I have some reservations today, so here’s a quick post. Back when I was a trainee cook, caramelizing onions was one of the most painful tasks. It took forever, required constant stirring, made the kitchen hot and sticky, and stressed me out every time.
Today, I’ll show you how I automated the process using Toyota’s Jidoka principle — for both caramelizing onions and making Jäger cream sauce.
1. What is Toyota’s Jidoka?
Jidoka means “machines do the work, and humans intervene only when something goes wrong.”
It’s not full automation — it’s smart delegation. In my case, I use a simple timer as the fail-safe system. I set it to ring every 10 minutes so I can check if the onions are burning or the sauce is sticking.
2. What You Need
- An automatic stirring pot
Originally marketed for baby food, but it works beautifully for small pubs and bars doing parallel production. These are easy to find in Korea — so I’m guessing they’re on Amazon too.
3. Process
[Video 1] First load & auto start
I melted some butter and added 1kg of onions. Set the timer for 10 minutes. I’ll come back every now and then to deglaze with a splash of water.
[Video 2] Parallel work – Chicken brine
While the onions are caramelizing, I’m prepping chicken in brine.
[Photo] Came back after running errands
I deglazed the pot, put it back on the heat, ran to the convenience store — and came back to beautifully caramelized onions.
[Video 3] Jäger sauce being stirred automatically
This is the creamy gravy I use for Jägerschnitzel. While writing this blog post, I just check it every time the timer rings. That’s all.
4. Summary
Thanks to this setup, I’m free from the stove. The machine caramelizes onions and stirs the sauce — all I did was add water. What used to be the most annoying task in the kitchen is now the easiest. You can also caramelize onions this way for the Cream Cheese Dog. Just deglaze with Coke instead of water.
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