Patent Application
20230107223
The present invention relates to small appliances for cooking or heating foods, especially tacos or foods having a similar cross sectional shape as a taco.
Cooking tacos according to traditional methods typically involves pan-frying corn or soft tortilla discs in oil, turning them over so both sides cook evenly in the oil, and then curling them up at just the right moment to form crunchy, semi-circular shells having spaced apart lobes. While partially cooked, the upper lobe must be supported at a desired spacing from the lower lobe, and cooking proceeds unevenly with the lower lobe immersed in oil while the upper lobe remains in air above the oil. The taco shell must be flipped over in the oil a number of times until both lobes are cooked evenly and completely. This process is time-consuming and it is difficult for home cooks or other non-professionals to produce pleasingly uniform results wherein a set of fried taco shells contain reasonably similar volumes of food fillings.
Also, foods made by deep frying soft tortillas in oil are high in calories. Taco shells made by traditional methods immerse the soft tortillas in oil for several minutes at a time and thus they absorb a lot of oil. People minding their calorie intake would prefer tacos made by other methods than immersing the taco shell in fry oil.
There is also a desire for convenience in food preparation, so that processes requiring multiple steps using multiple cooking tools can be consolidated to fewer steps and tools, or a single step or tool.
The above disadvantages are addressed by providing an electric taco griddle as a convenient food heating appliance which comprises a heating element assembly and a grill panel both connected to a frame. The grill panel has an articulated form to define spaced apart troughs, with heating elements within the frame which bestride the troughs at an intermediate level above the bottom level and below the top level of the troughs. The articulated grill panel shapes flat membranes of soft tortillas into tacos, and the heating elements cook them and the taco fillings in place.
The invention is an electric taco griddle which in a typical embodiment cooks two soft tortillas at once to make taco shells in paired troughs of a “W” shaped grilling surface, and may be used to prepare tacos with fillings heated by the appliance. Compared to traditional deep frying or pan frying methods, the griddle allows taco shells to be toasted to crispy firmness while using little to no cooking oils or grease. Reducing oil content of foods reduces their calorie content, so tacos produced using the present invention may be healthier for eating than traditional high-calorie tacos.
The griddle surface is removable from the frame of the appliance for easy cleaning. Compared to pan frying methods or other methods which require time to heat a volume of oil up to cooking temperature, the electrically heated grilling surface achieves desired cooking temperatures within a few minutes, and eliminates extra time and logistics spent to cool down and re-store used cooking oil after cooking is finished. Ideally, cold ingredients such a tortilla, cheese, and precooked meat may be assembled and cooked in a single step, and these may even be provided in prepackaged form, with fresh ingredients such as lettuce and tomatoes added after heating. The appliance is conveniently sized for home use.
As a food heating appliance, the electric taco griddle uses an electric temperature controller to easily adjust the cook temperature and cook the tacos to a crispy finish. The grill panel [12] has an articulated form to define a plurality of spaced apart troughs [13] and connects to or is received into a frame [11.] For convenience in removing and replacing the grill panel within the frame, thermally non-conductive handles [15] are affixed to opposed upper portions of the frame. According to variants within the scope of the invention, a pilot light [18] may be electrically wired to indicate power available (unit plugged in,) or power “on” (heating elements are energized) or that the grill surfaces are hot enough for cooking, or remain hot as a hazard. A preferred embodiment uses a temperature controller with a knob [17] including pointer and a bezel with indicia for a range of cooking temperatures, and another variant uses a timer and a bezel indicating cooking minutes remaining as an internal timing mechanism returns the knob to a “power off” condition.
The grill panel [12] of the food heating appliance of is preferably articulated only on one axis [14] so that it has a constant cross section over its length and the longitudinal axes of the troughs are substantially parallel. In this embodiment the grill surface panel is an integral sheet of metal, with handles [15] for lifting it out of the frame for convenient cleaning. Another variant may have the grill permanently attached to the frame and the handles available for lifting and positioning the entire appliance. The appliance assembly also includes a power cord [47] wired to the temperature controller and the heating elements.
Each trough has a bottom portion at a bottom level [35,] and a top portion at a top level above the bottom level. Each trough also has opposed upper portions at the top level. Additional heat is transferred by convection from the heating elements to the top levels of the troughs. The first and last portions of the top level [37] include handles [15,] preferably made of a thermally non-conducting material, for lifting the grill out of the appliance frame for cleaning. For a variant where the grill is permanently attached to the frame, the handles serve as lifting affordances for the entire appliance.
The heating element assembly has a plurality of elevated portions above the bottom level. In the example embodiment shown, a first elevated portion [33b] is disposed between the troughs[13a] and [13b.] A second elevated portion [33a] is adjacent to a first one of the troughs [13a] opposite the first elevated portion, and a third elevated portion [33c] is adjacent to a second one of the troughs [13b] opposite the first elevated portion. Each trough has an associated elevated portion on opposite sides of the trough; in the example shown the first trough [13a] has elevated portions [33a] and [33b] on opposite sides of it, and the second trough [13b] has elevated portions [33b] and [33c] on opposite sides of it. Each elevated portion of the heating element has end portions below the bottom level of the troughs and an intermediate portion elevated above the bottom level.
With this example embodiment having two troughs and the heating elements having three elevated portions. It is also possible to create a food heating appliance having more articulated sections defining more troughs, and in heating both sides of the total number of troughs it will be understood that the number of elevated portions will be greater by one than the number of troughs. The troughs have a constant cross section and the entire grill panel also has constant cross-sectional profile.
Many modifications and variations on the present disclosure may be made and other methods performed without departing from its spirit and scope. For example, the appliance may also be used for making flautas without deep frying. To make flautas, a user may partially cook tortillas in the heated troughs of the device, remove them to add meats and other fillings, roll the partially cooked shells to close them over the fillings and then replace the filled tortilla tubes in the heated troughs to cook until crispy. Flautas made using this appliance and method will contain much less oil than traditionally prepared fare and allow calorie conscious people to continue to enjoy these foods.
Also, hot dog buns when grilled are usually split open and buttered on the interior surfaces which are then hinged apart 180° and pressed onto a flat grilled surface. This process disadvantageously weakens the bread at this hinge, often allowing the halves to split apart. By using the inventive grilling appliance, split and buttered hot dog buns may be placed inverted over the ridge between adjacent troughs, which hold them open to an angle much less than 180° during cooking. The appliance may be used for simultaneously cooking the wiener or sausage in one adjacent trough and other heatable toppings such as chopped onions for grilling in the other trough.
The special shape of the cooking surfaces may also be amenable to cooking other deep fried tube foods such as Asian egg rolls, crispy spring rolls, or other lenticular foods, and may inspire entirely new food creations. Thus, although many exemplary embodiments are described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.
