Self Stirring Pot

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Okay, how does it work???

From what I can see it is based upon the shape of the plan and upon the principle of convection.

In convection a substance such as water or air becomes less dense when it is heated. Heat energy causes the molecules to bounce against one another harder and forces the hot water (or air) to become less dense (weighs less per volume). In a gravity field (this does not happen in zero-G) the lighter (hotter) portion rises and the heavier (colder) portion descends to replace it.

In a cooking pan the heat is applied from the exterior so the hottest liquid is near the sides and particularly the bottom. Together these effects result in a circulation pattern where hot liquid pools on the bottom and rises on the sides, then sinks in the middle as the liquid cools--to be replaced by yet hotter liquid. If you looked at a diagram of a sauce pan with liquid under heat you would see a circulating pattern resembling a horizontal "8" with both sides rising and the middle descending.

To my eye this pan is designed to direct the rising side currents into a horizontal circular pattern, by means of the swirl in the outer shape of the pan. This causes the rising currents to rotate along with the vanes. and gives the convection a rotating component.

IMO that explains what can be seen in the video.

But... Everybody who knows anything about cooking and about stirring pans knows you need a more complex motion than simply rotating the contents of the pan. That is all that this "novel" design adds, that it circulates the pan contents. This has little importance when the pan is symmetrical and is symmetrically placed on the burner. I imagine some lazy chef stirring the pot round and round but too lazy to scoop up the bottom in a vertical or complex motion.

What is needed in a real kitchen is turbulence, stirring to mix the contents of the pan rather than merely circulating or rotating the contents. All experienced chefs know you need to stir from the bottom in a complex motion to keep the pot contents well mixed, particularly when using aggressive heat such as in reductions.
 
Last edited:
This was talked about a while back on a Hawaiian forum I am on, but they are GREAT for noodle dishes!

As far as being a PITA to clean, not really, as you typically are going to do noodles/hot pots/ and brothy one pot meals in them, not heavy sauces or stews/gravies.
 
They had a similar product available, and all I could think of was how long the batteries would last, what would happen if the liquid boiled off, and whether or not it would melt.

Yeah, OK, send me two of them. Yeah, right!
 
They had a similar product available, and all I could think of was how long the batteries would last, what would happen if the liquid boiled off, and whether or not it would melt.

Yeah, OK, send me two of them. Yeah, right!


No, Z! This pot has no plastic parts and does not need batteries. It's quite clever.
 
If I'm cooking a long cooking time dish (jambalaya, for instance), I like to think ahead to whether I'm going to be available for stirring.

If not, I'll put it in the fridge to continue later.

I can't imaging turning my pot of food over to some gimmick that has the potential of making a really big mess.
 
If I'm cooking a long cooking time dish (jambalaya, for instance), I like to think ahead to whether I'm going to be available for stirring.

If not, I'll put it in the fridge to continue later.

I can't imaging turning my pot of food over to some gimmick that has the potential of making a really big mess.

Not a gimmick or gadget, you should watch the video on this one. Also, it's really for making soups and such, not thick sauces.
 
Sorry, Fi, I missed your reply. Do you think it would work? If so, what would you use it for?
 
Last edited:
In chemistry class we had some sort of platform that we put the beakers on to heat and dropped a couple of plastic coated magnets in. The platform would rotate the magnets and keep your solution moving. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember the details.
 
Well, if they can keep my split pea soup from scorching, I might just be a customer. Is there a speed control?
 
Sorry, Fi, I missed your reply. Do you think it would work? If so, what would you use it for?


I would only use it for broth type cooking. It's still cool. Check the link Hoot supplied for what the pot was created for. Very nice layman's explanation.

As for the magnets (Magnetic stirrer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) I'm not sure they would be able to stir split pea soup, either.
 
They had a similar product available, and all I could think of was how long the batteries would last, what would happen if the liquid boiled off, and whether or not it would melt.

Yeah, OK, send me two of them. Yeah, right!

If I'm cooking a long cooking time dish (jambalaya, for instance), I like to think ahead to whether I'm going to be available for stirring.

If not, I'll put it in the fridge to continue later.

I can't imaging turning my pot of food over to some gimmick that has the potential of making a really big mess.

Well, if they can keep my split pea soup from scorching, I might just be a customer. Is there a speed control?

Sorry, Fi, I missed your reply. Do you think it would work? If so, what would you use it for?

Umm. . .you should check out the OP. . .all answers will be revealed.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom