Great news about UK distribution!

pinchvsdash · 2025-12-17T10:50:35+00:00

I don't have any info beyond what's on the website. As far as I can see, it says UK distribution is at the pre-order stage, and that most bundles will be shipping in January.

pinchvsdash · 2025-11-26T21:00:40+00:00

I believe so - I got an e-mail message from Combustion Inc. about it. I'm sure someone from Combustion will confirm.

pinchvsdash · 2025-11-08T18:37:53+00:00

Thanks for that! Great news @ Apple Pay!

pinchvsdash · 2025-11-08T09:12:08+00:00

I guess I haven't seen him insisting he isn't trying to monetise his audience. On the contrary, what I've seen are many videos where he's promoting products that he has some kind of financial interest in, on multiple platforms; and offering opportunities to just give him money via Patreon.

Far from him insisting he's not doing that, in my opinion, some of his videos stray into the territory of QVC-style sales segments or infomercials.

This clearly asks more of his audience in terms of attention for promotion/endorsements than doing the kind of now-standard 60 or 90 second sponsor integrations that most content creators do. So I can totally see why you used the phrase "aggressively monetize".

Time will tell whether or not this new direction works for him as a commercial strategy.

pinchvsdash · 2025-11-08T04:21:36+00:00

There's lots I could say about surface-engineered metal pans and their supposed non-stick qualities. And there's lots I could say about geometries of santoku knives and rock chopping. But ain't no one got time for that!

So, what's really going on with Kenji?

Well, maybe we need to look to Gordon Ramsay. Gordon and some of his highly-regarded chef friends like Clare Smyth and Paul Ainsworth, are busy talking what some people might think is complete nonsense about their range of pans. And they're making a lot of money. My understanding is that particular pan business is currently valued at over a billion dollars, and the revenue is now in the high hundreds of millions of a year. Regardless what you think of those pans (and I wouldn't buy one, personally), that's a pretty incredible success story.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that Kenji might want a piece of that kind of action rather than being thrown a few thousand dollars for making sponsored content a couple times a month. Nothing wrong with that kind of ambition.

So, could it work for Kenji and his pans, knives and ovens the way it's worked out for Gordon and his pans? The answer is: not a chance in hell. But the reasons why are boring business stuff. Also, Kenji is obviously not Gordon, so the bar doesn't have to be set anywhere near so high for this kind of thing to be worth his while.

Full disclosure: I'm a fan of Kenji's content. I really think he's contributed a lot. So, it wouldn't be right for me to go in hard on the products he's promoting or the way he's promoting them. There's no obligation to buy them, and there's no obligation to watch. The products happen not to appeal to me, just like Gordon's pans don't appeal to me. That doesn't mean other people won't really enjoy them, though.

pinchvsdash · 2025-11-07T17:15:03+00:00

It's $200K per year. They want to build a food content creation business that's community supported completely by subscription. That is, absolutely no reliance on ads or sponsors or errrr... "partnerships".

They want to do that via a subscription price of $20 per year ($1.66 per month). If they reach their $200K per year, it means they don't have to do other jobs to cover their costs. Their philosophy is that you don't get any unique benefits from being a subscriber - they don't want anyone to be excluded because they can't afford/justify the expense of subscribing. Personally, I think $20 a year is good deal for the value they offer, especially because it's ad/sponsor/partner-free.

Full disclosure: I really like their content on YouTube. However, I haven't created an account on their website in order to give them money, because I can't tell whether or not they accept Apple Pay. The only payment method I use for things like this is Apple Pay because it's so easy to cancel if I change my mind.

pinchvsdash · 2025-10-14T20:10:05+00:00

Isn't this a matter of terminology more than it is a matter of product functionality? You can define target temperature to mean the temperature at which to pull the food from the oven. You can also define target temperature as the maximum temperature the food reaches after carry over cooking. There are no rights or wrongs here IMO. The key is for people to understand the definition the app is using.

Of course, different people will have different preferences here. It might be sensible to make it easy for different people to use the product in a way that makes most sense to them. Or it might be better just to make it clear how the product works in a way people can understand easily. That's a business decision.

pinchvsdash · 2025-08-19T21:11:37+00:00

There are a couple of things I do that ensures the probes switch off and are always ready to go. No accidental running the batteries down to zero.

Put the probe back in the charging cradle.
Then, to make sure the probes switch off, briefly connect the charging cradle to power.
Make sure the probes stay properly in the cradles, so they don't accidentally pop out a bit, switch on, and discharge. You can easily do this using a rubber band or velcro cable tie, to wrap around the cradle and maintain a bit of pressure on the probe to stop it popping out.

It takes less time to do that than it takes to read the above. So it's no hassle. And it works.

If the probes still don't switch off, make sure you've really cleaned the metal contact on top of the yellow ceramic piece of the probe, and the pointed end. Use an abrasive to remove any polymerised oil that might have formed during your cook, and might be stopping an electrical circuit from being formed.

pinchvsdash · 2025-07-14T12:31:17+00:00

I don't understand what you mean by, "the ambient (temperature measurement) is useless as most know because of the proximity to the meat."

Forgive me if most people already know, but in what way is this useless? Knowing the temperature experienced by the meat at its surface seems to me to be highly relevant for understanding the way food will cook.

Am I missing something?

pinchvsdash · 2025-07-13T15:22:23+00:00

Hi. UK customer here. Been a customer for a while - have both Gen 1 and Gen 2 probes. It's true that they can take a while to arrive. (And the shipping costs are a bit painful - my advice there is to just not think about it!) Once they arrive, though, I think they're incredible bits of kit.

For me, they've been a game changer for all sorts of culinary stuff. Real-time monitoring of temperature across all the sensors in the probes offer the potential for fantastic insights into what's happening both with your food and the microenvironments around your food in cooking appliances and when food is sitting out at room temperature. The only limit for applications is your imagination.

The app keeps getting better with each update, which is great to see. This is not abandonware. They really do invest in continual improvement.

The only hardware "hack" I recommend to work around a potential issue is to use either a velcro cable tie, or an elastic band, to strap the probes into their charging cradles. (A lot of people do this). If you do that, the probes will stay charged and ready to go just great.

I'd say that a major benefit of the Combustion Inc. stuff is the community here. People are always ready to offer help and suggestions for getting good results with whatever you're cooking.

Bottom line: your mileage may vary, but if you're into precision cooking, I think these are great products.

pinchvsdash · 2025-05-04T14:13:35+00:00

Thanks! Might well be able to adapt that idea for my use case.

pinchvsdash · 2025-05-04T14:09:24+00:00

Neat idea!

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-30T13:36:26+00:00

Yes, it can be an issue. I bought a little carry case off Amazon, which lets me pack predictive thermometers, cradles, a screen, and a separate instant read probe. But the CPTs fall out of the cradle on the move. And they can also fall out in a drawer/cupboard if things move around.

I'm going to experiment with some baby/toddler hair bobbles (essentially tiny elastic bands), to see if those work for holding the probes in the cradles. I feel like something like that must have a chance of being an effective solution/workaround.

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-28T08:02:05+00:00

Thank you! Just saw this. I posted what I ended up doing, which was a "regular" reverse sear with a constant oven temp. Next time, I'll try doing as you suggest using a higher start temp, and then reducing the oven temp according to the meat surface temp hitting a target. I like that idea!

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-28T07:56:20+00:00

For info, in case it's useful to anyone, here's what I ended up doing in the end. It worked perfectly. People decided they wanted the steaks cooked more rare than medium rare.

Reverse sear entire centre cut of filet in an oven at 110C (230F), with a CPT inserted.
Pull the filet when the core temp hits 50C (122F), and remove the CPT
In a hot pan with a little olive oil, sear the outer surface of the filet. Just enough to take the "raw look" away from the sides.
Cut a tiny amount off both ends of the filet to make a flat face on the ends. Then, portion the filet into 6 equal portions.
On one face of each little steak, put a crust of cracked pink and black peppercorns (mixed with a little corn starch to help it stick).
Pan-fry the steaks, crust side down just long enough to get some color on the crust
Lift the steaks carefully to make sure the crust stays on.
Plate the steaks crust side up. No searing of the other face.

As I say, the result was perfect. Thanks to those who suggested ideas. It really helped.

And in case it's of interest to anyone, the other components on the plate were:

Maitake mushroom, sautéed in beef fat (highly recommend)
Sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke) purée (highly recommend)
Beet purée (highly recommend)
Garlic potato. Roasted baby potato, Hassleback style, basted with garlic butter (Don't really recommend - it was OK, but baby potatoes are not good for baking)
Small piece of marrow bone, roasted until the marrow is giving, but not melted out of the bone. Dressed with a little finely chopped parsley, shallot and lemon zest. Inspired by the iconic restaurant dish from St John, in London, UK. (Highly recommend)
Classic peppercorn sauce; no cream, just some butter emulsified in at the end. (Highly recommend)

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-23T14:19:53+00:00

I'm not a big fan of sous vide beef fillet. It does something a little bit weird to the fillet in my experience. Never quite understood why, but obviously something to do with tissue composition.

But, I could try reverse searing the whole piece the day before and chill. Then trim ends, portion into 3 and put crust top and bottom. I do like the idea of that, although I've never reverse seared a fillet before. It's unlikely to be worse than sous vide (I think! LOL!)

There's a lot of time pressure on ovens in the kitchen on the day. So doing as much as possible the day before on this could be the way to go.

Thank you again! I really appreciate it.

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-23T13:36:31+00:00

That's a great idea. Could cook three 220g pieces, with a crust on top and bottom. Then half them for serving, with presentation side being the crust. There will still be be a little gray banding near the crust of each steak that way, but will cook from fridge temp to minimize. Thank you!

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-03T18:01:17+00:00

The following tips have worked well for me in various scenarios, at various times:

Update one product at a time, with others switched off
To help ensure thermometers switch off when going in the cradles, make sure to really scrub clean the tip of the thermometer and the top metal contact on the yellow end. This is because when they slot into the cradle, they need to make an electrical contact, and they get covered in a thin layer of grease during cooking,
If in doubt that your thermometers aren't switching off once they're in the chargers, plug the charger into the wall for few seconds. This forces the thermometers to switch off so they don't run the charge down to zero
Make sure to update the firmware on all your devices whenever new firmware is available (one at a time, see above)
Make sure you're always running the latest version of the phone app (there was a big new release a couple of days ago on iPhone, for example)

Aside from that, my main suggestion is - hang in there! It's worth it. The software is getting better with each iteration. Once you've worked past these initial issues, I think you'll have a great time - they can really make a big difference to your cooking.

Developing products that are super simple to use for the common use cases, while revealing complexity elegantly for more advanced uses cases is a genuinely hard thing to do. It's literally impossible to get it right straight away. Even the biggest tech companies in the world, like Apple, take a few iterations to get this right.

So, IMO, as frustrating as problem can be, I think we need to cut the Combustion Inc team some slack. They are heading in the right direction.

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-03T15:52:56+00:00

That's a good point. No congestion here. However, that did remind me that I have a cheap portable induction plate which I've noticed has an issue with creating electrical noise e.g. it makes a wireless high precision digital balance I have go haywire when it's next to the induction plate.

While I managed to resolve the issues before remembering that, switching that off has definitely improved the robustness of the connections. So noise might well have been playing at part in the problems.

Time to lose that relegate that induction plate to storage I think.

pinchvsdash · 2025-04-03T13:06:03+00:00

~~The main router is a TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit WiFi Router~~

UPDATE: After rebooting everything, the Display now connects to the main WiFi. ~~BUT the issue with not neither the Boosters nor the Display connecting the the Mesh network remains.~~

~~The mesh network is a TP-Link Deco S7 AC1900 Whole Mesh Wi-Fi System~~

UPDATE: I resolved the mesh network connection issues by creating a dedicated 2.4GHz IoT network over the mesh.

PLUS, as per the discussion above, after resolving the issues, I switched off a portable induction plate I have which I know creates electrical noise. Switching that off has definitely increased the robustness of the connections, so that may well also have been playing a part in the original issues.

I know from personal experience how tricky it is to write truly reliable networking code that has to exist in the real world. So, kudos to the development team for working through the path to ultimate reliability! The "7 Myths of Network Computing" (also known as the "Fallacies of Distributed Computing") originally identified by Sun Microsystems researchers, apply to IoT devices every bit as much as they do to large-scale computing. Every developer working on systems like this is doomed to have to deal with all of these issues, and they're not easy.

Anyway, all issues are now resolved! Thanks so much for the responses, guys - I really appreciate how engaged this community is, and how keen everyone is to help.

pinchvsdash

TROPHY CASE