Hey, Busy People: This Smart Machine Cooks Meals for You
When you’ve barely got the bandwidth to decode the latest mashed up food craze (Ramen taco? Waffle taco? Donut waffle? Ahhh!), how can you find the time to whip up a culinary masterpiece in your very own kitchen stadium? Really, what does it take for a busy home cook to get a five-star sous chef up in here? The very zen answer is Mellow, a connected gadget that cooks your food exactly to your taste while you’re TCB.
Deep breath in… and breathe out. You’ll need the reminder once you find out the pedigree of mad culinary skills that Mellow brings to the table. At its most not-so-basic basic, Mellow is a smart sous-vide machine that cooks food in airtight pouches underwater (or as you see above, in their own hardy outerwear). It’s an incredibly precise method you’ve probably seen on food competition shows like Top Chef. Here, it’s reimagined for modern home kitchens as a streamlined countertop device that you can control with your smartphone via a wireless connection.
Mellow will alert your iOS or Android device when it senses you’ve dropped food in its water bath so that you can set your supper’s specs right then and there. Plug in your ingredient, dictate what time you want it ready by, specify the done-ness at which you’d like it cooked and Mellow will fire up on command just like a personal chef. All you need to do is show up at dinnertime with an appetite.
But Mellow’s coolest feature — quite literally — is that it’s designed with a built in AC of sorts that keeps your food at refrigerator temperatures until it’s time to cook. That means you can prep your food (put food in bag; put bag into water bath) whenever you have those precious few minutes to spare. Then carry on with your day, or even turn in for bed without having to worry about defrosting, pre-heating or any kind of spoilage.
Besides seamlessly working around your schedule, Mellow also caters to your unique taste as time goes on. Unleash your inner Yelper after every meal so that it can learn your likes and dislikes and adjust its settings accordingly. This way, every meal is almost guaranteed to be better than the last.
You can cook up to six portions at a time in Mellow’s aquatic chamber, so dinner party hostesses will barely have to break a sweat prepping for the main event. What WILL you do with that hour of “me time” before your bash begins? We recommend taking a cue from Mellow and dipping your toes into a warm, relaxing bubble bath. Oh, could someone text Gordon Ramsay to pipe it down over there? ‘Cause this gadget just made cooking a spa-like experience. If that’s a scenario you’re craving, you can pre-order Mellow for $400 — that’s $100 off the retail price — and start reserving a place for it on your countertop as early as next year.
What culinary gadget has changed the way you cooked for good? Tell us in the comments below.
