Nowadays, a variety of heating devices such as gas stoves, electric stoves, electromagnetic oven or microwave ovens are widely used to cook food. During the process of stewing soup, boiling water or performing other time-consuming cuisine steps, it is necessary to pay attention to the cooking time. If the user deals with other matters or temporarily leaves the kitchen during the waiting time, some problems may occur. For example, in a case that the cooking time is misjudged or the user forgets the food is still being cooked, the food or the broth or the water is possibly burnt dry or over-burnt. Under this circumstance, the food and the energy sourceare wasted, and the over-burning condition is at high risk of a fire accident therefore, the family kitchen with a fire accident has become the greatest threat to the safety of family property.
On basis of safety considerations, a so-called anti-dry stove has been introduced into the market. For preventing the food or the broth or the water from being burnt dry during the cooking process and minimizing the risk of the fire accident, the anti-dry stove is usually equipped with a temperature detector or an overheating protection device for detecting the temperature at the bottom of the foodstuff container. Generally, once the safety mechanism of the temperature detector or the overheating protection device is enabled, it is found that the foodstuff container is usually charred and the temperature of the foodstuff container increases to an abnormal high temperature. In other words, the problem of burning dry or over-burning the food or the broth or the water fails to be timely and effectively avoided, because the foodstuff container and the food inside the foodstuff container are already in the burnt dry condition, and the problem of wasting the food and energy source and the risk of fire accident still exists.
For example, a weighable intelligent stove is disclosed in Chinese Utility Model Patent No. 03224145b. A weighing device is installed on a stove body of the intelligent stove. Since the weight of the cooked material on the stove gradually decreases during the cooking process, the required weight of the thoroughly-cooked food may be previously set. When the weight of the cooked food reaches the preset value, the switch of the stove is electronically or mechanically controlled.
However, during the process of cooking food, the firepower level of the heat source or the amount of food ingredients should be frequently adjusted according to the feature and amount of the food ingredient, the practical requirements or the cooking method. Moreover, the various cooking methods include frying, boiling, stir-frying, deep-frying, stewing, and many other different cooking methods. For different cooking methods, the firepower level and the cooking time are completely distinguished. Even if the food ingredients are identical, the weight changes of the food cooked by different cooking methods are also distinguished. Moreover, if stove is operated or the food ingredients are stirred or increased or decreased during the cooking process, the weight change of the cooked material is sensed. That is, since only the food weight is used to determine the firepower level and the cooking time or the weight of the thoroughly cooked material is estimated and set, the conventional cooking methods fail to meet the practical requirements.
Therefore, the present invention provides an improved cooking method for preventing a cooked material from being burnt dry by monitoring “the weight drop rate or the slope of weight change” of the cooked material. The term “weight drop rate or slope of weight change” indicates the difference between the weight of the cooked material before reaching the boiling point and the weight of the cooked material after reaching the boiling point. On basis of safety and energy-saving considerations, the method and the stove of the present invention are advantageous over the conventional anti-dry stove and the conventional weight-setting method.