Automated cooking control via enhanced cooking equipment

Techniques are described for automated control of portions of a cooking process, such as to control activation and heating for a cooking location having a piece of cooking equipment. Such automated control may include executing an automated control recipe having defined instructions used to automatically control at least some aspects (e.g., surface temperature) of the cooking equipment piece (e.g., a pan on a stove cooking surface) as part of a cooking episode to prepare one or more dishes, and may further include coordinating actions of a human user who is participating in the cooking episode by providing instructions or other information to the user. Related food preparation systems and cookware devices and components are also provided in connection with which the described automated cooking control techniques and methods may be used, such devices include a control knob provided to adjust a characteristic of a cooking environment in a vicinity of the implement during the cooking episode, the control knob being controllably adjustable via a drive motor contained within the control knob while also remaining manually adjustable by a user, and a cooking implement with a temperature sensor and a wireless communication module to transmit the temperature information from the implement.