Cool New Tool — Portable Induction Stove Top

One of the items that I saw in Chicago and then again in San Francisco is really an innovative cooking device.   Most of us are familiar with the 'old' two burner hot plate.  Useful in that could be move but clunky to look at and use plus temperature control was marginal.

The CookStar Induction Pro from Fissler is none of those.  It is a sleek black platform that looks good on the counter top or on the table.  It can be used as an extra burner in the kitchen (or 2 or 3 could be used to eliminate the stove top entirely), or portable burner on the patio, or warming trey at the buffet or replacement for the chafing dish.  It has precision heat control with up to 1500 watts of power, which powerful enough to boil water in less than a minute.

The are several settings that provide for a wide array of applications from "keep warm" to "booster" all which are set with touch sensitive controls.  The "keep warm" will maintain a constant 14 degrees for as long as you need.  While the "boost" feature provides a a 20 second "boost" of full power to get things back to temperature after adding cool ingredients to hot pot.  There are nine other settings from 155 degrees up to 430 degrees for precision temperature control for whatever you are cooking.

Other unique German engineering benefits include automatic pan detection so the surface remains cool until the pan is place on the surface.  Touch sensitive control with no knobs or button to collect spills.  Easy to clean design with a flat frameless surface providing a one-wipe clean up.

The CookStar Pro would be perfect for the recently stocked dorm room or apartment.  It provides a great deal of flexibility and usefulness with out taking up much counter top space.  Two of these would provide sufficient capability for most kitchen and at the same time could be easily moved to a new location, such as the patio for a party or a new apartment or dorm room for the next semester.

Finding interesting new products that add flexibility and usefulness for Chef Wannabees is one of the things that is most enjoyable about going to the houseware shows.  Making these products available through Your Smart Kitchen is one of our goals.