Method for controlling a cooking appliance using an external control device (25, 125), wherein: - the cooking appliance has at least one heating device and an internal cooking appliance controller, - the external control device (25, 125) is arranged outside said cooking appliance, - the external control device (25, 125) provides said cooking appliance controller with control commands for controlling at least said heating device, - the external control device (25, 125) is classified by said cooking appliance controller either as an automatic control device or as a manual control device, - in case of an automatic control device, an automatic program runs on the external control device (25, 125) which specifies either particular temperature profiles or power profiles by means of automatic control commands, - in case of a manual control device, an operator inputs or specifies manual control commands at the manual control device directly as a power setting or a timer input for the heating device, wherein any power change is manually or explicitly specified by an operator, - following said classification, said control commands from said external control device (25, 125) are implemented by said cooking appliance controller, - a check is carried out continuously or at intervals during operation of said cooking appliance, in order to determine whether said classification still applies, characterized in that during the check whether said classification still applies, a frequency of a power adjustment is captured for said heating device, wherein in case that said power is changed more than three times per minute, said classification is changed from a manual control device to an automatic control device, or in that during the check whether said classification still applies, it is captured whether a power adjustment by said external control device (25, 125) is either at irregular intervals of time or at regular intervals of time or with integer multiples of a particular time unit, wherein said external control device is classified as a manual control device in said first case and is classified as an automatic control device in said second case. - the cooking appliance has at least one heating device and an internal cooking appliance controller, - the external control device (25, 125) is arranged outside said cooking appliance, - the external control device (25, 125) provides said cooking appliance controller with control commands for controlling at least said heating device, - the external control device (25, 125) is classified by said cooking appliance controller either as an automatic control device or as a manual control device, - in case of an automatic control device, an automatic program runs on the external control device (25, 125) which specifies either particular temperature profiles or power profiles by means of automatic control commands, - in case of a manual control device, an operator inputs or specifies manual control commands at the manual control device directly as a power setting or a timer input for the heating device, wherein any power change is manually or explicitly specified by an operator, - following said classification, said control commands from said external control device (25, 125) are implemented by said cooking appliance controller, - a check is carried out continuously or at intervals during operation of said cooking appliance, in order to determine whether said classification still applies, characterized in that during the check whether said classification still applies, a frequency of a power adjustment is captured for said heating device, wherein in case that said power is changed more than three times per minute, said classification is changed from a manual control device to an automatic control device, or in that during the check whether said classification still applies, it is captured whether a power adjustment by said external control device (25, 125) is either at irregular intervals of time or at regular intervals of time or with integer multiples of a particular time unit, wherein said external control device is classified as a manual control device in said first case and is classified as an automatic control device in said second case.