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A Watched Pot Never Boils, But This One Stirs Itself

By Rain Noe - May 29, 2012

in Homeware | Food

Here's a great example of re-thinking an everyday object and using a little science to improve the user experience:

The shape of your basic cooking pot hasn't changed much since its invention, though nowadays we use metal drawing rather than hand-hammering. But an unnamed Japanese inventor has been prototyping pots with Bundt-pan-like fluting in the sides, angled in the manner of a helical gear. The reason? When heated up, convection causes the liquids within to move (hot water rises to the top), and the vortex shape channels that movement into a fixed direction. The result is a pot that essentially stirs itself!

A Japanese company called Watanabe Co. Ltd is currently seeking a manufacturer for the device, called the Kuru-Kuru Nabe ("Round and round pot.")

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DJZMAN

12 years ago

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Is this just for water? or can i make thicker things in it like Fudge. I have to keep stirring the fudge for 6mins at a boil. would this keep up with this.
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Fajas

12 years ago

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This is amazing. But then there are limitations to this product such as thick liquid or keeping it clean and its inability to let you stir efficiently due to its shape.
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unpolished-life

12 years ago

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it's cool but there are some short comings.... 1- it'll need some depth for this effect to work, just an inch-deep liquid won't swirl as well as 3 inches of it would... 2- and this is the important shortcoming... it seems to really kick in when the liquid has come to a boil, at which point there is enough motion in the liquid (from all the bubbling) that at that point any pot could be considered "self-stirring."
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Luke

12 years ago

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It's cute and clever, but very gimmicky. All they showed was a small handful of colorful floating dots getting stirred around. I'll bet you can't beat good old fashioned mechanical agitation.

Let's see it stir a cup or two of grains or legumes, or perhaps a thick sauce or a rich stew. Heck, I'll be impressed if it can stir dry noodles (spaghetti, soba, whatever) firmly enough to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

I could see this maybe being useful in collecting foam or scum in the middle of the pot, like if you're boiling fried tofu or making soup stock, to make it easier to skim. But whether it works depends on whether the things you're boiling don't break up the current stirring the pot.

Keeping it clean might be another issue. Not a big one, since there aren't any particularly tight spaces to catch bits of food, but it's not as straightforward as wiping down a broad, smooth surface. The time added to cleaning might negate the time saved from stirring.

Hey, if I'm wrong, I'll welcome it (a self-stirring pot with no moving parts would be pretty handy for some dishes) but I think I'm right when I say it's a gimmick.
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Kostas

12 years ago

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Hope it is self-cleaning, too!
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powers

12 years ago

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And in this, I see hope for humanity. It's great living in the 21st Century.
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