When it comes to learning to cook there is no shortage of resources—cookbooks, recipes, cooking school and even apps that promise to take you from rookie to chef-status in the kitchen. Then, last year, the team at Hestan walked into our offices with something entirely different: the Hestan Cue, a connected cooking system that linked the burner, the pan and the recipe app together. This means that the Cue automatically controls the temperature of your pan and the timing of your recipe, telling you exactly when to sear, flip, baste or finish.
The recipes, developed by Hestan Smart Cooking culinary director (and the coach for the victorious Bocuse d’Or Team USA) Chef Philip Tessier, were predictably flawless—shatteringly-crisp salmon skin, perfectly caramelized almond brittle, golden-brown and tender seared scallops were just a few of our test kitchen’s favorites. But, we wondered, how would a beginner cook fare with this machine?
So, we put some real home cooks to the test in our latest video. We invited five cooks to our studio for a day of filming—some were beginner cooks who considered the occasional PB&J a kitchen accomplishment, others were more experienced cooks who worried about the difference between rare and medium-rare when cooking fish. All they knew was that they should come ready to cook. When they arrived on set we gave the a brief run-through of how the app works, showed them where their ingredients were, and then we stepped back and turned on the cameras. Here are their results…