The idea of self cooking has been in use for centuries where energy is expensive. It makes total sense. Why blast heat on one surface when the food can uniformly cook itself with its internal heat ? So logical Spock would love it. Here's the deal. Heat your meal in another pot on the stove until it reaches about 1/3 done, you can use the Zoji pot however it is shaped a little too tall and narrow for good stovetop cooking, meanwhile prewarm the inside of the thermal cannister with hot water from the tap and pour it out and wipe it dry with a cloth, then pour or ladle the soup, stew, or whatnot onto the Zoji pot and fit the glass lid on, then place it into the thermal cannister and close the lid. I often put a folded towel on top of the closed lid for a little extra heat retention.... this jobbie will hold a LOT of heat for a long time... and it has to be the mellowest, gentlest cooking on the face of the earth... you won't believe how much nutritional and flavor essence gets boiled out of most stovetop food... you can prepare most of dinner before you leave in the morning, put the cannister out of the way... no cords, wires or dangerous heat... can't burn or dry out, scorch or bake a crust like heated cookers... so gentle a cat will go to sleep next to it... you can take a little braised meat and mix it with soup and in 8-10 hours it will pull the flavor out into the soup without burning off the finer vegetable tastes... so you can get master chef results with a little practice and about zero hassle... I own two of these.... wouldn't be at all surprised if they were one of the secrets in the top kitchens in the restaurant world... because it is so easy to preprep sauces and free of the stove surface, then ladle out what you need as you go... pure genius... one hint though... food will cook differently and you will have to practice, for example I experiemented with overnight oatmeal to see what would happen... it was so uniformly cooked in the morning it was sort of like oatmeal jello... interesting but unusual...
GREAT!!!
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