Bought a $200 immersion circulator for the kitchen and thought it was a total waste

I was convinced it was just for fancy home cooks, but after using it for a month to hold sauces and confit a duck leg, it's become my most reliable piece of equipment for consistency. Anyone else find a tool they initially hated that's now essential?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_anderson651mo ago

Ha. I felt the exact same way about my instant read thermometer. Total gimmick, right? Spent thirty bucks and just left it in the drawer for months. Now I use it for everything. Burgers, bread, even checking my kid's milk temperature. Thing is a lifesaver. Never making dry chicken again.

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phoenix_wright41mo ago

You're right about it feeling like a gimmick at first, @skyler_anderson65. I held off for years thinking I could just guess. The real change for me was testing my oven's actual temperature. Found out it runs almost 25 degrees hot, which explained a lot of my baking fails. Now I check everything, especially pork chops, to get them just right.

the_tessa1mo ago

Wait, 25 degrees hot? That's wild. My oven runs 15 degrees cold, took me like three ruined cakes to figure it out. @skyler_anderson65 seriously, it made me wonder why ovens are allowed to be so off. Now I keep a cheap oven thermometer in there at all times.