A cooking appliance has a housing, a cooking medium, a control panel, a heat source for heating the cooking medium, a microprocessor, and a shut-off timer. The timer counts down a specified time when a measured temperature of the cooking medium equals or exceeds a target temperature and shuts off the heat source after the specified time elapses. The microprocessor can pause the shut-off timer when the measured temperature drops below a threshold temperature upon food being placed in contact with the cooking medium. The microprocessor restarts the shut-off timer, if paused, when the measured temperature reaches a predetermined recovery temperature above the threshold temperature. A method of operating such an appliance includes pausing the shut-off timer when the measured temperature drops below the threshold temperature and restarting the shut-off timer when the measured temperature reaches the predetermined recovery temperature.
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