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US 4,392,418 AGranted
Cooking apparatus
AssigneeElectra Food Machinery, Inc.
InventorJames A. Jimenez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for cooking large quantities of a food product such as corn. To ensure that the individual particles of the food product being prepared will not stick together and will be uniformly cooked, each particle is surrounded by water at a controlled elevated temperature during the cooking cycle. Mechanical agitation of the product during cooking is not necessary and steeping can be accomplished within the cooking vessel.
Claims14
An apparatus for cooking food products comprising:
- (a) a vessel for containing a homogeneous mass comprising the product to be cooked immersed in a liquid;
- (b) pump means for circulating the liquid throughout said vessel, in a manner so as to gently agitate said homogeneous mass without the need for mechanical agitation means;
- (c) steam injector means disposed within said vessel for injecting steam interiorly thereof to uniformly raise the temperature of the homogeneous mass, said means being fixedly disposed intermediate the homogeneous mass and comprising:
- (1) a steam chamber having a steam inlet and side walls provided with a plurality of steam outlet passages arranged to eject steam outwardly in a direction toward the homogeneous mass;
- and
- (2) steam deflection means disposed within said steam chamber proximate said steam inlet for deflecting steam toward the outlet passages provided in said side walls;
- and
- (d) sensor means cooperatively associated with said steam injector means for sensing the temperature of the homogeneous mass and stopping the flow of steam into said vessel when a predetermined temperature is reached.
5 more elements
An apparatus for cooking corn in kernel form comprising:
- (a) a vessel for containing a homogeneous mass made up of discrete particles of the corn to be cooked each of said particles being completely surrounded by water, said vessel comprising:
- (1) an upper generally cylindrically shaped portion having a top wall provided with a centrally disposed water inlet means for receiving water from an exterior water source and introducing it interiorly of the vessel;
- and
- (2) a lower frustoconically shaped portion including an outlet port at the lower extremity thereof for removing the food product from the vessel by force of gravity;
- (b) deflector means mounted within said vessel adjacent said water inlet means for deflecting the water radially outwardly within said vessel whereby the heated water is dispersed uniformly throughout the vessel in a manner to gently agitate the particles of corn to prevent them from sticking together;
- (c) pump means for circulating the liquid throughout said vessel:
- (d) steam injector means disposed within said vessel for injecting steam interiorly thereof to uniformly raise the temperature of the homogeneous mass, said steam injector means comprising:
- (1) a generally cylindrically shaped housing disposed intermediate the homogeneous mass having side walls, a perforated top wall, and a perforated bottom wall;
- (2) a steam chamber mounted within said housing having a steam inlet and side walls provided with a plurality of steam outlet passages arranged to eject steam outwardly in a direction toward the homogeneous mass;
- (3) steam deflector means mounted within said steam chamber adjacent said steam inlet for deflecting steam toward the outlet passages provided in said side walls whereby the water surrounding the particles of corn will be uniformly heated and the particles will be gently agitated;
- and
- (e) sensor means cooperatively associated with said steam injector means for sensing the temperature of the homogeneous mass and stopping the flow of steam into said vessel when a predetermined temperature is reached.
9 more elements
An apparatus for cooking food products comprising:
- (a) a vessel for containing a homogeneous mass comprising the product to be cooked immersed in a liquid;
- (b) pump means for circulating the liquid throughout said vessel to gently agitate said homogeneous mass without the necessity for mechanical agitation means;
- (c) a hollow housing disposed within said vessel;
- (d) a steam chamber fixedly mounted within said hollow housing centrally of said homogeneous mass, said steam chamber having a steam inlet and side walls provided with a plurality of steam outlet passageways;
- (e) means disposed within said steam chamber for deflecting steam through said steam outlet passageways to uniformly heat the liquid comprising a part of said homogeneous mass;
- and
- (f) means for sensing the temperature of the homogeneous mass and stopping the flow of steam to said steam inlet of said steam chamber when a predetermined temperature is reached.
4 more elements
An apparatus for cooking food products comprising:
- (a) a vessel for containing a homogeneous mass comprising the product to be cooked immersed in a liquid;
- (b) pump means for circulating the liquid throughout said vessel said pump means being adapted to circulate the liquid in a manner to gently agitate the product;
- (c) steam injector means disposed within said vessel for injecting steam interiorly thereof to uniformly raise the temperature of the homogeneous mass, said means being fixedly disposed intermediate the homogeneous mass and comprising:
- (1) a housing having a steam inlet, and perforated top, bottom and side walls;
- (2) a steam emitter assembly mounted within said housing and having at least one downwardly extending perforated member in communication with said steam inlet for injecting steam interiorly of said housing whereby the liquid surrounding said assembly will be uniformly heated and the food product immersed therein will be gently agitated;
- and
- (d) sensor means cooperatively associated with said steam injector means for sensing the temperature of the homogeneous mass and stopping the flow of steam into said vessel when a predetermined temperature is reached.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.