CN108779921B

CN108779921B - Kitchen appliance

Info

Publication number: CN108779921B
Application number: CN201780013476.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 蒉霄云; 唐佳妮; 谭径微; 田峰
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips NV
Current assignee: Fansongni Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 2016-02-26
Filing date: 2017-02-09
Publication date: 2021-07-20
Anticipated expiration: 2037-02-09
Also published as: WO2017144283A1; CN108779921A; AU2017224029B2; AU2017224029A1; SG11201806937VA

Abstract

A kitchen appliance (10) is disclosed, comprising a cooking chamber (20), the cooking chamber (20) comprising a sensor arrangement (15), the sensor arrangement (15) comprising at least one of a humidity sensor and a colorimeter arranged to determine a color of a food product in the cooking chamber; and a lid (30) for sealing the cooking chamber. The kitchen appliance (10) further comprises a controller (17) responsive to the sensor means, wherein the controller is adapted to generate a control signal for triggering the opening of the cooking chamber in response to the sensor signal from the sensor means.

Description

Kitchen appliance

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a kitchen appliance comprising a cooking chamber and a lid for sealing the cooking chamber.

Background

Over the past decades, food consumption has become increasingly concerned with the health benefits of food products. For example, this has increased the interest in bioactive compounds in foods (e.g., superfood), e.g., bioactive compounds with health benefits (e.g., vitamins, antioxidants, etc.).

One area of considerable interest is the retention of such bioactive compounds during food preparation, particularly cooking. Many bioactive compounds are not temperature stable, i.e., decompose at high temperatures, and prolonged exposure to such high temperatures may reduce the nutritional value of the cooked food product.

For example, pigments in vegetables and fruits have recognized biological activity, but are temperature unstable, which can be observed by color changes during cooking (e.g., boiling, frying, or steaming) of the vegetables or fruits. This is schematically illustrated in fig. 1, fig. 1 being a diagram showing the greenness G (arbitrary units (au)) of a green vegetable, such as broccoli, as a function of cooking time T (minutes). As can be seen from the figure, greenness of green vegetables deteriorates with increasing cooking time, which may be associated with loss of pigments in the vegetables. This can be explained as follows. Chlorophyll, which produces the greenness of green vegetables, is decomposed by chlorophyllase through hydrolysis of the chlorophyll ester bond to produce chlorophyllide and phytol. The reaction rate of the hydrolysis reaction is particularly high under high temperature and watery conditions (e.g., under high humidity). Therefore, from a health perspective, a reduction in cooking time and/or a reduction in humidity during cooking (e.g., boiling, frying, or steaming) is desirable in order to retain the maximum possible amount of color in these food products.

Unfortunately, the reduction in cooking time and/or the reduction in moisture can adversely affect the texture of these food products, for example, the food product may be considered too hard to eat. This is due to the high water content required for softening of the plant epidermis, since during the cooking process the pectin and hemicellulose that hold the cell walls together in the plant epidermis need to be dissolved and dispersed in order to cause separation of the cell walls, resulting in a softened mouthfeel of the plant epidermis, for which a high water content is required.

Therefore, there is a need for a kitchen appliance that can control the cooking process of a food product such that the cooked food product has a desirable texture while retaining as much of the temperature-labile bioactive compounds therein as possible.

JP2009002552A discloses a heating cooker using superheated steam to obtain a juicy finish and to form a delicious outer coke colour. When the door is opened during the cooking operation, the steam in the heating chamber is rapidly discharged from the exhaust port by the exhaust fan without starting the heating cooking operation by the superheated steam. This therefore protects the user from the risk of exposure to superheated steam when the door is open.

WO2013/099359a1 discloses a heating cooking apparatus that detects electromagnetic waves, the intensity of which is changed by striking an object to be heated, thereby recognizing a change in the moisture content of the object to be heated, and thereby evaluating the cooking state of the object to be heated.

US2014/0311360a1 discloses a commercial oven including a motorized damper allowing the oven to be automatically moved between an off state high humidity mode of operation and an on state low humidity mode of operation in accordance with user input reflecting a desired cooking process. A disadvantage of this oven is that it is switched between the off state and the on state modes of operation based on user input. User error may cause the food product prepared in the oven to not be prepared correctly, and the programs that may be used by the user may not be suitable for preparing a particular food product in a desired manner.

WO0052392 discloses an apparatus for terminating cooking and indicating status. The end of cooking or baking in the oven can be determined by presetting or by measuring suitable parameters. At the end, the door is triggered to open automatically to inform the state. When the operation is automatic, the opening of the door can be combined with a sudden change in the cavity light intensity, while manual closing and opening causes the light to fade out or in. The partial opening indicating the end of cooking and ventilation is accompanied by a flashing light. The humidity sensor is connected to control electronics which in turn controls the blower and the door release.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to provide a kitchen appliance that facilitates cooking of food products comprising such compounds in a manner that increases the temperature labile compounds that are retained in the cooked food product.

According to one aspect, there is provided a kitchen appliance comprising a cooking chamber, the cooking chamber comprising sensor means comprising at least one of a humidity sensor and a colorimeter arranged to determine a color of food products in the cooking chamber; a lid for sealing the cooking chamber; and a controller responsive to the sensor means, wherein the controller is adapted to generate a control signal for triggering the opening of the cooking chamber in response to the sensor signal from the sensor means. Such kitchen appliances increase the temperature labile nutrients retained in the cooked food product by generating a control signal indicative of high humidity and/or color change of the food product during cooking, which may be used to trigger opening of a closed cooking chamber to reduce humidity in the cooking chamber, thereby mitigating decomposition of such temperature labile nutrients. According to the invention, the controller is further adapted to generate a further control signal for triggering the sealing of the cooking chamber after a delay by the generation of the control signal. In this way, excessive water vapor and/or heat loss from the cooking chamber may be avoided.

The sensor device may comprise a colorimeter, wherein the controller is adapted to generate the control signal in response to a sensor signal from the colorimeter. In this embodiment, the preparation of the food product is controlled by monitoring the color change in the food product during preparation. In this way, the preparation process can be controlled to maintain a specific color of the food product, which, as previously mentioned, is equivalent to preserving the nutritionally valuable pigments in the food product after preparation.

Alternatively or additionally, the sensor arrangement comprises a humidity sensor, and wherein the controller is adapted to generate the control signal in response to a sensor signal from the humidity sensor. In this embodiment, the preparation of the food product is controlled by monitoring the humidity within the cooking chamber such that when the food product is exposed to an environment having a certain humidity, the humidity within the cooking chamber may be reduced in order to prevent decomposition of temperature-unstable nutrients in the food product.

The controller may be further adapted to generate a further control signal in response to a further sensor signal from the sensor device. This ensures that the humidity in the cooking chamber is accurately controlled. To this end, the sensor arrangement may comprise a humidity sensor, and the controller may be further adapted to generate the further control signal in response to a further sensor signal from the humidity sensor.

The kitchen appliance may further comprise a timer, wherein the controller is further adapted to generate the control signal in response to the timer. This allows the food product to be exposed to certain conditions (e.g., a certain humidity detected by the humidity sensor and/or a food product color detected by the colorimetric sensor) for a defined period of time in order to control the preparation of the food product based on timer information provided to the controller by the timer.

The kitchen appliance may be any suitable type of kitchen appliance in which food items may be cooked or steamed. For example, the kitchen appliance may be an electric rice cooker or an electric multipurpose cooker.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described in more detail, by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 schematically shows greenness of vegetables (e.g. broccoli) as a function of cooking time;

fig. 2 schematically shows a kitchen appliance according to an embodiment;

fig. 3 schematically shows a kitchen appliance according to another embodiment;

fig. 4 schematically shows the kitchen appliance of fig. 3 in an open configuration;

fig. 5 schematically shows a kitchen appliance according to yet another embodiment;

fig. 6 schematically shows the kitchen appliance of fig. 5 in an open configuration;

fig. 7 schematically shows a kitchen appliance according to yet another embodiment;

fig. 8 schematically shows the kitchen appliance of fig. 7 in an open configuration;

fig. 9 schematically shows a kitchen appliance according to yet another embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the firmness and greenness of broccoli as a function of the amount of steam in the cooking chamber of the kitchen appliance; and

fig. 11 is a graph showing the firmness of broccoli stems as a function of cooking time.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the figures are merely schematic and are not drawn to scale. It should also be understood that the same reference numerals are used throughout the figures to indicate the same or similar parts.

In the context of the present application, a temperature labile compound (e.g., a temperature labile nutrient) is a compound that decomposes or otherwise degrades at high temperatures (e.g., temperatures typically associated with food cooking, e.g., about T ═ 100 ℃ or greater), and at such high temperatures, decomposition and degradation is accelerated at increased humidity levels.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a cross-section of a kitchen appliance 10 according to an embodiment of the invention. Kitchen appliance 10 includes a heating element 11, here by way of non-limiting example thermally coupled to the floor of cooking chamber 20 (e.g., in physical contact with the floor of cooking chamber 20). Alternatively or additionally, heating element 11 may be thermally coupled to a sidewall of cooking chamber 20. Any suitable coupling arrangement between heating element 11 and cooking chamber 20 is contemplated; for example, the heating element 11 may be integrated in the floor and/or the side walls of the cooking chamber 20. Any suitable heating element 11 may be used in the kitchen appliance 10. Typically, the heating element 11 is an electrical heating element that is powered by providing electrical power to the heating element. However, it should be understood that in some embodiments, the heating element 11 may be omitted from the kitchen appliance 10, in which case the cooking chamber may be heated by an external heat source (e.g., a hob, an oven, etc.).

The floor and sidewalls of cooking chamber 20 may be made of any suitable thermally conductive material, for example, a metal or metal alloy surface, which may be coated with a coating, for example, a non-stick layer (e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene (teflon: (r)) (

) Layers, etc.). Cooking chamber 20 comprises an internal volume in which food products prepared by cooking, (stir) frying or steaming can be placed, optionally together with a quantity of water or oil.

The kitchen appliance 10 may further comprise a lid 30 for hermetically sealing the cooking chamber 20 so as to form an enclosed space in which the food product 1 may be cooked or steamed, for example, by increasing the humidity within the enclosed space (e.g., by accumulating steam). Lid 30 may be a separate component of kitchen appliance 10, or may be an integral part of cooking chamber 20, e.g., hinged to cooking chamber 20.

The kitchen appliance 10 further comprises a sensor arrangement 15 within the cooking chamber 20. The sensor device 15 includes at least one of a humidity sensor and a colorimetric sensor. When provided, the humidity sensor is adapted to detect the humidity within cooking chamber 20, and when provided, the colorimetric sensor is adapted to detect the color of the food being prepared within cooking chamber 20. In a preferred embodiment, the sensor means 15 comprise at least a colorimetric sensor. The sensor arrangement 15 may be provided in any suitable manner, for example, as an integrated part of the side wall of the cooking chamber 20 and/or the lid 30, or at least some sensors of the sensor arrangement 15 may be attached to the side wall of the cooking chamber 20 and/or the lid 30.

The kitchen appliance 10 further comprises a controller 17 coupled to the sensor arrangement 15, whereby the controller 17 is adapted to process sensor signals generated by the humidity sensor and/or the colorimetric sensor to determine the humidity within the cooking chamber 20 and/or the color of the food product being prepared during the preparation process of the food product. Controller 17 is further adapted to generate a control signal indicating a need to reduce the ambient humidity in cooking chamber 20 in response to the processed sensor signal indicating that the humidity in cooking chamber 20 reaches a defined threshold.

In case the sensor means 15 comprise a humidity sensor, the humidity in the cooking chamber 20 may be directly derived from the sensor signal provided by the humidity sensor.

In case sensor means 15 comprises a colorimetric sensor, the humidity in cooking chamber 20 may be derived from the rate of change of color of the food product prepared within cooking chamber 20. For example, the kitchen appliance 20 may include a data storage device (not shown) including color change data as a function of humidity within the cooking chamber 20 and time, the controller 17 being adapted to access the data storage device to match a series of colorimetric sensor readings to a particular color change data set based on a change in food product color derived from the series of colorimetric sensor readings over a period of time, such that the humidity level within the cooking chamber 20 may be indirectly determined by identifying the humidity level associated with the matching data set. Alternatively, the controller 17 may be adapted to generate the control signal in response to the color of the food product reaching a limit value determined with a colorimetric sensor, in which case the humidity level does not need to be actually determined or estimated.

In one embodiment, the kitchen appliance 10 may further include a timer (not shown) to which the controller 17 may be responsive. For example, the controller 17 may be adapted to delay the generation of the control signal for a defined amount of time when a specific precondition (e.g. a specific humidity level or a specific color value of the food product determined from one or more sensor signals provided by the sensor arrangement 15 as described before) within the cooking chamber 20 is detected. The controller 17 may for example be adapted to engage a timer upon detection of such a specific precondition, in order to continue the cooking process for a determined time as indicated by the timer before generating the control signal for triggering the opening of the lid 30. In this way, the food product may be prepared (e.g. cooked, (stirred) fried or cooked) for a prescribed period of time, e.g. at a high humidity level, e.g. in order to prepare the food product according to a specific cooking recipe. The period of time or delay between determining the precondition and generating the control signal may be preprogrammed into the controller 17 or may be user specified. To this end, the kitchen appliance 10 may include any suitable user interface that facilitates the specification of the period of time.

In one embodiment, the kitchen appliance 10 may include a menu-based user interface that allows a user to select a particular preparation of a food product, for example, to control the firmness or crispness of the food product. Various menu options may enable the controller 17 to apply different humidity levels and/or exposure times of the food product to a particular humidity level in order to control the firmness or crispness of the food product according to the selected user preference. For example, the user menu may allow the user to select a particular food product, such as a green vegetable (e.g., broccoli), and specify how the selected food product should be prepared, such as hard, medium, or soft. Each selection option may be associated with a particular cooking time at high humidity, for example 4 minutes hard, 5 minutes medium and 6 minutes soft in the case of cooking broccoli, by selecting a particular option such that the controller 17 delays the generation of the control signal by the associated amount of time as indicated by the timer before generating the control signal to reduce the humidity in the cooking chamber 20.

In fig. 1, the kitchen appliance 10 further includes a sensory output device 19 responsive to a control signal from the controller 17. In the context of the present application, a sensory output device is a device capable of producing an output that can be sensed by at least one of human senses, such as a light output, an audible output, or the like. Any suitable embodiment of such a sensing output device 19 is envisioned. Non-limiting examples of suitable embodiments include a display device, a light emitting diode, a speaker, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the sensory output device 19 may form part of a user interface of the kitchen appliance 10 through which a user may control the kitchen appliance. The control signals generated by the controller 17 cause the sensory output device 19 to generate a warning signal (e.g., a warning message generated on a display device, a constantly or intermittently illuminated light emitting diode, a warning sound generated by a speaker, etc.) to trigger the user to lift the lid 30 from the cooking chamber 20 in order to allow water vapor (steam) to escape from the cooking chamber 20, thereby reducing the humidity in the cooking chamber 20. As explained previously, because the rate of decomposition reactions of many temperature-labile nutrients (e.g., plant pigments) is limited by the amount of water available, lowering the humidity in cooking chamber 20 slows such decomposition reactions, thereby ensuring that the amount of such temperature-labile nutrients in the prepared food product is increased upon completion of the preparation of the food product using kitchen appliance 10. This is particularly applicable to vegetables such as green vegetables (e.g. broccoli etc.), however it will be appreciated that the invention is not so limited and may be applied to the preparation of any food product comprising such temperature labile nutrients.

The controller 17 is further adapted to generate a further control signal in response to a further sensor signal from the sensor arrangement 15, the further sensor signal indicating that the humidity within the cooking chamber 20 is sufficiently reduced. For example, such further sensor signals may be provided by a humidity sensor or a colorimetric sensor, in which case the controller 17 is optionally arranged to monitor the rate of change of the food product colour from a series of sensor readings provided by the colorimetric sensor, a decrease in the rate of colour change indicating a decrease in humidity within the cooking chamber 20. In this embodiment, the controller 17 may be adapted to generate a further control signal upon directly or indirectly determining that the humidity level within the cooking chamber 20 reaches a defined threshold value. Alternatively, the controller 17 may also be adapted to generate the further control signal in response to a timer, e.g. after a certain amount of time after the generation of the control signal. Controller 17 may be adapted to provide further control signals to sensory output device 19 to facilitate closing of cooking chamber 20 by a user of the kitchen appliance covering lid 30 on cooking chamber 20. To this end, the sensory output device 19 may be adapted to generate a further warning signal to trigger the user to put the lid 30 back on the cooking chamber 20. The further warning signal may be different from the warning signal in order to avoid user confusion between the two signals.

In an embodiment, the controller 17 may also be adapted to control the heating element 11 of the kitchen appliance 10 in response to sensor signals from the sensor arrangement 15 processed by the controller 17. For example, the controller 17 may be adapted to disable (i.e. switch off) the heating element 11 after a defined period of time following detection of a particular precondition (e.g. a particular humidity level or a particular color of the food product) to ensure that the food product is cooked to a desired extent. The defined period of time may be a user defined period of time. For example, the kitchen appliance 10 may have a user interface (not shown) to which the controller 17 is responsive. The user may specify a desired period of time through the user interface and thus to what extent the food product should be cooked. For example, the user interface may comprise a look-up table or the like, wherein the degree of cooking specified by the user is associated with a defined period of time for which the food product should be cooked after the detection of a certain precondition, the user interface being adapted to configure the controller 17 to disable the heating element 11 after the defined period of time associated with the degree of cooking specified by the user on the user interface.

At this point, it should be noted that the controller 17 may be implemented in any suitable manner. The controller 17 may be implemented using one or more dedicated hardware devices, e.g., application specific integrated circuits, microcontrollers, etc., or may be implemented at least partially in software on a general purpose processor device within the kitchen appliance 10. Other suitable embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In the kitchen appliance of fig. 2, the controller 17 is adapted to generate and provide control signals to the sensory output device 19, thereby enabling a user to manually open the sealed cooking chamber 20 of the kitchen appliance in order to reduce the humidity level within the cooking chamber to prevent excessive decomposition of temperature-unstable nutrients (e.g., plant pigments) caused by long-term cooking at high humidity. Fig. 3 schematically shows a cross-section of an alternative embodiment of the kitchen appliance 10, wherein a lid 31 is hinged to the cooking chamber 20 by an actuating hinge 31 under the control of the controller 17. Upon generation of the above-described control signal by controller 17, the actuating hinge responds to the control signal by changing the position of lid 31 from the closed position shown in fig. 3 to the open position shown in fig. 4, thereby allowing water vapor (steam) to escape from cooking chamber 20 through the gap between cooking chamber 20 and open lid 30 as indicated by the arrows in fig. 4. The actuating hinge 31 may also be responsive to the additional control signal described above, which triggers the actuating hinge to change the position of the lid 31 from the open position shown in fig. 4 to the closed position shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 schematically shows a cross-section of an alternative embodiment of the kitchen appliance 10, the kitchen appliance 10 being adapted to automatically release water vapour from the cooking chamber 20. In this embodiment, the lid 30 comprises an actuation valve 33 responsive to the controller 17, which actuation valve 33 is switchable between a closed position as shown in fig. 5 and an open position as schematically shown in fig. 6, which allows water vapour to leave the cooking chamber 20 through the open actuation valve 33, e.g. in response to the controller 17 deriving a specific humidity level or a specific food product colour from a sensor signal from the sensor arrangement 15. The actuation valve 33 may also be responsive to the further control signal described above, which triggers the return of the actuation valve 33 to the closed position, as shown in fig. 5. Any suitable embodiment of such an actuation valve 33 is foreseen. In one embodiment, actuating valve 33 comprises a fan that is turned on upon receiving a control signal from controller 17, which has the advantage that water vapor is forced out of cooking chamber 20, thereby reducing the humidity level inside cooking chamber 20 particularly quickly.

Actuation valve 33 may receive control signals from controller 17 in any suitable manner. For example, in embodiments where lid 30 is permanently attached to cooking chamber 20, controller 17 may be wired to actuation valve 33 and provide a control signal (or another control signal) through such wired connection. Alternatively, the lid 30 may be removable from the cooking chamber 20, in which case each of the cooking chamber 20 and the lid 30 may include contacts that physically contact each other when the lid 30 is properly placed on the cooking chamber 20, the contacts establishing a wired connection between the controller 17 and the actuation valve 33. In yet another embodiment, the actuated valve 33 may be wirelessly connected to the controller 17, in which case the controller 17 may include a wireless transmitter and the actuated valve may include a wireless receiver for receiving wireless communications from the wireless transmitter. Any suitable wireless communication protocol may be used in this embodiment. Particularly proposed here is the NFC communication protocol, wherein the wireless receiver is a passive receiver comprising an induction coil or the like.

In the embodiment of the kitchen appliance 10 schematically shown in fig. 5 and 6, the actuating valve 33 is located in the lid 30. However, the actuating valve 33 may be located at any suitable location within the kitchen appliance 10. Fig. 7 schematically shows a cross-section of an embodiment of the kitchen appliance 10, wherein the actuating valve 33 is located in a side wall of the cooking chamber 20. In fig. 7, actuation valve 33 is in a closed position, whereas in fig. 8, as previously described, actuation valve 33 is shown in an open position in response to a control signal generated by controller 17 to allow water vapor to escape from cooking chamber 20, as indicated by the arrows in fig. 8. As previously mentioned, any suitable embodiment of the actuation valve 33 is envisioned. For example, as previously described, actuation valve 33 may include a fan for forcing water vapor out of cooking chamber 20.

In the embodiment of the kitchen appliance 10 schematically illustrated in fig. 2 to 8, the heating element 11 of the kitchen appliance 10 is a heating element for conductively heating a floor and/or a side wall of the kitchen appliance 10. In an alternative embodiment, a cross-section of which is schematically shown in fig. 9, the heating element 11 may be a convection heating element that generates and circulates hot air through the cooking chamber 20 (as indicated by the opposing arrows in fig. 9). In this embodiment, the kitchen appliance 10 also includes a sensory output device 19 responsive to the controller 17, however, it should be understood that it is equally feasible that the sensory output device 19 in this embodiment is replaced by an actuating member (e.g., actuating the hinge 31 or actuating the valve 33) to form the kitchen appliance 10, wherein the humidity level in the cooking chamber 20 is automatically controlled.

The kitchen appliance 10 of the above embodiments may be any suitable kitchen appliance in which food items may be cooked, for example, by steaming, frying, cooking, or any other suitable cooking technique. For example, the kitchen appliance 10 may be a multipurpose cooker, an electric steamer or an automatic rice cooker, although other embodiments will be apparent to the skilled person.

Fig. 10 is a graph showing the hardness of broccoli stems (left Y axis) and the greenness of broccoli (right Y axis) in arbitrary units cooked for 15 minutes in a multipurpose cooker at different relative humidity levels (%, x axis), after which the greenness and hardness are determined. For clarity reasons, the greenness measurements are interconnected by dashed lines; this should not be interpreted to mean that the greenness is expected to assume a value on the dashed line between the measurement points. These measurements clearly show that the hardness of broccoli stems and the greenness of broccoli decreases with increasing humidity level.

Fig. 11 is a graph showing the firmness (a.u.) of broccoli stems cooked at high humidity (near 100%) as a function of time (minutes). This clearly shows that the hardness of the stem can be controlled by controlling the time the vegetable is exposed to high humidity levels.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The invention can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements. In a device enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

1. A kitchen appliance (10) comprising:

a cooking chamber (20) comprising a sensor arrangement (15), the sensor arrangement (15) comprising at least one of a humidity sensor and a colorimeter arranged to determine a color of food products in the cooking chamber;

a lid (30) for sealing the cooking chamber; and

a controller (17) responsive to the sensor means, wherein the controller is adapted to generate a control signal for triggering the opening of the cooking chamber in response to a sensor signal from the sensor means,

wherein the controller (17) is further adapted to generate a further control signal for triggering a sealing of the cooking chamber (20) after a delay by the generation of the control signal.

2. The kitchen appliance (10) according to claim 1, wherein the sensor arrangement (15) comprises the colorimeter, and wherein the controller (17) is adapted to generate the control signal in response to a sensor signal from the colorimeter.

3. The kitchen appliance (10) according to any of claims 1-2, wherein the controller (17) is further adapted to generate a further control signal in response to the further sensor signal from the sensor device (15).

4. The kitchen appliance (10) according to claim 3, wherein the sensor arrangement (15) comprises the humidity sensor, and wherein the controller (17) is further adapted to generate the further control signal in response to the further sensor signal from the humidity sensor.

5. The kitchen appliance (10) according to any of claims 1-2 and 4, further comprising a timer, wherein the controller (17) is further adapted to generate the control signal in response to the timer.