The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- Malaysian duo's sous-vide cooking device successfully 'Kickstarted'
- Boat sinks off Tanjung Siang, 36 Indonesian illegals feared drowned
- Major signalling problem temporarily halts KTM Komuter train service
| Malaysian duo's sous-vide cooking device successfully 'Kickstarted' Posted: PETALING JAYA: Two young Malaysians in the UK have successfully raised £128,961 (RM633,085) on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, one of the highest amounts ever pledged for a Malaysian-led initiative. Co-founders Grace Lee and Tan Xi Yen surpassed their initial goal of £100,000 (RM490,912) a full five days ahead of their July 28 deadline. Even three-time Olympian Josiah Ng did not enjoy the same success, as the cyclist only raised US$54,168 (RM175,314) in pledges out of an intended goal of US$200,000 (RM647,300) for a dual video sports camera project in 2012.  Codlo co-founders Grace Lee (left) and Tan Xi Yen. Now, Lee and Tan's compact sous-vide controller called Codlo, has commanded the attention and financial assistance of 1,139 backers on the crowdfunding platform in just one month, earning the project fourth place in Kickstarter's 'Most Funded' under its Food category. In sous-vide cooking, food is sealed in airtight pouch - such as a Ziploc food bag - and cooked in a precisely heated water bath. Favoured by top chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants since the 1970s, the method takes the guesswork out of cooking. "Building a product to address the users' need was key to Codlo's success. It makes sous-vide cooking simple and affordable without sacrificing precision," said Lee when contacted by The Star Online. As ingredients are cooked at a precise and controlled temperature, sous-vide cooking produces a "just right" result. The time-saving technique is touted as the end of overcooking and a way to retain maximum nutrition in gently-cooked food. For the sake of steak Lee was first exposed to the science of cooking during her training at Le Cordon Bleu London, a branch of one of the world's most-respected gastronomy schools. "To make great food, you need to understand your ingredients well. For one, I was intrigued by the different coagulation temperatures for egg white and egg yolk," said the 28-year-old economics graduate of the experience that sparked her interest in the subject. It was only after many failed attempts to cook the perfect medium rare steak that Lee finally discovered sous-vide cooking. However, current sous-vide devices cost anywhere from £400 to £1,000 (at least RM2,000), and are either too bulky or too complicated for the home cook. Given Tan's qualifications in manufacturing engineering, Lee turned to the 29-year-old for help in hacking together a functional prototype. Both Cambridge University graduates have spent the last 10 years in the UK. "We made our first sous-vide chicken breast, and it was super moist, juicy and rather mind-blowing … that's not something you normally say about chicken breast meat!" said Lee. That culinary experience made them question existing presumptions of what food should taste like, so they set out to build something that would bring sous-vide cooking to the masses. Kickstarter-ing on the right foot Coming up with the idea was easy, but executing it well was the tricky part. It was the duo's first attempt at designing, creating and manufacturing a cooking appliance, and the year-long effort on Codlo was bolstered by their complementary skill sets. Kuantan-born Lee had food, finance, legal and operations experience, while Tan, a Johorean, provided his expertise in manufacturing, design and engineering. "This helped immensely in the product concept creation stage. We have a team of 12 working on this, including us both: two product designers, two engineers, two product safety experts and four in manufacturing," said Lee.  The Codlo works in tandem with a rice or slow cooker. Their creation aims to make sous-vide cooking easy, affordable and intuitive with the help of a rice or slow cooker, and will retail for at least £129 (RM638). After considering sous-vide's niche market, Codlo's new approach to sous-vide cooking, and the fundraising needed to bring Codlo to production, they pinpointed Kickstarter as the perfect testing ground for their idea. When asked about their ambitious bid to raise over £100,000 in only one month, Lee maintained that it was the time frame recommended by Kickstarter's extensive studies. "Backers may lose interest in a project that lasts too long. Plus, running a good Kickstarter campaign takes a lot of effort and time!" she said. The last Kickstarter project with Malaysian involvement, successfully raised US$1.4mil (RM4.53mil) on June 30 this year. The project, a 3D printer called Buccaneer, was initiated by Pirate 3DP Pte Ltd - a Singapore-based start-up co-founded by Malaysian Robert Chang.  The are three colour options for the Codlo. Kickstarter has an all-or-nothing funding policy. According to the site, if a project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers' credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged. The highest pledge they received was more than £500 (RM2,454), which earns an Uber Early Adopter reward. "At that pledge level, backers get to receive and play with a pre-production unit early, test it and provide feedback, and receive another final unit once Codlo is shipping," said Lee. The team also prioritised interaction with all their backers and benefited from instant feedback. "During the campaign, we worked hard to modify our design after receiving suggestions to incorporate an interchangeable temperature probe," said Lee. The team is expected to ship Codlos to their backers in March next year. "It's time for us to work hard to bring Codlo to full manufacture and pass all the relevant product safety tests before we ship it out to our backers worldwide!" she added. Codlo should be available in various regions at the same time, latest by mid-2014. For a limited time only, pre-order Codlo at an introductory price of £99 (RM486). For more information, visit www.codlo.com. |
| Boat sinks off Tanjung Siang, 36 Indonesian illegals feared drowned Posted: [unable to retrieve full-text content]JOHOR BARU: An Aidilfitri "balik kampung" (returning home) trip for a group of Indonesian illegal immigrants ended in tragedy when 36 of them went missing and are feared drowned after the boat smuggling them out of the country sank about 13.55 nautical miles off Tanjung Siang, Kota Tinggi, Thursday night. |
| Major signalling problem temporarily halts KTM Komuter train service Posted: PETALING JAYA: The KTM Komuter train service has malfunctioned, and services to all destinations delayed indefinitely as at 9.50pm Friday. "Due to major signalling problem @ track crossing near Bangsar, komuter services to all destination has been delayed indefinitely due to a major signalling problem," tweeted @ktmkomuter at 9.19pm. The earliest indication of a breakdown was at 7:48pm when the same account tweeted that the train service was experiencing delays and apologised for the inconvenince. However, some commuters were not as forgiving, such as Metzelder Siow (@siowhou); "No PA to passengers inside train regarding blackout to whole KTM Komuter line. I'm one of the victim who want to rush back home." "So KTM Komuter is having blackout now and they keep quietly from passengers. Sell ticket and make us wait inside. @transitmy," he tweeted. Similarly, Mohd Shaik.Firdaus:D (@M_am_U 2h) tweeted; "I got a train to catch in an hour, and I haven't even berbuka, ktmb you'll pay grrrr." Other, such as Ken Chuan (@piercelkc) tweeted; "hello I have my ETS train in 805pm and now I still stuck at ktm komuter... Please be responsible. He also attempted to claim the cost of the ETS (Electronic Train Service) ticket, which he had missed due to the delay by tweeting "@ktmkomuter how can you pay back my lost?" He later received a reply from the @ktmkomuter account, asking for his contact details. Calls to the KTMB Call Centre at 1-300 88 5862 were not successful as the line got disconnected a few seconds after hearing the ringing tone. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online : Nation Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan