Would You Pay $500 for a Skillet If It Was ‘Smart’?

When a recipe tells you to set your stove to “medium-high” heat, what exactly does that mean?

As someone who has read—and written—hundreds of recipes, I can say with some authority that nobody really knows. Since your stovetop does not have, say, a 400F setting, you must instead rely on primitive, vague instructions such as turning the dial to a spot one you hope is halfway from medium to high. Cranking the most powerful burner to that point on your beautiful ivory Aga Legacy, at 15,000 BTUs, will get you a good sizzle, but going that far on a $15,000 Blue Star range that pumps out an infernal 25,000 BTUs per burner will give you a smoke-alarm-ripping sear.