Automatic cooker

An automated cooker processing a plurality of bite-sized food pieces, comprising:

• a cooking chamber defining a closeable cooking volume having a pair of spaced-apart closed ends and an interior wall surface extending between said closed ends, said interior wall surface exposed to said cooking volume and having a cylindrical an arc portion defining a center of rotation for a set of cross-sections of said cylindrical arc portion wherein said closed closeable cooking volume defines a chamber axis extending through said closed ends and wherein said chamber axis is aligned with said center of rotation and wherein said center of rotation is generally horizontal during a cooking operation, with said cooking chamber defining, in said interior wall, a lateral opening to an external ambient;
• a heating structure configured to raise a temperature of said interior wall surface to a desired cooking temperature above said external ambient during said cooking operation;
• a tumbler blade, disposed within said cylindrical arc portion, configured for rotation about said center of rotation during said cooking operation and including a leading edge complementary to said cylindrical arc portion, said tumbler blade having a first portion configured to tumble the food pieces in a first direction within said cooking volume in response to a relative movement between said tumbler blade and said interior wall surface around said center of rotation, wherein said tumbler blade includes a second portion configured to tumble the food pieces in a second direction different from said first direction within said cooking volume in response to said relative movement, said directions evenly heating exterior surfaces of the plurality of food pieces, responsive to said cooking temperature;
• a drive mechanism coupled to said tumbler blade and said cooking chamber, said drive mechanism configured to produce said relative rotation between said tumbler blade and said interior wall surface;
• and
• a controller, coupled to said heating structure and to said tumbler blade, to operate said heating structure and said relative rotationuntil said surface temperature represents an internal temperature of the food pieces.

A tumble cooker, comprising:

• a support defining a longitudinal axis, said longitudinal axis extending horizontally during a cooking process applied to a set of food components;
• a housing, coupled to said support, said housing defining a cooking portion extending generally parallel to said longitudinal axis including an arcuate cooking surface having said longitudinal axis defining a center of rotation for at least a portion of said arcuate surface perpendicular from said longitudinal axis wherein said set of food components are disposed on said arcuate cooking surface;
• a tumble blade, coupled to said support, having a leading edge proximate to and complementary to said portion of said arcuate cooking surface, said tumble blade configured, responsive to said relative motion, to lift said set of food components from said arcuate cooking surface providing a set of lifted food components, center said set of lifted food components on said tumble blade providing a set of centered food components, and disperse said set of centered food components from said tumble blade onto said arcuate cooking surface;
• and
• a drive, coupled to said support, configured to produce a relative motion between said leading edge and said portion of said arcuate cooking surface during said cooking process;
• wherein said housing includes at least a section of a cylindrical wall having a cylinder axis aligned with said longitudinal axis, said section of said cylindrical wall including said portion of said arcurate cooking surface and wherein said leading edge is parallel to said longitudinal axis.