 30-inch Weber Slate.
Billy Steele for Engadget

The primary concern when you own a flat-top griddle is rust. The best way to prevent it is to clean the cooking surface soon after use, but that’s not always possible because maybe you’re hosting guests or any number of other reasons. So, rust is a constant battle when the steel or cast iron component is exposed to moisture, oil and food residue for an extended period. Not all griddles have lids or covers, and even if they do closing one up when the cooking surface is still warm can lead to condensation drips even if you’re on point with the cleaning.

Weber is addressing this with a “rust-resistant” cooktop. As the company describes it, “the carbon-steel gets transformed under extreme heat and pressure that case hardens and bonds the surface, reducing the ability for moisture to collect and rust to form.”

Rust-resistant doesn’t mean rust-proof, though. To test Weber’s claim, I left the Slate cooktop dirty for 36 hours after making hibachi chicken , only lightly pushing larger chunks to the grease tray and leaving sauce and oil. When I did go to clean it, there were small spots of rust, but nothing like I’ve seen on the company’s older griddle inserts for its gas grills (Weber now sells inserts that are rust-resistant too). This was also a messier meal, so it didn’t just leave behind a typical amount of muck.

The good news is that, while annoying, the rust comes off easily with vinegar and coarse sea salt. After leaving white vinegar on the surface for a few minutes and adding salt to help lift the stuck-on grime, I had no trouble restoring the Slate’s cooking surface to a unblemished state. It took some elbow grease, but wasn’t too tough of a task. So while the Slate does buy you some time on the cleanup, you probably don’t want to leave residue any longer than overnight if you’re looking to avoid any extra work.

The Slate's fold-down side table extension adds more work space.
Billy Steele for Engadget

Weber offers three versions of the Slate griddle, all with slightly different features. While they share the same overall design, including rust-resistance and the attached lid, the most affordable model is the 30-inch Slate that doesn’t come with the two weather-resistant, outdoor storage bins (sold separately for $40 each). It also lacks the digital temperature gauge or the folding side table extension, but does have a partially closed storage cabinet. You’ll save some money as this unit is $649. As you’ll see, though, that price is actually low.

For $150 more, you get the same 30-inch Slate I tested with a handy temperature display, extendable side table and a pair of weather-resistant storage bins. Those bins are fully exposed, but there’s a track system that allows you to slide them out like a drawer. Plus, the outdoor-friendly design keeps dust and debris from ruining your supplies. There’s also a natural gas version of this model that’s $829. What’s more, there are two retailer-exclusive 30-inch options. At Home Depot, you’ll get the digital temperature display and an enclosed storage cabinet for $699. Ace Hardware offers the 30-inch Slate with digital temperature display, fully enclosed storage cabinet, extendable side table and the Weber Works caddy for $749.

The priciest option is a 36-inch version with four burners instead of three. It still has the digital temperature gauge and fold-down side table extension, along with the modular side table for all of those Weber Works accessories, but the storage area underneath is a fully enclosed cabinet. If you want that extra cooking space, the grand total here comes to $999.

Blackstone is the most popular name in griddles and the company has loads of options in several different configurations. Heck, you can even get one that has an air fryer underneath. The model that’s closest to the base Weber Slate is the 28-inch XL with a “hood.” It sits on more of a bare-bones cart, though, so there’s no enclosed storage under the cooktop and the side tables are smaller. It typically costs $549, but it’s currently on sale for $399.

In competition with Weber’s most expensive option, Blackstone has the 36-inch Iron Forged griddle. It too has a “hood” (attached lid or cover) and four burners with a more refined cart design with a storage shelf. There’s also an extendable side shelf, paper towel holder, garbage bag holder and side shelf rail system that accommodates even more accessories. This one is usually $649, but it’s currently on sale for $499.

Then there’s Traeger. Yes, the company that made its name on wood pellet grills has a single gas-burning model and it’s a griddle. The Flatrock takes several design cues from the company’s latest Ironwood and Timberline series, including the wrap-around PAL (Pop And Lock) accessory rail and so-called EZ-Clean grease keg. The Flatrock’s side tables are similar in size to those on the Slate and its U-shaped burners put direct flame under more of the 33-inch cooktop. Traeger says its FlameLock design is more wind-resistant and fuel-efficient than the competition and a sensor keeps tabs on how much propane you’ve got left in the tank. The Flatrock does come with a Traeger-esque price tag though: $899.

After several weeks with the Weber Slate, I’ve fully experienced the grilling potential that standalone griddles provide in the backyard. With the addition of a rust-resistant cooktop, the company gives you an extension on the precious cleanup window. The digital temperature display is handy and easy to read from a distance while the Weber Works accessories can transform the griddle into a proper outdoor cooking station. Some details could be refined, but overall, the Slate would be a solid addition to any grilling arsenal. And even if it’s the only grill you own, the flat top allows you to cook a wide variety of foods.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/weber-slate-griddle-review-a-smash-burger-machine-with-clever-features-163023562.html?src=rss

Breville InFizz Fusion review: The bubble master

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A long time ago I watched a video about John Nese, owner of the iconic Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in LA, and one thing that stuck with me was his response after being asked how much soda he drinks. Nese said that even though he’ll have one or two a day, what it really boils down to is that he “just likes the bubbles.” However, as much as I enjoy hunting down special flavors in stores, nothing beats the convenience of making your own sparkling concoctions at home. So when I heard that Breville was releasing a carbonated beverage maker with a feature not available from rivals like SodaStream I knew I wanted to test it out. And in just a few short weeks, the Infizz Fusion has quickly become one of my favorite and most-used kitchen gadgets.

Design — Expectedly upscale

At $250, the InFizz Fusion costs a lot more than basic soda water makers, which can go for $100 or less. However, it’s clear Breville is using that extra money to create a premium design including a stainless body with a die-cast lever and a magnetic drip tray. This means it’s closer to more premium rivals than plasticky alternatives like almost all of SodaStream’s offerings. And while your taste may vary, the InFizz and Aarke’s line or Carbonators are probably the only two that look good enough to live on my counter full-time instead of being hidden away when not in use. That said, I wish Breville would release an optional glass bottle, as currently the InFizz Fusion is restricted to plastic 0.6- and 1-liter containers. And because its bottles use a proprietary connector, you can’t swap in canisters from competitors.

Operation — The easiest bubbles you’ve ever made

Gassing up liquids with the InFizz is incredibly straightforward. First, you screw a one-pound CO2 tank into the hole on the boom. The InFizz comes with one Breville-branded canister, though you can use generic replacements from Sodastream and others. You just need to remember to buy tanks with threaded tops instead of ones with quick-connect fittings. Then you pour water into the bottle (the colder the better), attach Breville’s FusionCap and then twist the whole setup into the machine itself. From there, you just press the lever on top for a second or two and that’s it. There’s no need for power or to plug a cord, so you have tons of flexibility about where it’ll live in your kitchen.

The Breville InFizz Fusion is a very simple machine as it doesn't require any power and uses the same one-pound C02 refills as a Sodastream. Just remember to buy canisters with threaded tops and not the ones with quick-connect fittings.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

When attaching the FusionCap to the bottle or the bottle to the machine, there’s a very obvious and satisfying thunk that lets you know when each component is seated properly. I only had one blowout when I first started using the InFizz and after I learned from my mistake, it never happened again. I found the routine that worked best for me was to fill the bottle and then stash it in the fridge overnight, which made it a cinch to get crisp, chilled seltzer first thing in the morning in less than 30 seconds. It’s really that easy. Sometimes, I saw tiny ice cubes while I was carbonating, which I took as a sign that the water was cold enough. That said, it’s important not to add ice intentionally, as that can damage the machine.

One note is that before you use it, you will want to give it a rinse. After unboxing it, I noticed the InFizz Fusion’s bottle had an oily smell. Thankfully, alongside the InFizz itself, Breville includes a funnel, a strainer and a brush, the latter of which helped erase the odor after a quick wash.

How it tastes - Bubbles, bubbles everywhere

Like a lot of carbonated water makers, you have the freedom to hold the lever down a bit longer, in case you’re like me and you like big bodacious bubbles (similar to what you get in Pepsi) as opposed to the finer effervescence you get in something like Perrier. But the InFizz Fusion’s secret party trick is that it carbonates more than just water. You can add bubbles to cider for a refreshing twist on a fall treat. Or you can give new life to soda that’s gone flat. You can even uplift wine to create your own sparkling alternative in your kitchen. Pretty much any liquid you’d want to drink, the InFizz Fusion can inject with bubbles. And right now, there’s only one other home soda maker that can do this – the Drinkmate – which puts Breville’s machine in a more rarified crowd.

To add bubbles, all you have to do is attach Breville's FusionCap to the included bottle, hook that up to the machine itself and hold down on the lever for a second or two.
To add bubbles, all you have to do is attach Breville's FusionCap to the included bottle, hook that up to the machine itself and hold down on the lever for a second or two.
Photo by Sam Rutherford

Now this might not sound like a big deal, but as we get closer to summer, you know what’s even more refreshing than lemonade? An icy cold glass of sparkling lemonade. Alternatively, you can add bubbles to OJ, which is essentially a homemade version of Orangina, and I’d argue it tastes even better because it hasn’t been languishing in a bottle for the past few months. With the InFizz Fusion, there’s an entire world of things you can seltzerize.

At this point, you might be wondering why you can’t make lemonade from seltzer. And you can. However, if you make sparkling water first and then stir in lemon juice and sugar, you tend to knock a lot of bubbles out in the process. And for stuff like OJ, unless you’re making things from a concentrate, there may not be a way to start with pure water. The one thing you have to watch out for though is that when carbonating drinks that are more than just water, you may run into extra bubbles. But that’s where the red tab on the FusionCap comes in, as it allows you to release pressure slowly so your concoction doesn’t erupt and make a mess.

Breville's clever FusionCap is what allows the InFizz to carbonate almost any drink you can think of. It can even handle drinks like orange juice or lemonade with ease.
Breville's clever FusionCap is what allows the InFizz to carbonate almost any drink you can think of. It can handle drinks like orange juice or lemonade with ease without getting the inside of the machine dirty.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, some drinks work better than others. Milk-based beverages are pretty much a no-go, as the carbonation process curdles the dairy, resulting in a product that just tastes off. And while you can add bubbles to coffee, the CO2 adds an extra dimension of sourness that probably isn’t what you want. After all, there’s a reason effervescent java is usually injected with nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide.

My one suggestion is that in addition to the one-liter bottle that comes with the machine, if you’re into making all sorts of bubbly beverages, you may want to pick up a spare 0.6-liter container too, because as tasty as stuff like sparkling OJ or cider are, they’re typically better consumed in smaller doses lest you end up drinking too many empty calories.

There are few things more refreshing than a glass of sparkling lemonade on a hot summer day.
There are few things more refreshing than a glass of sparkling lemonade on a hot summer day.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Look, if all you want is a machine for making seltzer, you’ll probably be better off with a basic SodaStream. Alternatively, if you just want a more premium bubble machine that comes with the bonus of having optional glass bottles, Aarke’s Carbonator Pro makes for a solid upgrade pick. Or you could go with the InFizz Aqua, which is the same basic device as the Fusion except that it can only carbonate water. But if you want a device that can turn almost any drink into a sparkling treat while also sporting an upscale design, Breville’s InFizz Fusion is where it’s at.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/breville-infizz-fusion-review-the-bubble-master-173216954.html?src=rss

Making bread by hand is hard, are breadmakers better?

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There’s no finer pleasure than starting the day with a slice of hot, fresh bread dripping in salted butter. Poets have waxed on about the joys of transforming so few ingredients into such a beautiful foodstuff for millennia. But unless life has been very good to you, it’s probably not often you wake up to freshly-made bread wafting from your kitchen. Are breadmakers the answer to this, the most first-world of first-world problems? And are they able to match or outdo the stuff I can make by hand?

It was only when we bought our home that I decided that making bread was a skill I had to learn lest I not feel like a Proper Adult. I scoured YouTube for a tutorial and stumbled across this clip by star baker Richard Bertinet. I’ve written before about how comforting and relaxing this video is, and it’s a balm for the soul when you’re having a rough day. Bertinet made this look so easy that anyone could achieve similarly beautiful results. Alas, I could not.

Mercifully, this was in the heyday of Twitter when celebrities were all around and happy to talk to fans. So, I asked Bertinet himself and got the necessary advice to remedy my woes — I wasn’t kneading the dough confidently, or for as long enough as I needed to make it work. After that, I was churning out some pretty gorgeous bread on a regular basis and my kids love eating my fougasse.

The recipe itself is so simple: 500 grams of strong bread flour, 10 grams of salt, 10 grams of yeast and 350 grams of water. That’s not an error: You stick a measuring jug on a weighing scale and weigh the water for a more accurate measurement. Once mixed, you have to get the dough onto the table and work it. The mix is sticky. Don’t add flour. Trust the process.

That means moving the dough, stretching it and folding air into it quickly and aggressively, really working it rather than just kneading it. If you let your hands hold on for too long, your fingers will sink into the mix and then it’s game over trying to get them out. Resist the urge to add more flour to reduce the wetness and instead just focus on keeping it moving until it finally forms. When it does, you’ll be staring at the most beautiful dough you will ever see.

Once you’ve left it to rise and subsequently knocked it down, you’ll be able to throw it into the oven. Toss in some water to add some steam and you’ll get a beautifully crusty, tasty loaf

There are benefits to breadmakers, including the fact you can have fresh bread made at home and that you can set when the process begins. Toss your ingredients in before you go to bed, set a delay and you’ll wake up with the smell of bread wafting through your home. I’ve been setting my tests to finish at 7am, so by the time we’ve all been dragged by our noses downstairs, it’s ready to go.

Unfortunately, in my experience that’s where the upsides to breadmakers stop and the downsides begin. You will never get the same quality of bread from a machine that you will get mixing the dough by hand.

The machines have small paddles that wheel around at the base of the mixing bowl. That action can’t mix hard enough to stretch the protein in the flour that promotes the formation of gluten. And it can’t add the same volume of air into the mix to help create a good rise and a fluffy texture inside. Normal bread recipes don’t work as well since you’ll need to add extras into the mix to improve the flavor (more on this later) and malleability, like milk, sugar and vegetable oil.

That little paddle will then lodge itself in the base of your loaf while it bakes, so you’ll need to fish it out every morning. The void in the middle of your bread that’s left behind is big enough to ensure that you won’t be able to slice too much of the loaf for toast or sandwiches.

The second big downside, and the one that’s more heartbreaking, is the smell that wafts upstairs each morning isn’t that great. Even on the lightest setting the bread comes out overdone compared to the real thing. No matter what recipe I tried, the smells are overwhelmingly yeasty and sour, which makes me less enthused about the morning feast. What emerges has the physical and mechanical properties of bread but very little actual flavor. Slather it in cold, salted butter all you want but, fundamentally, it just doesn’t hit as good as the most mediocre of store-bought breads.

That’s just my opinion, of course, and some folks have justifiable reasons for opting for “mid” bread over no homemade bread at all. But if you must buy a machine to do your breadmaking for you, here are two of the better options on the market.

Image of a Gastroback Bread Maker pro on a tabletop.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

Much as I’m down on breadmakers, there are reasons why I’m quite fond of the Gastroback Automatic Bread Maker Pro. I’m a sucker for an easy user interface and a viewing window, the latter of which will let you keep an eye on how your mix is coming along. Admittedly, no bread maker has an “easy” UI, but this one is tolerable, with each function set with its own dedicated button. The only annoyance is cycling through the program button, and since there are 19 options, you’d better make sure you’re doing it right.

After that, you just have to set the three color options (light, medium or dark) and the weight of the dough you’re creating (500g, 750g or 1,000g). It’ll tell you how long it’ll take for your loaf to be baked, and you can add on a delay for however long you need. As for options, the Gastroback will make various breads, mix doughs together for you and will even defrost meals in its pan. I wasn’t brave enough to try the stir fry settings, mind you, where you’re promised to mix and bake dry ingredients like peanuts and soybeans.

But the bread it produces is what I’ll describe as “generic breadmaker bread,” which is to say it’s warm and it’s there. No matter what recipes I tried, the results were never that great.

T-Fal Pain & Delices Bread Maker

Image of a Tefal bread maker on a tabletop.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

T-Fal looked to set its bread maker apart from its competitors by giving it the ability to do plenty more jobs in your home. You’ll get all the standard stuff like making breads, cakes and mixing doughs for bread, pizza and pasta. But, in the style of all shopping channel adverts, you’ll also be able to use this to make porridge, cook cereals and prepare homemade jelly. Oh, and if you’ve got pasteurized cow’s milk you can use a bundled accessory to churn yogurt and soft cheese.

The user interface is pretty much the same as the Gastroback, albeit with some chunkier, better looking buttons. But where it falls down is in the lack of a viewing window, which means you’ll only be able to see how your loaf has developed by lifting the lid. Which, I should add, you can’t do while the bread is baking, so you’ll never know if a problem is developing until it’s done. And the bread it produces is just lackluster, to the point where my kids — who signed up as willing testers at the start of this process — quickly lost interest. Fundamentally, I’m not sure the Tefal is compelling enough to warrant you buying it unless you’re really tolerant of weak bread.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/making-bread-by-hand-is-hard-are-breadmakers-better-120003160.html?src=rss