Ten Unconventional Types of Cooker You Might Not Have Heard of Before

If you look around most people’s kitchens you will probably find either a gas cooker or an electric one. But did you know there are many different types of cookers that still do much the same job as their common counterparts, but often in a very different, often unconventional way. Here are ten of the most unusual types of cooker you will ever see or read about…

Vitroceramic Cooker

This cooker uses a heating system made up of radiators (heating by radiation) or halogens (heating by successive pulses) which heat under a glass plate. They have much faster cooking times and it requires cast iron, enamelled steel or special stainless steel containers.

Log Burning Cooker

You might think this type of cooker died out in the 60s, but you can still buy them today and many people still think they are the best way to cook BBQ foods and meats indoors because of the enhancement in flavours. While they do take a long time to heat up I can’t imagine a cooler being any cheaper to run.

Induction Cooker

Induction cookers are the perfect choice if you’re looking for convenience and style. Induction technology is one of the latest forms of cooking technology that heats a cooking vessel by electrical induction, instead of by thermal conduction from a flame, or an electrical heating element. In fact, a lot of the more expensive electric cookers do use induction hobs rather than normal electric ones.

Coal Cooker

Also known as a coal stoves these fossil fuel-powered cookers are mostly used outdoors for BBQs and other events, but you can get them installed inside the home thanks to the exhaust vents on the tops of many of them.

Pressure Cooker

This form of worktop cooker uses steam pressure and a pressure-sealed pot. It then forces the steam into the pot making the food cook in record time and it rams the juices and flavours into the foods making them taste almost infused with flavours rather than just cooked with them.

Bioethanol Cooker

While you won’t be cooking a whole lot with this type of cooker it is growing in popularity thanks to its green fuel. These are the quicker alternatives to wood cooking, but you could also argue that any form of gas is just gas cooking, no matter how that gas was made.

Solar Cooker

OK, so it is going to take a long time before you will be cooking a whole family meal on one with this form of technology, but you can still get dedicated solar ovens that hold several pots and pans inside. It’s not all about a single hotdog sausage or one burger, they are much more commercial and diverse than you would think.

Thermal Cooker

A thermal cooker (which is often called a vacuum flask cooker) is a cooking device that uses thermal insulation to retain heat and cook food without the continuous use of fuel or other heat sources. It is a modern implementation of a haybox, which uses hay or straw to insulate a cooking pot.

Chorkor Oven

This smoke-drying oven is often used to smoke fish like herring and sardines and is often seen in small villages around Ghana. But due to the rise in alternative cooking methods, you will see them being used by street food vendors around the capital of Ghana, Accra.

Halogen Cooker

You will be surprised to learn that there are actual freestanding halogen ovens, not just worktop cooking ones. This unusual type of oven uses a halogen lamp as a heating element in the form of Halogenesis. The good news is it is often considered to be an energy-efficient form of the conventional electric oven, but it does take far, far longer to cook the food.

Do you know of any other unconventional forms of cookers? Do let us know in the comments below.