Smart pot and cook using Wi-Fi makes cooking is annoying

Frying, roasting, grilling, broiling, boiling, roasting - any way, and I love to cook. It is not always easy, and sometimes it's just plain hard work, but at least it's the kind of work I love. Despite this, I did not use the slow cooker, and has always been a little jealous of my friends who have one. Put the plug in and out good. It seems so easy!

Since you can not work after closer to my goal of adding a collection of slow cooker in my kitchen, I jumped at the chance to try pottery crock pot with smart Belkin WeMo. The name is a bit of mouth, but the idea of ​​a slow cooker that I can control remotely resembled a definite plus - used to check the things I cook and make the necessary adjustments. In this case, you can do it from my phone, even while riding the train or walk to my apartment. Practice!


The ability to check to see if your food is still cooking can make use of types of OCD, but for most, the Wi-Fi is not worth the additional price of $ 130.
MATERIAL


At first glance, Belkin slow cooker is not so different from non-intelligent Slow Cookers made ​​by slow cooker. It is an oval shaped bowl with silver metal exterior, black handles on each side, the glass cover and the controls on the front panel under the bowl pottery familiar logo. But instead of dial-up, or touch pad for new digital models, and intelligent controls crockpot and downgraded to a single clicky button. This button allows you to switch between high settings cooking low and warm, while the rest of the plate is just a pointer. Have control of more advanced than the application transferred. Inside, the cook has a black ceramic plate for removable sleeps six pints.

SOFTWARE

Link crockpot is a relatively painless process. You will need to download the free application WeMo for Android, iOS or Kindle first. Once you plug in the slow cooker smart, and they will create a Wi-Fi network to which they relate. Then, when you open the application WeMo, and they pay you to connect to your home network. I had to restart the application to get in touch to complete the installation process, but only to a point. I feel like a lot of smart devices and often require frequent rebooting the burden of paying to get connected, but it went fairly smoothly. The best part is that you only have to set up a time - even if it's slow cooker is disconnected (which happens often because the means of combat and space is at a premium in my kitchen), and we will remember the settings and reconnect automatically when you plug it in again.

The WeMo app itself is very clear, and all those who have already invested in smart light switches or points Belkin should be familiar with what it has to offer. Are listed all the devices connected to the evolution of their relationship with the show. Just click on the one you want to control that time. Available via the icon in the upper right of the screen for general application settings area. Choose this icon is selected while the device will result in additional options to change the camera settings or even a firmware update. Once set up, you should see the slow cooker in the device list and you just need to tap on the circle in your note to run it. Each cycle of tap through the different heating options, from low to high heat, before cycling to the exit. Choose the same quality you can determine when, turning up and down between numbers.


With slow cooker set up, it's time to give this thing a try. I settled on the barbecue chicken stew style with celery, onions, peppers, tomatoes and spices that would define as a "flavor of the barbecue." Unfortunately, I soon realized that, despite the slow cooker means I do not have to stand over a hot stove, because they control the soup bubbles away, it does not make the preparation process easier or faster. yet I cut all vegetables and chicken, which still takes time, dashing any meal idea "quick and easy".

Once everything was chopped and squared away in the pot, with the appropriate spices and grew up in the hood popped up on the top, and facing a sort of puzzle: Can I use my phone to the run or press the button on the front? I chose to use the phone to set the oven to "low", but I felt powerful beast to do since you're standing in front of him. Experimenting with the phone and the manual controls, I noticed that the phone shows a slight difference between the temperature settings, so you might as well on the button when it is physically possible. There is the risk of pressing the long button in the application to set the wrong temperature and force you to go through all the settings to get it where you want.

With the slow cooker heat slowly, beginning the process of converting raw materials to my delicious, delicious soup, I left for work. In response to that, after a long day at the office, do not have to worry about what I'll eat when I got home. Will be there, waiting for me.

I managed to get all the way to work without looking at my phone, but the first chance I had, I checked the WeMo application. It was still cooking. This ... all I know. The application tells you to select only the cooking of the current temperature and when it was cooking. They do not tell you what the exact temperature of the food is, how hot it is or if it has boiled tomatoes in a bowl completely. The cooking time is not even that can be invoked - just a measure when he was on the slow cooker and when the food was not in the vehicle. If you decide to raise the temperature, you need to spend at least the rest area and then back up, reset the cooking time. You can always adjust the temporary distance, but I'll tell you how much time you are setting up to cook, not how long it takes for food to finish cooking.

I checked periodically throughout the day, with the same apparent lack of significant progress. "Yes, there are still cooking," and I say this every time I open the application. However, as I watched pot never summarizes, it was good that I watched a lot - once when I checked the application, the slow cooker off! Not sure if the problem was on my side pot or just off, but it ended a good thing you spend metaphorically in this soup. But they do not yet, however, and remained for the rest of the day.

Check out my obsession stopped cold turkey and I rode the subway home. There is no cell service underground after all. But when I got the signal, I managed to restrain myself. As I walked into my apartment, open the app on my phone again to put the pot for "hot" because dinner was imminent.


Arriving at home, I went straight to my kitchen to get a first look at the finished soup. Cooked tomatoes and vegetables are completely tender. Disparate ingredients were simmering in reddish concoction that smelled delicious. I grabbed my spoon and large portions of Adelaide soup dishes for me and my friend and spray a little cheddar cheese on top. How was it? Delicious. I have not had enough acidity I hoped, but it was still very delicious with the right amount of sweetness. My only complaint - and this is not, in fact, involves a cook to some extent - is that the meat was not very sensitive to touch. However, easily removed and shredded into pieces when he asked with a spoon.

Once we had finished eating, it's time for the worst part of the evening cleaning. But it was not bad at all. The smart slow cooker is actually composed of two pieces, and abroad with a heating element metal and a ceramic bowl inside that can be removed for service or cleaning. We took them and washed like any other bowl, and wipe it with a sponge and a little dishwashing liquid, and place it in the oven after it has dried. The outer part can easily be wiped clean and the lack of really useful buttons here and there are fewer places for food particles accumulate fled.

WRAP-UP


Although I enjoyed my soup, and the use of pottery crock pot with smart Belkin WeMo was a pleasant experience overall, I can not say, and added that the Wi-Fi especially useful for the device. Slow cookers generally have timers so you can cook them just the right amount of time and have it be stopped before it's ruined food. An advantage of the wireless internet is that you can run again after firm on its own - even if you end up working later than expected, before leaving the office, you can set the range to "hot" food is ready to start today Walking in the door. But like many other slow cookers, isolated pottery bowl Belkin well, making it unlikely that your food get cold (or warm) before it reaches the house, even if you stay late.

The information contained in the application bit slow cooker smart more useful, such as the current temperature of the food and how long it was in the pot. Application could use some improvements in general - while consistent with WeMo if then this (IFTTT), and there is no compatibility with some slow cooker. I can not, for example, the preparation of the slow cooker so smart sometimes brag on Twitter about the great soup you make. In its current state, the application that the transfer control to the cook in your phone. Instead of being something "set and forget" and allows connectivity to obsess about your diet every day. Maybe some people like this degree of control, but for most, it's not worth spending $ 130 when he could have been a regular slow cooker for less than $ 30.