A roasting and glazing apparatus includes a housing, a roaster bowl, anagitator, a heater anda cover that includes a water reservoir with at least one metering hole toallow water within thereservoir to flow into the roaster bowl at a measured rate during glazing toproduce well coated glazednuts and that prevents the creation of large bursts of steam, thus protectingthe operator against beingscalded. The apparatus includes structure to facilitate lifting and loweringof the bowl in a safemanner. The agitator prevents/minimizes build-up of sugar from the undersideof its blades andprovides enhanced mixing. During steam cleaning, sugar adhered to the bowl andits pouring lip iseffectively removed. A smart cleaning cycle electronically determines that thewater within the bowlis boiling by assessing changes in temperature of the bowl over periods oftime.