Gourmia's cooling cookers solve a big make-ahead meal problem
Throw that pork shoulder in the pot and head to the office. Gourmia's new cookers will keep it cool.
The Gourmia CoolCooker multicooker has a new built-in refrigeration system.
Cooking with meats and cold ingredients can be tricky when you're working with slow cookers, pressure cookers or any appliance managed remotely over several hours. If you're cooking meat for 4 or 6 hours during a work day, you'll likely have to start it immediately and leave your completed recipe sitting in the pot under a "keep warm" mode until your 9 to 5 is over. There's not usually a food-safe option for throwing in meat and having the cooker start just in time to finish up as you're walking in the door.
Gourmia aims to solve that with its CoolCookers. Two new models, a pressure cooker and multicooker, include a built-in refrigeration system that will keep temperature-sensitive foods at 35 degrees F until you'd like cooking to begin.
Gourmia's CoolCooker Pressure Cooker (model GPCC1960) includes automatic and remote pressure-release options, should you want to control it from your iPhone or Android device. You'll also get autostirring capability and an LCD touchscreen display.
The CoolCooker MultiCooker (model GMCC1970) has a 6.5-quart capacity and basic multicooker functions such as sauté, bake, roast, steam, sous vide and stew.
Both models are Wi-Fi-enabled and work with the Gourmia app, in which you can set schedules and modes to make sure your dish is ready when you get home. They will also work with Google Assistant and Alexa for basic voice commands.
Could we finally have a truly set-it-and-forget-it cooker on our hands, or is a completely hands-free meal still a future fantasy?
This isn't the first time Gourmia has pitched a cool-cooking device, I should note. We saw a similar prototype at IHHS last year. This one looks significantly more polished, but with no pricing and a vague late-2019 availability estimate, I'm still a bit skeptical about whether it will actually come to market.
