Paragon Mat makes it fun to flip pancakes

The Paragon Mat from FirstBuild wants to bring more consistency to the dishes you cook in a pan, from over-easy eggs to a stack of identical pancakes.

The red cooktop cover is the latest addition to the $299 Paragon Smart Cooking System. 

The Paragon Mat lets you set the exact temperature for your cookware when you pan fry foods.

The system includes an induction cooktop, a Bluetooth-connected temperature sensor and app to guide you while you cook

To use the Paragon Mat, you must first have the Paragon Induction Cooktop. You attach the Bluetooth sensor (pictured) to the mat. The mat goes on top of the Paragon Induction Cooktop, and you put place induction-friendly cookware on the mat. 

The mat monitors the temperature of your pan and tells the cooktop via Bluetooth to heat up or cool down to keep the temperature stable, which it does automatically.

The mat is pliable, but it could be challenging to store because of its shape.

The Paragon's main focus was sous vide cooking when it debuted in 2015 -- you used the temperature probe to set the the temperature for a water bath in which you cook vacuum-sealed foods. 

You can control the cooktop manually, but most of its best features are in the FirstBuild app that accompanies works with the Paragon system.

The automation makes it easy to cook multiple items like eggs or pancakes that are nearly identical to one another, and the accompanying app is helpful.

There's a limited number of food guides in the Paragon app that guide you through temperature-controlled pan cooking, which means it could be hard to figure out at which temperature to cook your dish.

The Paragon Mat is a good value-add to the Paragon Smart Cooking System. The countertop system is a good investment for enthusiastic beginner cooks who aren't afraid to use technology to give them a hand with common dishes.