The late legendary chef Julia Child is synonymous with fine cooking, and now a new Julia is arriving on the culinary scene. Julia, the “Intelligent Autonomous Cooking System” by CookingPal, can shop for food and cook it for you. It can also chop, stir, knead, steam and can even wash itself. It will be unveiled at the CES 2020, with demonstrations and meals taking place at the CookingPal booth.
“Whether someone is juggling a hectic schedule, is known for burning meals, or frequently forgets important recipe steps, we can all use a little extra help in the kitchen,” said Anna Khomenko, marketing manager at CookingPal. “Julia makes mouthwatering, healthy, homemade meals fun, easy, and fast. Ideal for complete beginners, frantic family lives and those working long hours, the system has been designed to take the chaos out of culinary creations.”
The Julia system is comprised of two parts. It has a smart kitchen hub that looks like a large tablet. The hub suggests meals by learning what you like or by determining the foods you have on hand. Then it provides step-by-step instructions with a catalog of hundreds of recipes created and tested by professional chefs for CookingPal. The tablet can also be used to order groceries. Cooks can use the touchscreen to control the hub, or voice commands when their hands get messy. Julia can also be controlled through the CookingPal app.
The Julia system also includes an appliance that looks a lot like a giant food processor. It’s big for a reason. It can do most of the cooking chores for you via 10 culinary functions that include weighing food with a built-in scale, chopping, mixing or blending, emulsifying, grating, boiling, kneading, and steaming. Julia cooks at up to 265 degrees Fahrenheit (130 degrees Celsius).
When it can’t do a task, Julia will guide you through the process, like when to add ingredients to its bowl. “For example, while preparing a mushroom risotto, Julia will tell a user how many mushrooms to put in the bowl, then chop and roast them before guiding them through the rest of the recipe,” the company said in a press release. “She will alert users when a next step is needed or when a meal is ready.”
Julia will retail for under $1,000. Though it will be unveiled this month, it won’t be available until late summer. CookingPal says it will announce additional products in the coming months, including a smart oven and smart pressure cooker.
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