Little bit of a late reply but - The way it is supposed to work is as follows:
Two types of cooks: Manual and Preset via Recipe
Manual: Choose temperature, choose time.
Timer will start once the water hits the desired temperature - you must manually hit the “OK” prompt when the device reaches temp to start the temperature. Keep in mind that the timer operates in minutes, so you won’t see the countdown for the first minute.
PreSet: Choose recipe, hit Play.
Timer will work the same as the manual function. It won’t “start” until you accept the prompt that pops up after the device hits the required temperature
Hope that clarifies a bit.
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