WIRELESSLY OPERABLE SLOW COOKER

1 . A slow cooker comprising:

a housing;

a heating element disposed within the housing;

a food contact surface included in the housing; and

a control device configured to communicate with a user computing device via a wireless network, receive a cooking configuration from the user computing device via the wireless network, and control the heating element to heat the food contact surface based upon the cooking configuration.

2 . The slow cooker of claim 1 , further comprising:

a thermostat assembly configured to monitor a temperature of the cooking plate.

3 . The slow cooker of claim 1 , wherein the cooking configuration includes at least one of a cooking temperature, a cooking time, and a cooking finish time.

4 . The slow cooker of claim 1 , wherein the cooking configuration includes a multi-phase cooking program configured to operate the slow cooker in a plurality of cooking phases.

5 . The slow cooker of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of cooking phases is determined by at least one of a cooking temperature and a cooking time.

6 . The slow cooker of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of cooking phases is adjusted differently from the other cooking phases.

7 . The slow cooker of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the plurality of cooking phases is adjusted to be identical to one or more of the other cooking phases.

8 . The slow cooker of claim 4 , wherein the last phase of the plurality of cooking phases is set up to keep a food item at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined amount of time.

9 . The slow cooker of claim 1 , wherein, when the cooking is complete, the user computing device operates to generate a notification to the user.

10 . The slow cooker of claim 1 , wherein the food contact surface is made of a material selected from a group consisting of aluminum, cast iron, and stainless steel.

11 . A method of controlling a slow cooker, the method comprising:

receiving cooking configuration data from a user computing device via a wireless network, the cooking configuration data including at least one of a cooking temperature and a cooking time; and

controlling a heating element to heat a food contact surface based on the cooking configuration data.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the user computing device is configured to prompt a user to provide a cooking configuration input therethrough and generate the cooking configuration data based upon the cooking configuration input.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

alerting the user through the user computing device when the cooking is complete based on the cooking configuration data.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

prior to receiving cooking configuration data, establishing a wireless connection to the user computing device via a router.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the user computing device is configured to prompt a user to input a wireless connection password for establishing the wireless connection via the router.

16 . A remote communication device for use with a slow cooker, the remote communication device comprising:

a display device;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a user's selection of at least one setting to cook a food item using the slow cooker;

transmit the at least one setting to the slow cooker;

receive operational data from the slow cooker;

determine when cooking of the food item is complete; and

display, on the display device, an alert when cooking of the food item is complete.

17 . The remote communication device of claim 16 , wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: transmit to the slow cooker an instruction to turn on the slow cooker before transmitting the at least one setting to the slow cooker.

18 . The remote communication device of claim 17 , wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: transmit to the slow cooker an instruction to turn off the slow cooker after displaying an alert when cooking of the food item is complete.

19 . The remote communication device of claim 16 , wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive a user's selection of a multi-phase cooking program configured to operate the slow cooker in a plurality of cooking phases.

20 . The remote communication device of claim 19 , wherein each of the plurality of cooking phases is determined by at least one of a cooking temperature and a cooking time.