The Watanabe or Kurukurunabe Self-stirring Pot, like the name suggests, is a pot that will automatically stir its contents on its own. Anyone who has spent a lot of time continuously stirring a pot of soup over a hot stove will appreciate the greatness of a self stirring cooking pot. The awesome part of the design of the pot is that the stirring requires no moving part that does the stirring for you.
As with all great inventions, the stirring mechanism is actually brilliantly simple. The Watanabe Self-stirring Pot is just an ordinary pot with a removable insert that has holes cut out in a spiral pattern. When the water at the bottom of the pot is heated up, it moves up because of thermodynamics. The spiral pattern causes the hot water to churn in a circular motion as it moves up and thus creates a stirring motion.
Think of it as a whirlpool jacuzzi but without the water jets. This also means that the Watanabe Self-stirring Pot requires no electricity or extra energy for the stirring mechanism so it is an environmentally friendly design as well.
The Watanabe Self-stirring Pot is the brainchild of a Japanese inventor by the name of Hideki Watanabe. It is interesting to note that Watanabe is a dentist rather than a cook or an engineer. The YouTube video below shows Watanabe’s original design with grooves along the side of the pot to create the whirlpool effect. The original design has since been improved into the much simpler and practical design that you see above.
Where to Buy Watanabe Self-stirring Pot
