Williams Pelegrin
What would you say to a slow cooker with support for a popular voice assistant? It might be easy for some to say no to such a proposition, but my ineptitude in the kitchen means I can use all the help I can get. That’s where Crock-Pot comes in with a newly announced six-quart slow cooker with Amazon Alexa support.
It’s not as simple as talking to the slow cooker, though that’d be simultaneously cool and crazy-looking for bystanders. Instead, the slow cooker connects with the Alexa app and Alexa-enabled devices. From there, you can use your voice to start or stop the slow cooker, program cook-times, and heat settings, and check the status of your meal. You can program cooking times from 30 minutes to 20 hours on high or low heat settings.
Once the cooking time is up, the slow cooker automatically shifts to “warm” to keep your food as it is. You don’t have to completely rely on automation if you don’t want to—you can control the heat setting directly on the slow cooker by toggling through the low, high, and warm settings.
The rest of Crock-Pot’s new slow cooker is what you’d expect to see on competing options: a six-quart size, a stainless steel exterior, handles on either side and a dishwasher-safe glass lid.
Crock-Pot’s slow cooker isn’t the only cooking device in town with Alexa support. Instant Pot offers its own pressure cooker that can also be a rice cooker, yogurt maker, cake maker, saute pan, steamer, and warmer. The Instant Pot pressure cooker’s versatility gives it a leg-up over Crock-Pot’s slow cooker, though you can make cakes and other desserts on the latter (not to mention the set it and forget it while you work factor). Choose the one that fits your cooking needs best!
There’s no word on pricing and availability for the Crock-Pot slow cooker. For reference, Instant Pot’s pressure cooker with Alexa support normally costs $149.95.
Source: Engadget
