Patent ID: 6987250

Claim:
A cooking apparatus comprising: a cooking unit, for holding food; a heating element in thermal contact with the cooking unit; and an electronic control circuit electrically coupled to the heating element, and adapted to provide power thereto, the electronic control circuit comprising: a single control switch to turn on operating power to the cooking apparatus and to select a mode of operation from a group of modes comprising at least one of a timed mode, a manual mode, and an automatic mode, wherein the single control switch selects one of a plurality of predetermined power levels of operation in manual mode, wherein the single control switch further selects a pre-set time interval in timed mode, and wherein the single control switch further selects a pre-set temperature value in automatic mode; and at least one of a temperature sensor and a clock, the temperature sensor sensing a temperature at the cooking unit, the temperature sensor being in thermal contact with the cooking unit; and wherein the clock monitors and compares actual elapsed time to the pre-set time interval in timed mode, the timed mode including a first mode of operation, the first mode of operation operating until the actual elapsed time is substantially equal to the pre-set time interval, and a second mode of operation, the second mode of operation commencing when the actual elapsed time is substantially equal to the pre-set time interval.