Electric heating – Microwave heating – Cookware
Patent
1992-04-27
1995-02-14
Reynolds, Bruce A.
Electric heating
Microwave heating
Cookware
99DIG14, 426107, 426113, 426234, 426243, 426262, 219725, H05B 680
Patent
active
053897595
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to containers for use in cooking products in a microwave oven, and to a composite material for use in fabrication of such containers.
Microwave ovens are becoming a common feature in present day kitchens where their speed and convenience are greatly valued. Accordingly much attention is being paid in the food industry to increasing the types of products which may be cooked in such ovens. A persistent problem, however, has been inability of simple microwave ovens, without special features, to "brown" those products which undergo browning in a conventional oven. This problem arises from the fact that no radiant or convective heat transfer occurs in a simple microwave oven; in fact the food itself absorbs the radiation and heating takes place throughout the food article primarily due to microwave heating of water therein, although some heat transfer by conduction also may take place.
It has been suggested to include in packages for use in microwave ovens one or more metal inserts (susceptors) which absorb microwave radiation--the package material itself must of course be microwave transparent. While such inserts can brown certain areas of a food item, they can become too hot at edges and particularly at corners of packages and the food can become burnt. Various arrangements of the susceptors have been proposed to overcome this problem but these arrangements have proved suitable for certain applications only.
It also is possible to incorporate a browning agent on the surface of the food itself. Such browning agents are well known but have the disadvantage that they can only be used to coat solid food items. A semi-liquid cake batter, for instance, would tend to distribute the browning agent throughout the batter during mixing and the entire cake would be "browned". Such a product would not resemble a conventional oven browned food item and would be less acceptable to the customers.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,812 suggests incorporation of a browning agent into a film for application to a food item, for example edible collagen film of a sausage casing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have now found that by an apparently simple expedient of coating the browning agent onto a suitable rigid microwave transparent material, for example food grade card, in contact with a surface of a food item, the latter can be acceptably browned on its contact surface only, when cooked in a microwave oven even where the food item is liquid or semi-liquid.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
According to a first feature of the invention we provide a container for use in a microwave oven formed from a microwave transparent material and having coated on at least part of the inner surface thereof a browning agent for transfer of a brown coloration to the surface of a food item.
The coated material itself is a new development and one method of making the container according to the invention is to coat the browning agent onto the microwave transparent material and to fold or form same into an appropriate shape. A further aspect of the invention therefore provides a microwave transparent material having coated on one side thereof a browning agent for browning the surface of a food item.
The microwave transparent material may be any food grade plastic or cardboard material known for use in containers for microwave ovens; however cardboard is preferred, generally with a protective layer on at least the side which will come into contact with the food item. Such a layer may be for example, a polyester, polypropylene or nylon film.
The browning agent may be any commercially known coloring agent which produces a suitable brown color on food products particularly on heating, e.g. anatto or malt extract. The browning agent may be applied to the microwave transparent material in an aqueous binder, in a high melting-point fat or even, where its adhesion characteristics permit, without any binder. Malt extract is an example of this latter type of browning agent.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4640837 (1987-02-01), Coleman et al.
patent: 4735812 (1988-04-01), Bryson et al.
patent: 4935252 (1990-06-01), Huang et al.
patent: 4976982 (1990-12-01), Gillmore et al.
patent: 5139800 (1992-08-01), Anderson et al.
Jay Anthony S.
Norman Alan
Sands Elizabeth M.
Taylor Joy C.
A.G. (Patents) Limited
Baxley Charles E.
Hoang Tu
Reynolds Bruce A.
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