Cooking facilitator
AssigneeMasterbuilt Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorsDon McLemore, John McLemore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooking facilitator which is preferably portable and well suited for use as both a timer and cooking process facilitator having particular usefulness with cooking objects which have a characteristic associated with establishing a cooking time such as the weight of a turkey in the case of deep frying a turkey or the thickness of a steak in deep frying the same. A gas flow timer for shutting off an overheated or unattended cooking system is also featured.
Claims30
A method of cooking a food item with an outdoor cooking apparatus having a gas source, a burner, a gas flow conduit feeding gas from said gas source to said burner, a cooking vessel and a cooking vessel support, comprising:
- placing the food item in said cooking vessel with cooking fluid;
- enabling gas flow from said gas source to said burner and burning gas with said burner to heat the cooking fluid to cook the food item;
- initially setting a timer associated with a gas flow shut-off device positioned in line with said gas flow conduit;
- and
- prior to a cooking time completion of the food item, an operator manually resetting the timer associated with said shut-off device to ensure attentiveness in the operator of the cooking apparatus;
- wherein
- said timer comprises a battery power source support, and said gas flow shut-off device is arranged for shutting off gas flow upon occurrence of either insufficient battery power to power said timer or a completion of a timer countdown.
A method of safely using an outdoor cooking apparatus in cooking a food item, with the outdoor cooking apparatus having a gas source, a burner, a gas flow conduit feeding gas from said gas source to said burner, a cooking vessel and a cooking vessel support, comprising:
- placing the food item in said cooking vessel with cooking fluid;
- supporting the cooking vessel on the cooking vessel support;
- enabling gas flow to the burner via an adjustment in a gas flow shut-off device from a gas flow shut-off setting to a gas flow allowance setting;
- burning gas of the gas flow to heat the cooking fluid to cook the food item;
- and
- initially setting a timer associated with said gas flow shut-off device positioned as to preclude or allow gas flow from said gas source to an outlet of said burner, said timer having a maximum gas flow time period which is a time period shorter than an overall heating time required for achieving a fully cooked state in the food item;
- wherein
- the gas flow shut-off device is arranged such that upon an expiration of the gas flow time period the gas flow shut-off device shuts off gas flow;
- and
- prior to expiration of the maximum time period, an operator resets the timer associated with said gas flow shut-off device to ensure attentiveness in the operator of the cooking apparatus during a period where gas is flowing and gas is burning at the burner.
A method of safely using an outdoor cooking apparatus in cooking a whole turkey of 8 to 16 lbs, with the outdoor cooking apparatus having a gas source, a burner, a gas flow conduit feeding gas from said gas source to said burner, a cooking pot and a burner stand, comprising:
- placing the whole turkey in the cooking pot with cooking fluid;
- supporting the cooking pot such that a base of the cooking pot is surrounded by a portion of the burner stand and positioned above the burner which is supported by the burner stand in a heat conveyance relationship with the cooking pot;
- enabling gas flow to the burner via an adjustment in a gas flow shut-off device from a gas flow shut-off setting to a gas flow allowance setting to allow gas flow from the gas source to an outlet of the burner;
- burning gas of said gas flow to heat the cooking fluid to cook the whole turkey;
- and
- setting a timer associated with said gas flow shut-off device, said timer having a maximum gas flow time period of 15 to 30 minutes which is a time period shorter than an overall heating time required for achieving a fully cooked state in the whole turkey;
- wherein
- said gas flow shut-off device is arranged such that upon an expiration of the gas flow time period, the gas flow shut-off device shuts off gas flow;
- and
- prior to expiration of the maximum time period, an operator manually resets the timer associated with said gas flow shut-off device to ensure attentiveness in the operator of the cooking apparatus during a period where gas is flowing and gas is burning at the burner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.