Two-sided grill and method

A device for simultaneous two-sided cooking comprising

• a support structure;
• an upper cooking platen mounted to a support structure for movement relative to the support structure between a cooking position and a non-cooking position;
• means for selectively fixing the upper cooking platen in the cooking position relative to the support structure;
• and
• a lower cooking platen mounted to said support structure, in generally opposed relation to the upper cooking platen in the cooking position, for vertical movement relative to said support structure.

A method of cooking food item using a two-sided grill having automated control and opposed upper and lower cooking platens comprising:

• placing at least one food item having a nominal height on a lower cooking platen of a grill;
• moving at least one of the upper cooking platen and the lower cooking platen toward the opposed cooking platen;
• sensing when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item;
• automatically determining the distance between the platens when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item by measuring the distance between the upper cooking platen and the lower cooking platen when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item;
• and
• automatically executing a cooking routine stored in the memory for the food item type, the cooking routine comprising moving the platens relative to each other to at least a first cooking distance between the platens equal to a first percentage of the measured distance defined by the cooking routine and heating the food item between the platens at the first cooking distance for a period of time determined by the automated control.

A method of cooking a type of a food item using a two-sided grill having upper and lower cooking platens connected to a support structure, comprising

• placing at least one food item having a nominal height on the lower cooking platen;
• positioning the upper cooking platen in a cooking position relative to the support structure, the upper cooking platen in the cooking position being opposed and approximately parallel to the lower cooking platen;
• moving the lower cooking platen toward the upper cooking platen;
• sensing when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item;
• automatically determining the actual thickness of the food item by determining the distance between the platens when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item by measuring with at least one distance measuring sensor the distance between the upper cooking platen and the lower cooking platen when the upper cooking platen first contacts the food item;
• identifying the type of the food item based on the distance compared to the nominal height of at least one food item stored in a computer accessible memory;
• automatically executing a cooking routine stored in the memory for the food item type to cook the food item after identifying the food item type;
• wherein the cooking routine includes adjusting and automatically maintaining for a period of time the distance between the platens to at least one cooking distance equal to a percentage of the automatically determined actual thickness defined by the cooking routine and heating the food item between the platens at the at least one cooking distance.

A grill for simultaneous two-sided cooking comprising

• an upper cooking platen;
• a lower cooking platen disposed generally opposite the upper cooking platen when the cooking platens are disposed for cooking;
• a non-stick cooking sheet removably attached to the upper cooking platen to cover at least a portion of a cooking surface of the upper cooking platen, a terminal portion of the non-stick cooking sheet extending downwardly relative to a portion of the release sheet in contact with the upper cooking platen when in the cooking position;
• and
• a liquid cooking waste receptacle disposed generally below the terminal portion of the non-stick cooking sheet, the terminal portion of the non-stick cooking sheet extending over or into the liquid cooking waste receptacle.

A method of simultaneous two-sided cooking comprising

• providing an upper cooking platen and a lower cooking platen, the upper platen mounted for at least one degree of freedom of movement relative to the lower platen for movement between an upper platen cooking position and an upper platen non-cooking position, and the lower platen mounted in generally opposed relation to the upper platen in the cooking position, the lower platen mounted for vertical movement of the lower platen from a lower platen non-cooking position substantially below the upper platen in the cooking position to a lower platen cooking position in which the lower platen is closer to the upper platen;
• placing a food item to be cooked on a cooking surface of the lower platen in the lower platen non-cooking position, the food item having a vertical dimension that is smaller than the distance between the lower platen cooking surface in the non-cooking position and the cooking surface of the upper platen in the cooking position;
• moving the upper platen to the upper platen cooking position;
• moving the lower platen to the lower platen cooking position;
• and
• simultaneously cooking a top side of the food item in contact with the upper platen in the upper platen cooking position and a bottom side of the food item in contact with the lower platen in the lower platen cooking position.

A grill device for simultaneous two-sided cooking comprising

• an upper cooking platen and a lower cooking platen disposed in generally opposed relation to each other when each platen is in a respective cooking position;
• at least a first one of the platens being driven by a gross vertical motive device for gross vertical movement from a first platen non-cooking position, substantially vertically separated from the second platen in the second platen cooking position, to a first platen cooking position in which the first platen is closer to the second platen;
• and
• at least one of the platens being driven by a fine tilting motive device independent of the gross vertical motive device for fine tilting movement about at least two generally horizontal axes.