Disclosed is a cooking apparatus for providing a cooking vessel suitable for a simmer cooking function. A cooking apparatus of the present invention includes a cooking room; a cooking vessel accommodated in the cooking room, and including a main body, and a heating element attached on a bottom of the main body and configured to be heated by microwaves to heat the main body; a microwave heater configured to radiate microwaves to the cooking vessel; an input device configured to receive a simmer cooking command; and a controller configured to repeatedly perform a process of turning on the microwave heater for a first time period, when the simmer cooking command is received through the input device, and turning off the microwave heater for a second time period when the first time period elapses, for a cooking time period, and configured to perform a keeping-warm process when a door does not open in a third time period after the cooking time period elapses.

Devices and methods for RF heating of food, using techniques which allow uniformity and/or controlled non-uniformity.

Processes and systems that enhance the heating of packaged foodstuffs and other items in various microwave heating systems are described herein. The foodstuffs may be contained in a package including one or more energy control elements that interact with microwave energy in order to alter the effect that microwave energy has on the foodstuff. These energy control elements can enhance or inhibit microwave energy and a single package may include one or more energy control elements. In some cases, the energy control element may respond differently to different types of microwave energy. As a result, some packages described herein may exhibit different absorption or reflectance characteristics when exposed to microwave energy while being pasteurized or sterilized in a larger-scale microwave heating system than when the package is reheated in an at-home microwave oven prior to consumption or use.

An automated, computer-controlled, cooking system for use with user selectable ones of a plurality of different pre-sealed computerized cooking containers containing dry contents (PSCCCCDC) useful in preparing corresponding different food products, the system including a microwave radiation generator, a PSCCCCDC support for supporting a user-selected one of the plurality of different PSCCCCDCs during cooking, a computer-controlled liquid supply subsystem for supplying liquid to the selected PSCCCCDC, a computer-controlled stirrer subsystem for producing stirring of the dry contents of the PSCCCCDC together with the liquid, a cooking instructions input interface for receiving PSCCCCDC specific cooking instructions and a computer controller operative to control operation of at least the computer-controlled liquid supply subsystem, the computer-controlled stirrer subsystem and the microwave radiation generator in a predetermined sequence corresponding to and specifically adapted for cooking the contents of the selected PSCCC-CDC in accordance with the PSCCCCDC specific cooking instructions.

An electromagnetic cooking device includes a heating cavity and at least one electromagnetic energy source configured to generate radiation in communication with the heating cavity via a supply cavity. The cooking apparatus further includes a first port configured to emit the radiation into a first region of the heating cavity from the supply cavity and a second port configured to emit the radiation into a second region of the heating cavity from the supply cavity. A septum is disposed along the supply cavity. The septum is configured to adjust a proportion of the radiation emitted from the first port and the second port into the heating cavity.

Apparatuses and methods for applying EM energy to a load are provided. The apparatuses and methods may include at least one processor configured to receive information indicative of energy dissipated by the load for each of a plurality of modulation space elements. The processor may also be configured to associate each of the plurality of modulation space elements with a corresponding time duration of power application, based on the received information. The processor may be further configured to regulate energy applied to the load such that for each of the plurality of modulation space elements, power is applied to the load at the corresponding time duration of power application.

Devices and methods for RF heating of food, using techniques which allow uniformity and/or controlled non-uniformity.

A method of popping popcorn in a microwave includes operating an energy source to provide energy to a cooking chamber and detecting, by a microphone sensor, sound waves in the cooking chamber and providing an output signal indicative of the detected sound waves to a control unit. The control unit can determine that the output signal is indicative of a popping sound generated by popcorn kernels popping and control the energy source to stop providing energy to the cooking chamber based on the detected popping sounds.

A method for voice control on a microwave oven, and a microwave oven. The method for voice control on a microwave oven comprises a step of receiving a voice instruction input by a user (S10), a step of checking whether default menu parameters corresponding to the voice instruction are pre-stored (S20), a step of controlling the operation of a microwave oven according to the default menu parameters (S30), and a step of controlling, when receiving a parameter change instruction, the operation of the microwave oven according to changed parameters, and updating the default menu parameters (S40). The microwave oven comprises a receive module (10), a check module (20), a control module (30) and an update module (40). The parameters of the microwave oven can be changed to meet different requirements.

A cooking apparatus including a transmission antenna for irradiating a substance to be cooked with beamformed electromagnetic waves; a reception antenna for receiving reflected waves reflected from the substance to be cooked; and a controller for determining the temperature of the substance to be cooked corresponding to the received reflected waves on the basis of the property in which the electromagnetic waves, with which the substance to be cooked is irradiated, are reflected differently in accordance with the temperature of the substance to be cooked.