StirMATE Smart Pot Stirrer

 Update 10/23/18: It’s been a year since my purchase and I’ve used my Stirmate at least a hundred times (about 250-300 hours) . It is still runs perfectly. I’ve used it to make all sorts of sauces (Ragu, Bolognese, Velouté and Espagnole roux, bases for ice cream and gelato, custards, puddings, soups, and marmalade. Its very helpful at reducing water content, particularly when it needs to be done very slowly. It serves to gently scrap the bottom of the pot or sauce pan, and keep the mixture of whatever you are cooking well distributed. That being said, I found it works best with straight-sided flat bottom cookware. I’ve used it for reducing syrup for something like flan, but It would not work well with very viscous preparations like toffee, thick caramel or fudge. Overall, I’m very pleased.Nov. 3, 2017: I just got the Stirmate and used it for the first time. It works amazingly well, seems very well constructed and from solid materials. The mechanism is surprising powerful, providing plenty of torque and for the hour or so I used it it didn’t slow down at all. It’s very quiet, but not silent. The actual stirrer is simple yet ingenious – essentially, it is on floating hinges (top and bottom) so it can self adjust to whatever size and shape pot you are using. No need to worry about the end of it hanging outside the pot – it won’t get damaged by indirect heat.The Stirmate runs on a 9volt battery, like those in a smoke detector. I’ve been watching this product for a couple of months, deciding whether or not to buy it. The first iteration of the Stirmate used a regular battery, then they offered an externally rechargeable battery, and this new version has an internally rechargeable battery. You can replace the rechargeable battery or use a regular battery if you’ve forgotten to charge it. I just love that, because lately many gadgets need to be discarded when the rechargeable battery wears out.Shipping was fast. From California to New York City in just 2 days. It was shipped inside a paper envelope with some bubble wrap. The envelope arrived broken on one end and the stirrer stick was hanging out. Maybe I should take off a star for that but I suppose the fact there was no damage just speaks well of the build quality. Before ordering I wrote to the seller and they said the Stirmate is covered by a one year warrantee (excluding the battery).I have already made the Greek style rice pudding recipe from the Stirmate.com website – I couldn’t wait and ate some right away (delicious), but I’m sure it will be even better when it cools and firms up. Bottom line is that the Stirmate is worth the money, and certainly beats standing over a hot stove for hours stirring and stirring like some recipes require.

 I used this with a electric hot pot. With out the stirmate the pot would shut of in protection mode to to scorching, with the stirmate scorching never happened and my food consistently cooked to temperature. Using it for travel it is hard to stow the stirring wand but I was able to find a bag that just fit. So far so good!! Hoping the snug fit won’t break anything.

I bought this to roast coffee about 2 months ago to stir green coffee while roasting it.I was very happy with it on the first time, roasting with it.On the second roast, the bottom part slightly changed its color.On the third roast, the bottom part completely melted , separating from the main part of the stirring handle.Coffee roasting is specifically given as example for this product, and I am measuring the temperature of my coffee during roasting, it was 242C (515F) when it melted, well below the 570F in the spec.You can see in the attached pictures the burned/melted part (as well as the rest which works fine).The burnt down part on the picture used to be connected to the white stick, it is the part that actually stirs the coffee on the bottom of the pot, and touches the pot and the coffee. The coffee is @515F/240C and it should have been OK.Had this happened in the first use, rather than the third, I would have returned it.This happened after the return window, but on my third roasting ….I’m very disappointed, not recomended.