Breville Polyscience Cmc850bssusa Induction Cooking System User Guide

If you were talking about the control freak, I had a problem with demeyere pans as well. The first month it was frustrating because every time I went to cook something it was stressful wondering if it would recognize the induction cookware or not. A couple of months later and it always recognizes those pans. I don’t know if it learned, but when I called for support they didn’t have an answer (hi suggested they add an option to their fancy machine, that would allow us to control the sensitivity so it would recognize demeyere pans). I was 50-50 whether to return the control freak over this, but as I said somehow it recognizes the pans now. Oddly enough it has more difficulty recognizing the demeyere ATLANTIS specifically (over the lower cost demeyere).. I suspect it’s the thin outer layer of non-magnetic stainless steel (that is there because that stainless steel is more corrosion resistant.. makes the control freak freak out). Even this pan works now, because when it doesn’t I will lift it off the pan turn it off and on, and then turn the temperature knob slowly at first. I cannot explain why it was so troublesome in the beginning, and now is working good (and the product rep didn’t seem to know anything, or care, either).

The simmering is a struggle. When I make pasta, rice, or lentils, I’m usually too lazy to attach/clean the temperature probe.
Here is my method. I start with about 300 degrees. The Control Freak will go up to 250 or so degrees with water in it. 250 is the bottom of the pot not the water inside. It’ll usually stay there for a while until the water starts boiling. That’s quickly a violent boil. If I’d drop it to 212, the boil would die completely. Usually around 219-221 is the kind of boil that I like. But the temperature setting has to be slowly lowered to avoid the boil to die or overflow.
For lentils and brown rice, I’ve created programs. I found that it took experimenting to find the right simmer temperature to balance a fresh taste versus the lentils dissolving. I’ve also noticed that brown rice from different brands needs different temperatures. So I created separate programs for each brand. (I had to create spreadsheets to experimentwith different temperature and duration configurations to find the sweet spot.)
Note: The intensity setting is not really intensity. It’s simply how fast it tries to get to the target temperature. I usually always use the fastest pace. However, when I can’t overshoot a temperature, I’ll go to an intermediate temperature first. For example, depending on the case, I expect the Control Freak to overshoot by thirty degrees. So I’ll set the first temperature 30 degrees below the target. I won’t wait for the Control Freak to hit the intermediate target, but when it overshoots to near the actual target, I’ll bring the setting up to the target. 

The electrical code requires all kitchen outlets be on a 20 amp circuit and a minimum of two 20 amp circuits for countertop plugs. This unit draws 1800 watts or 15amps. So as long as you are not brewing coffee or using the toaster on the same circuit you will be fine.

It is actually, but sold under Sage Commercial/Polyscience.

No you can not-i do believe there is a 220v for outside the us use

Delivered box was something like 14″x20″x30″ – don’t have it for reference anymore, but larger than I expected. The unit is stored directly in the fantastic traveling case in the box.

No … i have used it quite a lot, too.

It’s outside of design parameters, so nobody knows unless someone tries it. Larger pot would be easier to tip over, and there may not be enough power to get the heat up. I can only guess, but I believe it would still work (if not exceeding the size by very much). You could try calling Breville if they would venture a guess, my guess is they won’t answer you because it might open them up to safety liability, and warranty issues.

There is a metal spring loaded thermometer in the center that touches the bottom of the pot. There is also a thermometer you plug in and then immerse in liquid (soup?), or maybe insert the thermometer probe into a pot roast, but I’m not sure on how to use it). I only know that the wired thermometer will give you more accurate temperature than reading the other thermometer that reads the temperature of the bottom of the pot.

Neither. 120v 1800w. Works on 15a.

Here’s an update: as of today (11-dec-2021), the price has dropped to $1,199 on Amazon, Williams-Sonoma, and polyscienceculinary. More importantly, the warranty on polyscienceculinary now says (in writing) “Warranty – 2 Year Limited, Home and Commercial Use Approved”. So it looks like this problem has been addressed, and they are hoping to get some holiday gift purchases. I don’t know how you get warranty service or what it entails, but at least it’s now clearly stated that home use is covered. 

Absolutely. You can set the intensity, as well as the exact temperature you want it to come up to and how fast you want it to arrive at that temperature. It really is a simple interface.