A multicooker (also written "multi cooker") is an electric kitchen appliance for automated cooking using a timer. A typical multicooker is able to

boil A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, which is an infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium ''Staphylococcus aureus'', resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by ...

, simmer, bake, fry, deep fry, grill

roast Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

and

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

food. The device is operated by placing ingredients inside, selecting the corresponding program, and leaving the multicooker to cook according to the program, typically without any need for further user intervention. Some multicookers have an adjustable

thermostat A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint. Thermostats are used in any device or system tha ...

. In addition to cooking programs, a multicooker may have functions to keep food warm, reheat it or to cook it at a later time. Some multicookers can also function as

slow cooker A slow cooker, (also known as a crock-pot after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products, but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than ...

History

In the 1920s in the United Kingdom, basic "multicookers" were marketed to consumers as an appliance that would save on

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

consumption, to save money on gas bills. Simple electric

rice cooker A rice cooker or rice steamer is an automated kitchen appliance designed to boil or steam rice. It consists of a heat source, a cooking bowl, and a thermostat. The thermostat measures the temperature of the cooking bowl and controls the heat. C ...

s were developed in Japan in the 1950s. Over time more functions were added to cook other types of grains and soups, and the appliances became known as multicookers. Modern cookers include electronic time, temperature and pressure controllers and are marketed as "automated multipurpose cooking appliances". The most modern ones include

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

and

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

capabilities and cooking procedures in recipe scripts, mainly by choosing the temperature, time and pressure in multiple steps, to execute and share. At the same time, the European market had been producing kitchen appliances with individual functions, such as electric kettles,

pressure cooker A pressure cooker is a sealed vessel for cooking food with the use of high pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid, a process called pressure cooking. The high pressure limits boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at low ...

s, bread makers,

toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, o ...

s, steamers,

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

s, and yogurt makers. The multicooker combines the functions of some of these devices. Multicookers can make hundreds of dishes characteristic of any cuisine, except those which require specific types of cooking unsupported by the appliances, such as flame grilling.

Functions

Typical programs include: * Cook (standard) – comes to a boiling point and maintains it for a predetermined amount of time. Useful for preparing soup,

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish, or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups ...

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains ( groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel- ...

with milk, rice, and grains. (90-110 °C) * Pasta – heats to a boiling point and pauses with notification to the user that ingredients may be added (further automation would exclude human intervention to release ingredients). After that it comes to a boil again and maintains the temperature for a predetermined amount of time. The program can be used for cooking pasta,

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

s, eggs,

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s, and other products which need boiling water. (90-115 °C) *

Stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

– brings to the boiling point and then continues at a slightly lower temperature. This program can make steamed vegetables, meat, and seafood. (85-105 °C) * Fry – this setting can be used to fry meat,

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

, fish, vegetables, and seafood. Fry with an open or closed lid. (140-160 °C) * Bake – biscuits,

casserole A casserole (French language, French: diminutive of , from Provençal dialect, Provençal , meaning 'saucepan') is a kind of large, deep cookware and bakeware, pan or bowl used for cooking a variety of dishes in the oven; it is also a categor ...

s, cake, and pastries (120-180 °C) * Rice/grain – heats to a boil and maintains the boil until the water is gone (via evaporation or absorption by the ingredients). This setting is used to cook boiled rice,

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

, peas, beans, and coarse grains. (100 °C) *

Pilaf Pilaf (), pilav or pilau () is a rice dish, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving ...

– a combination of the rice and bake programs which starts with a full boil and then the temperature is reduced for a time. (90-110 °C then 70-80 °C) * Steam – steams vegetables, meat,

s, and baby food. (100-115 °C) * Soup – makes soup,

, and various drinks. (90-110 °C) * Yogurt/

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

– makes homemade yogurt and proofs dough up to 12 hours. (35-60 °C) A multicooker may also support the following functions: * Custom – cooking temperature, pressure and time can be set manually (35-180 °C). This may be used for

sous-vide Sous vide (; French for 'under vacuum'), also known as low-temperature, long-time (LTLT) cooking, is a method of cooking invented by the France, French chef Georges Pralus in 1974, in which food is placed in a plastic pouch or a glass jar and coo ...

cookery. * Keep warm – can be automatically activated after some of the programs end and can maintain a hot meal for several hours. The temperature is usually 70 °C or higher to prevent harmful bacteria from developing. * Reheat – warms up a cold meal up to 50-70 °C. * Scheduled start – controls the start time for cooking (timer). This function is only applicable to programs which do not require user intervention throughout the process and in which ingredients may safely stay at room temperature for the delay. * Sterilization – may be used to sterilize baby items by steaming, or to help remove dried leftovers from the cooker after cooking has finished. (100-115 °C)

Parts

A multicooker consists of the following parts: * Housing – typically plastic, stainless steel or a combination of both. The body is mounted or attached to other parts of the machine. With an air gap between it and the inner bowl, this functions as a thermal insulator. * Inner bowl – in most modern designs, the bowl is removable and has a non-stick coating (

teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, and has numerous applications because it is chemically inert. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off from ...

, ceramic, etc.). The non-stick coating is important for multicookers to operate properly. Non-stick coating keeps food from burning and sticking to the bottom and walls of the bowl which prevents disruption of heat during higher heat cooking or leads to uneven heating. It is unlike conventional cookware or slow cookers which must be stirred occasionally. * Lid – this seals the multicooker preventing the contents from splashing or the food from drying out. Some multicookers have a glass lid. *

Heating element A heating element is a device used for conversion of electric energy into heat, consisting of a heating resistor and accessories. Heat is generated by the passage of electric current through a resistor through a process known as Joule heating. He ...

– mounted in the housing, it cooks the food. Temperatures can reach 40-180 °C allowing any method of cooking from keeping food warm to baking or frying. The heating element is typically located in the bottom of a multicooker. Some more sophisticated multicookers have smaller heating elements on the sides and in the lid. * Temperature sensors – usually located in the center of the housing's bottom, touching the pan to ensure accurate readings. The control panel provides information about the temperature of the bowl’s contents. Some multicookers also have temperature sensors on the sides and on top to allow fine control of heating elements in the lid and sides. * Pressure sensor – this may be installed if the multicooker supports pressure cooking. * Control panel – part of the housing, this consists of a microprocessor with programs which are displayed showing the process, temperature and programs. It also includes several buttons to control the process. * Condensate collector – typically a small container or an area around multicooker's bowl to collect condensation appearing on the lid.

History

Functions

Parts

See also

References

Further reading