Food cooking machine

A general purpose food cooking machine comprising a food-receiving vessel closed at one end, open at the opposite end, and having liquid-impervious walls, said vessel having a removable cap for closing said open end, and said cap being liquid-impervious except for a central vent opening therethrough through which gases may escape from the interior of the vessel, a base having means for detachably receiving and supporting said vessel for rotation about an axis of rotation substantially aligned with said vent opening and oriented between horizontal and an acute angle to horizontal, and with the capped end of said vessel at least as elevated as the first-mentioned vessel end, said base having a drive train thereon engageable with said vessel for rotating said vessel about said axis of rotation when the vessel is supported on said base, heater means supported adjacent to and exterior to said vessel and operatively associated therewith for applying heat to contents of said vessel through the walls thereof when said vessel is supported for rotation on said base, and temperature controller means operatively connected to said heater means for controlling said heater means to vary the temperature in said vessel, said temperature controller means having and being responsive to a temperature sensor, said sensor having means for supporting the same on said base substantially in alignment with said vent opening in such a manner that said vent opening is not blocked and rotation of the vessel is not impeded, said sensor being so positioned relative to said vent opening as to sense the temperature of gases which escape from said vessel through said vent opening while said vessel is rotated.