A cooking system including a housing having a hollow interior and food being receivable within said hollow interior. A support body supports food within the hollow interior and a heating element is positioned to heat the hollow interior and the support body. A temperature sensor is operable to monitor a temperature of the support body. The temperature sensor is located remotely from said heating element.

A cooking system includes a housing having a hollow interior and food is receivable within said hollow interior. A heating element is associated with the housing and a support body supports food within the hollow interior. The support body includes a body having a plurality of diffuser ribs. A plurality of channels is formed between the plurality of diffuser rib and at least one of the plurality of diffuser ribs and the plurality of channels is operable to deflect a relatively downward flowing fluid relatively horizontally across said support body.

A kitchen device comprising a cooking vessel, a heating plate, a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor, wherein the first temperature sensor is thermally connected to, at least part of, the heating plate of the kitchen device for measuring the temperature of the heating plate, and the second temperature sensor is located in a position to measure the temperature of one or more ingredients that are inside the cooking vessel and the second temperature sensor is thermally isolated from the cooking vessel by a sensor isolation seal.

An automatic cooking system is provided to reduce and/or optimize the amount of cooking medium required to operate the fryer, while improving the temperature and flow characteristics of cooking medium in the fryer. To this end, the cooking vat of the system is designed with one or more heating elements and one or more lanes for flow of cooking medium and food products between inlet and outlet ends, with the heating elements defining a low profile and/or being mounted externally to the cooking vat to avoid impeding flow of the cooking medium. One example of such a heating element is a printed heating element that is coupled to or directly printed on the cooking vat. This arrangement reduces the total volume of retained cooking medium needed to flow and move food products along a length of the cooking vat during a cooking process.

The invention relates to a method for calculating three-dimensional information of food received within a cavity of a food preparation entity, the method comprising the steps of: capturing at least one image of said food received within the cavity by a plenoptic camera, said image comprising information regarding the light intensity and the direction of light rays traveling in space; or capturing at least two images of said food received within the cavity, said images being taken from different positions during movement of a camera; or capturing at least two images of said food received within the cavity using a camera, said images comprising different focus points; and processing the at least one image in order to establish three-dimensional information of said food received within the cavity.

An actively heated mug, travel mug, baby bottle, water bottle or liquid container is provided. The mug, travel mug, baby bottle, water bottle or liquid container can include a body that receives a liquid therein and a heating or cooling system at least partially disposed in the body. The heating or cooling system can include one or more heating or cooling elements that heat a surface of the receiving portion of the body and one or more energy storage devices. The mug, travel mug, baby bottle, water bottle or liquid container can include a wireless power receiver that wirelessly receives power from a power source and control circuitry configured to charge one or more power storage elements and to control the delivery of electricity from the one or more power storage elements to the one or more heating or cooling elements. The mug, travel mug, baby bottle, water bottle or liquid container also can have one or more sensors that sense a parameter of the liquid or sense a parameter of the heating or cooling system and communicates the sensed information to the control circuitry. The control circuitry can turn on, turn off, and/or operate the heating or cooling element to actively heat or cool at least a portion of the body to maintain the liquid in a heated or cooled state generally at a user selected temperature setting based at least in part on the sensed parameter information. The mug, travel mug, baby bottle, water bottle or liquid container can also be paired with a remote device or mobile electronic device to send or receive communications or commands.

An actively heated or cooled food container can have a lid movable between an open and a closed position and an insulated body to which the lid can be attached. The insulated body can have a sidewall that defines a perimeter of the container body and a base, the sidewall and base defining one or more chambers that can be sealed by the lid. The food container can have a temperature control system that can include one or more heating or cooling elements in thermal communication with one or both of the sidewall and the base and operable to heat or cool one or both of the sidewall and the base to thereby heat or cool the one or more chambers in the food container.

An apparatus for production of French press style coffee via a process to immerse and steep coffee grounds in heated water in a non-oil-absorbing environment. Filtering a finished beverage from the steeped mixture through a microperforated non-oil-absorbing filter, where microperforations are sized to achieve sediments levels equivalent to or less than that of traditional French press, and filtration rate is enhanced via any combination of vibratory energy, air pressure, and air flow to the brewed mixture. The microperforated filter may be permanent and reusable, or may be disposable. The disposable filter is preferably made from flexible aluminum foil and recyclable. The apparatus and method support modification of filter size, microperforation size, perforation density, air pressure, air flow and vibratory action to vary beverage filtration rate and finished beverage composition.

A cooking control method and device, and a computer storage medium. The method comprises: receiving a target temperature and a target time duration; determining a temperature compensation value corresponding to the target temperature according to a relationship between a preset temperature range and the temperature compensation value; correcting a temperature value of the target temperature according to the temperature compensation value to obtain a target temperature threshold parameter; and controlling a cooking process according to the target temperature threshold parameter and the target time duration.

The invention relates to a grinder for grinding coffee beans. The grinder has a first grinding tool and a second grinding tool which form a grinding gap and are rotatable relative to each other to grind coffee beans in the gap. A force generation device is arranged for applying a force, which is adjustable during operation, to one or both of the first grinding tool and second grinding tool, which force is transferable to the coffee beans. The invention also relates to a method for grinding coffee beans with the grinder for preparing a hot beverage.