Cooking by enrobing through controlled curtain spillage
AssigneeHeat and Control, Inc.
InventorsAndrew A. Caridis, Leonardo P. Murgel, Carl Beitsayadeh, John Silvester
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for cooking food products, such as battered and breaded pieces of meat, with hot oil by placing the products on a conveyor and passing them through a plurality of descending hot oil curtains to enrobe and cook the products. The cooking oil is supplied from above through oil inlet weirs in a smooth curtain with the flow volume and temperature being controlled. The cooking oil is returned for reheating and the products are removed from the conveyor in a cooked condition.
Claims18
A continuous process for treating food products carrying a pre-cooked coating that is fragile and easily dislodged in the cooking operation, comprising the steps of providing a fryer having an endless conveyor including a conveyor belt through which cooking oil can flow, providing a volume of cooking oil for conduction to the fryer, placing the food products with the fragile coating on the conveyor at a loading station for treatment in the fryer and then moving the food products to an unloading station while dispensing from above the conveyor a smooth flowing curtain of hot cooking oil onto the food products carried on the conveyor, controlling the oil flow so that the oil flows downwardly continuously in a curtain of oil for covering and coating the food products on the conveyor, and then removing the treated food products from the fryer at the unloading station.
A continuous process for cooking food products by enrobing such products in a flow of hot cooking oil, comprising the steps:
- providing a fryer including a product loading and unloading station and having an oil receiving pan, and having a conveyor belt of a construction permitting a flow of oil therethrough and operative for traversing the pan between the product loading and unloading stations, providing a volume of hot cooking oil for conduction to the fryer, placing food products on the conveyor belt for movement through the fryer while dispensing from above the conveyor belt in a smooth flow at least one curtain of hot cooking oil to enrobe the food products carried on the conveyor belt, controlling the flow and withdrawal of the oil with respect to the fryer so as to create a puddle of oil in the pan with a liquid level disposed above the conveyor belt serving to insure hot cooking oil treatment of the lower portions and the bottoms of the food products, removing the food products from the fryer at the unloading station and removing the cooking oil from beneath the conveyor belt from the fryer for reheating.
A process for cooking a food product having a coating that is fragile and easily dislodged in a fryer, comprising the steps of:
- conveying the food product through a fryer, containing a volume of cooking oil, on an endless conveyor belt, with at least a portion of the food product being outside the volume of cooking oil, and gently pouring a smooth curtain of hot cooking oil onto the portion of the food product which is outside the volume of cooking oil so that the food product is enveloped in the hot cooking oil without dislodging the fragile coating from the food product as it is conveyed through the fryer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.