A Cooking Machine – Alternative Dishes & Hardware/Software Modification
This is the third in a series detailing the processes behind the research, design, material selection, assembly and programming of a cooking machine. See the column Stories of Food & Tech here.
What if I want to cook more than the demo dish? What other dishes out there are suitable for my cooking machine so that I am not stuck cooking just one type of food every week?
In this post, I compiled a list of my favorite Chinese dishes (organized by food type) that are also suitable for my cooking machine and I have identified some additional features needed to accommodate these dishes.
Figure 1. Alternative Dishes for Experimentation on this Cooking Machine
Dishes with Meat Only:
Dishes with Meat or Egg + Choice of Vegetable:
Dishes with Veggies or Tofu: (Vegan):
Explanation for Additional Design Requirements:
1. Two cooking compartments: vegetable compartment + protein compartment or 2nd vegetable compartment.
Note: Design Diagram will be provided in later posts.
2. Regular checkup feature: An app / cooking machine alarm that is designed for dishes that require a longer cook time (>= 30 minutes).
3. Deeper pot: Certain ingredients require boiling procedure that involves water or chicken/vegetable broth.
4. Delicate stirring function: Reduced stirring speed and frequency is designed for soft ingredients, such as tofu.
5. Stirrer speed control switch: This is designed for various tofu textures (soft, medium, firm, extra firm).
An ending note:
I really hope this cooking machine can be applicable to various kinds of dishes. As an engineer, I know from experience that although none of my ideas go smoothly the first time I try them out, I’m ready to experiment with different hardware components and various dishes to see what works best.
For other engineers and designers out there, I want to know, what components or functions do you suggest I add or eliminate to optimize the technical design? (Based on this post & the previous post A Cooking Machine – Demo Dish Choices & Smart Features.)
For all food lovers out there, what would be your first demo dish choice if you were going to let a cooking machine cook a dish for you? Does this demo dish have a special meaning for you and why?
I would love to learn about your thoughts, stories, and ideas on these matters! Email me at food.tech.stories@gmail.com. If you are willing to feature your stories through this column, please add a line “willing to be featured” at the end of the email. I’ll choose and compile your comments to share in subsequent posts.
For the next post, I’ll start to look into the actual hardware that I’m going to use and potentially select the initial components. I’ll also share some of my own stories & journey with food. Stay tuned :)