US 11,297,857 B2Granted

Apparatus and process for rapidly cooking food

Assignee2T2J, Inc.

InventorsTravis Michael Thul, Jiju George Johnson

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An apparatus for rapidly cooking food includes a housing having a reservoir, a heating element, a binary distributor, and a container. In a method of using the apparatus for rapidly cooking food, food is placed into the container and water is poured into the reservoir. The heating element heats the water in the reservoir, and the resulting steam travels into the binary distributor. Pressurized steam then exits the binary distributor to uniformally cook the top of the food. Condensed steam gathers at the bottom of the container and is kept at a temperature capable of cooking the food. In such a way, food in the container is rapidly cooked. In one embodiment, the food to be cooked is a single serving of ramen brick style noodles.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An apparatus for rapidly cooking food, the apparatus comprising:

a housing comprising
a reservoir,
a hot plate,
a heating element, and
a binary distributor comprising:
a top seal portion comprising a first wall coupled to or integral with the top seal portion and an outer peripheral wall, the first wall disposed inside from the outer peripheral wall of the top seal portion and extending away from a bottom surface of the top seal portion;
and
a bottom outlet portion comprising a second wall coupled to or integral with the bottom outlet portion and an outer peripheral wall, the second wall disposed inside from the outer peripheral wall of the bottom outlet portion and extending away from a top surface of the bottom outlet portion;
wherein when the second wall of the bottom outlet portion is mated with the first wall of the top seal portion, the first wall defines a top half of a thermal distribution channel and the second wall defines a bottom half of the thermal distribution channel;
and
a container configured to be placed in the housing in a position above the hot plate and below the binary distributor;
and
a gasket positioned between the container and the binary distributor, wherein the gasket is configured to create a substantially vapor tight seal between the container and the binary distributor;
wherein an outlet of the reservoir is connected to an inlet of the heating element via a first tube, and an outlet of the heating element is connected to an inlet of the binary distributor via a second tube
wherein the heating element is configured to heat water in the reservoir, thereby producing steam that travels into the binary distributor;
wherein the binary distributor is positioned as a cover for the container in use;
and
wherein the binary distributor is configured to pressurize the steam, thereby producing pressurized steam that at least partly travels through the thermal distribution channel, exits a bottom of the binary distributor, enters a top of the container, and cooks a top portion of food located in the container.

15 more elements

A method for rapidly cooking food comprising the steps of:

providing a housing comprising a reservoir, a hot plate, a heating element, a binary distributor, and a gasket positioned between a container and the binary distributor configured to create a substantially vapor tight seal between the container and the binary distributor, the binary distributor comprising:
a top seal portion comprising a first wall coupled to or integral with the top seal portion and an outer peripheral wall, the first wall disposed inside from the outer peripheral wall of the top seal portion and extending away from a bottom surface of the top seal portion, and
a bottom outlet portion comprising a second wall coupled to or integral with the bottom outlet portion and an outer peripheral wall, the second wall disposed inside from the outer peripheral wall of the bottom outlet portion and extending away from a top surface of the bottom outlet portion,
wherein when the second wall of the bottom outlet portion is mated with the first wall of the top seal portion, the first wall defines a top half of a thermal distribution channel and the second wall defines a bottom half of the thermal distribution channel;
providing the container configured to be placed in the housing in a position above the hot plate and below the binary distributor;
placing the container into the housing in the position above the hot plate and below the binary distributor such that the binary distributor is positioned as a cover for the container in use;
providing an outlet of the reservoir connected to an inlet of the heating element via a first tube, and an outlet of the heating element connected to an inlet of the binary distributor via a second tube;
heating water in the reservoir via the heating element, thereby producing steam that travels into the binary distributor and through the thermal distribution channel;
pressurizing the steam, via the binary distributor, thereby producing pressurized steam that exits a bottom of the binary distributor;
and
introducing the pressurized steam from a top of the container, thereby cooking a top portion of the food contained in the container.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/496,922Filed 25 Apr 2017 · continuation
Priority: 10 Jan 2014
Published: US 2017/0231257 A117 Aug 2017
Granted: 12 Apr 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

A23L 7/113
Types of pasta, e.g. macaroni or noodles: parboiled or instant pasta
A23L 5/13
General methods of cooking foods, e.g. by roasting or frying: using water or steam
A47J 27/04
Cooking-vessels: for cooking food in steam; Devices for extracting fruit juice by means of steam ; Vacuum cooking vessels
A23V 2002/00
Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs

Family

Application61/925,986Us provisional application · filed 10 Jan 2014
Application14/532,380Parent of this continuation · filed 4 Nov 2014
US 2017/0231257 A1Pre-grant publication · published 17 Aug 2017
US 9,655,468 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2015/0196154 A1Published application
US 11,297,857 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key