Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Diverse cooker types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2001-12-18
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Diverse cooker types
C099S340000, C099S419000, C099S4210HH, C099S4210HH, C099S427000, C099S448000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330851
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement of a plurality of apparatuses for the preparation of food, for example steamers, boilers, broilers, roasters, or microwave units, each of which can be set to a particular cooking time.
Every large kitchen or restaurant is equipped with an arrangement of apparatuses for the preparation of food. It is furthermore known that hotels and restaurants strive to offer their guests a selection of a large number of different dishes. These dishes differ with respect to the combination of food elements, such as pieces of meat, poultry, fish and side dishes such as vegetables, rice, potatoes, etc. It is important here that the items of food require different periods of preparation. On the other hand, the food must not be overcooked, i.e. once done, the food should not be cooked further or kept warm for too long. Valuable flavor and nutrient elements are lost thereby.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Against this background, it is an object of the present invention concerned with the technical problem providing an arrangement of a plurality of food preparation apparatuses for the preparation of a complete dish consisting of several different foods.
In accordance with the invention preparation time of each apparatus can be controlled and a switching center is provided, which is connected to each apparatus by a control line, the switching center having a control unit for automatically establishing different preparation times for the foods to be prepared in the individual apparatuses. In accordance with the invention, a common end point in time is established with regard to the preparation time and the operating time of the apparatus of the arrangement. Since it is known what type of food is to be prepared in each one of the apparatuses, the specific preparation time can also be set in advance, possibly in accordance with the quantity, and the control unit can calculate what treatment time is necessary individually for the different foods. The start of the periods of preparation can also be staggered so as to see to it that all the foods are ready at the same end point in time. Therefore, the start of the cooking time in the apparatus in question can also be controlled. As a further advantageous embodiment, the control center may have a microprocessor. It is also preferable that an apparatus of this arrangement be connected to a storage container. This storage container holds a quantity of the food which is to be prepared in the apparatus in question, for instance a quantity of potatoes or vegetables, rice, etc. In this connection, it is also particularly preferred that the storage container be a refrigerated container. Foods delivered in frozen condition are kept frozen in the storage container until a given amount of the food in question has been fed from the storage container into the cooking apparatus. The cooking time is then also established so as first to defrost the food. Since the delivery from the storage container into the cooking apparatuses can also be controlled from the control center, the temperature of the foods fed is also always known relatively accurately so that the cooking time can also be pre-established relatively precisely with respect to this also. In principle, the actual temperature of the food can also be fed back to the control unit via a temperature sensor in the cooking apparatus. In view of the development described above, a temperature sensor and such a feedback is not, however, absolutely necessary. Furthermore, it is also preferred in this connection that one storage container be connected for loading with several cooking apparatuses or that one cooking apparatus be connected also with several storage containers. The latter, in any event, if the foods in question are “compatible”, and therefore there is no impairment of taste or otherwise if different foods are prepared one after the other in the same cooking apparatus. For example, noodles and rice appear suitable for such a manner of procedure.
If only one specific dish is ordered in a restaurant, then the development can be such that only the food in question is entered into the control unit/computer, which then automatically controls the different cooking apparatuses and first of all fills them with the foods of the dish and then sets the individual cooking times so that at a common end point in time (or immediately one after the other) the different items of food reach the desired stage of cooking and can be placed together on one or more plates. The combining of the switching center, which may in particular be a personal computer or microprocessor, with an electronic scale is of particular importance and is preferably provided. In such case, the information with respect to individual foods to be prepared such as, for instance, poultry, can be entered directly via the weighing. Furthermore, the control unit is then advised on basis of previously entered empirical values as to how long a time is necessary for cooking this individual food. Since this, as a rule, will be the food requiring the longest cooking time, the control of the preparation time or the start of the preparation times of the other foods can be established on basis of the predetermined end point in time of this cooking process. Furthermore, this can also be combined with a grill wall consisting of a plurality of grilling apparatuses such as described already in the Applicant's German Utility Model 94 13 628.9. The disclosure of said utility model is herewith included in its entirety in the disclosure of the present application, also for the purpose of including features of said older utility model in claims of the present application. In this respect, the control unit, the personal computer, can be informed continuously with respect to all grilling places or the like and also indicate what grilling place will be free next. In particular, a report as to which grilling place/storage container, etc. must be filled can be given to the control unit. The control unit can also indicate continuously the instantaneous condition of all connected cooking apparatuses (filled, emptied, cooking in process, etc.). The entire system can furthermore be implemented in modular manner for expansion. Of course, there can also be concerned in each case a plurality of identical cooking apparatuses, as described in detail with respect to the grill wall.
The object of the invention is also a method of preparing a dish consisting of several items of food, for example a piece of meat or poultry and a vegetable side dish, one food in each case being prepared in a separate apparatus such as, for instance, a steamer, a boiler, or a microwave unit. In this case, the invention proposes, as method for better preparation of dishes that the apparatuses be so controlled with respect to their treatment time by a central control system that all of the items of food are fully cooked at practically the same moment. The preparation time can preferably be program-controlled. In the development in which each of the apparatuses is connected with a storage container, it is also proposed that a centrally controlled refilling of an apparatus be effected.
In case of the preparation of poultry as part of a dish, particularly by grilling, the invention prefers a grilling apparatus having a grill holder which is rotatable around a horizontal grilling axis for receiving a grilled item, particularly poultry, and having a heating surface located above the grilling axis, the heating surface being arranged coaxial to the grilling axis. In this way, the grilled item placed on the rotatable grill holder is always at the same distance within the heating region from the heating surface and is therefore uniformly and intensely heated. According to the invention, the heating surface consists of individual, inductively heated heating elements the heating power which can be individually controlled, for which purpose the heating elements are provided for example with temperature sensors. Thus, a different heating power can be ca
Farber Martin A.
Simone Timothy F.
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