A programable timer that simultaneously operates cooking stages made of a modulated power level and time interval to multiple cooking devices. The timer may be operated in a manual or automatic mode. The automatic mode cycles through a set of cooking stages set by a recipe stored in memory. When in the automatic mode, the timer may be put into override and the recipe's cooking stages adjusted to conform with the chef's desires. Pre generated recipes may be input from media transfer devices or programmed into the timer via an input interface device. An algorithm stored in memory adjusts the cooking stages of the various devices such that all foods are finished cooking at the same time if desired.