Patent Application
20070227367
The invention relates to apparatus for handling food products during cooking, warming and between the time of preparation and service.
Ovens are used in the food service industry to cook food products or keep them warm between the time of preparation and the time of service. These food products may be hamburger patties, vegetable or soy patties, chicken patties, fish patties, or any other product that is generally served warm. A known oven used in a fast food restaurant holds prepared food between the time of preparation and the time of serving. It is preferable that this type of warming oven keep the food in a ready-to-eat state. Temperatures inside the warming oven may reach levels above 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures in other ovens, such as those for cooking or heating, may be higher than 400 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also desirable to regulate the humidity within the oven to ensure that the food does not become dried out or soggy.
When food products are stored in ovens, there is a tendency for them to exude fluids. These fluids may be the natural juices of foods such as meat, or water that is released as a result of the thawing process.
In some cases, food products are placed on racks or trays inside of the ovens. This allows for organized storage of the food, as well as easy insertion and removal of the food products from the oven. Some trays are made using solid bottom panels with walls extending upwardly around their perimeter, forming a cupped tray. In situations where the food is placed in a tray, the food product may be left to stew in its own fluid or fluid from adjacent products, making the food soggy.
To correct the problems of sogginess that arose as a result of food products becoming soggy while stored in trays, racks may be used to hold the food products while in the oven. Generally the racks are perforated, or constructed from materials such as wire mesh to allow the fluids of the food products to drip through the rack. Known racks have generally homogeneous top surfaces with perforations or mesh covering the entire surface of the rack. In some instances, the racks are used in connection with trays, to allow stacking of racks without having fluids drip from the upper racks to the food products below. When the food product rests on the racks in the ovens, fluid is free to drip from the food products into a collection area, such as a tray. Once in the collection area, because the entire surface of the rack was porous, the fluid may evaporate into the atmosphere inside of the oven. Because ovens have humidity controls, the evaporated fluids are sometimes removed from the oven, thereby leaving the food product to dry out inside of the oven.
It would be beneficial to provide an apparatus for handling food products in an oven that facilitates the drainage of fluids away from the food product while preventing the food product from drying out.
This invention relates to apparatus for cooking, heating and keeping food warm between the time of preparation and service. Specifically, the invention relates to a rack for retaining food products in ovens or other environmentally controlled devices.
One aspect of the invention is a rack used in combination with a tray for handling food products inside of an oven. The tray has a bottom panel and walls extending upwardly from a perimeter of the bottom panel. The rack comprises a plate having a plurality of aperture clusters extending therethrough. The aperture clusters define an area sized and shaped to correspond to a food product to be placed thereon, such that one aperture cluster corresponds to one food product. When the food product is placed on the plate, above the aperture cluster, the food product covers the aperture cluster. The rack may also have legs extending away from the bottom of the plate.
A further aspect of the invention includes an apparatus for handling food products in a warming oven comprising a tray and a rack. The tray has a bottom panel and walls extending upwardly from a perimeter of the bottom panel. The walls and the bottom panel form a holding area. The rack has a generally planar plate having an outer edge and plurality of aperture clusters extending therethrough. The aperture clusters are shaped and sized to correspond to a food product to be placed thereon, such that the food product will cover the aperture cluster when disposed on the plate. When the rack is placed inside the tray, the outer edge of the plate is disposed proximate the walls such that the plate spans the holding area thereby, along with the walls and bottom plate, defining a cavity.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form that is presently preferred; it being understood, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
In the figures, where like reference numerals indicate like elements, there is shown an embodiment of a rack, which is identified generally by the numeral 10, for handling food products disposed in ovens 11, such as those commonly used in fast food restaurants. The rack 10 is generally used in connection with a tray 12 when disposed in the oven 11. For purposes of this disclosure, the directions up and down, and correspondingly top and bottom, will refer to those directions when viewed in
The rack 10, as illustrated, has a generally planar plate 14 having an outer edge 16, extending around a perimeter thereof, a top surface 18 and a bottom surface 20. The depth of the outer edge 16 is preferably equal to the thickness of the plate 14, as best seen in
A plurality of legs 32 extend from a bottom surface 20 of the plate 14. The legs 32 are generally perpendicular to the plate 14 and disposed between aperture clusters 26, as best seen in
An alternative embodiment of a rack 110 is shown in
The tray 12, used in connection with the rack 10, has a bottom panel 36 and walls 38 extending upwardly therefrom. The walls 38 are generally perpendicular to the bottom panel 36 and, together with the bottom panel 36, define a holding area 40 for the rack 10 and the food product 30. A ridge 42 extends around the inner face of the walls 38. Preferably, the ridge 42 lies in a plane that is generally parallel to the bottom panel 38. The ridge 42 is preferably raised sufficiently above the bottom panel 36 to allow fluids to accumulate in the bottom of the tray 12 without reaching the level of the ridge 42.
A rim 44 extends around upper portions of the walls 38 and defines the top of the tray 12. The rim 44 preferably has mounting projections 46 extending longitudinally along the lateral sides of the tray 12. The mounting projections 46 preferably have a generally arcuate cross-sectional profile and extend outwardly and downwardly from the rim 44. Longitudinal ends of the tray 12 have gripping extensions 48 that facilitate handling of the tray 12. The gripping extensions 48 may have notches 50 to facilitate the engagement of locking tabs (not shown) within the oven 11. The locking tabs may click into the notches 50 to indicate to the user that the tray 12 is correctly positioned within the oven 11.
The rack 10 is sized and shaped to fit snugly within the tray 12. When the rack 10 is inserted in the tray 12, the legs 32 preferably rest on the bottom panel 36. The outer edge 16 of the plate 14 is adapted to fit snugly within the walls 38. It is preferable that there is a very small, if any, amount of space between the outer edge 16 and the walls 38. The recess 24 is adapted to provide sufficient space for a user to remove the rack 10 from the tray 12, using a finger or some type of tool (not shown). In an embodiment where the rack 10 has no legs, the rack 10 preferably rests on the ridge 42. Regardless of whether or not the rack 10 has legs 32, it is preferable that the fit between the rack 10 and the tray 12 restricts the escape of any fluids that accumulate in the bottom of the tray 12.
A cavity 52 is formed below the plate 14, within the tray 12. The cavity 52 is defined by interior surfaces of the bottom panel 36 and walls 38 of the tray 14, as well as the bottom surface 20 of the plate 14. The cavity 52 is further defined by the food product 30 placed on the rack 10. As best seen in
In use, the rack 10 is placed inside of the tray 12, with food products 30 placed on top of the rack 10, covering the aperture clusters 26. The assembly is placed in an oven 11 to cook or keep the food products 30 at a desired temperature. In the embodiment shown here, the mounting projections 46 are preferably slid onto a mounting rail 56. Preferably, the mounting rails 56 are adapted to keep the rack 20 level and suspended within the oven 11. Also, because the mounting projections 46 and rails 56 are on lateral sides of the tray 12, the tray 12 can be inserted and removed from the oven 11 through multiple doors 58, 60 located on opposing ends of the oven 11.
As the food products 30 are heated, they tend to exude fluid 54. When the food products 30 are placed on the rack 10, above the aperture clusters 26, the fluid 54 drains through the apertures 28, into the cavity 52. The legs 32 are sufficiently long enough, or the ridge 42 is sufficiently high enough, to keep the food products 30 from resting in the fluid 54. Regardless of the shape of the apertures 28, or the aperture clusters 26, it is preferable that the plate 14 provide sufficient support for the food products 30 while providing a generous area of apertures 28 to facilitate the draining of the fluids into the cavity 52. It is preferable that more lateral surface area of food product 30 is disposed over the aperture clusters 26 than is disposed over the top surface 18 of the plate 14.
Because the aperture clusters 26 are sized and shaped to be covered by the food product 30, the fluid 54 that drains into the cavity 52 is restricted from evaporating into the air above the rack 10. Rather, any fluid 54 that evaporates from the cavity 52 returns to the food product 30, thereby serving to keep the food product 30 moist, while preventing it from becoming soggy.
The balance between sogginess and dryness is a result of the sizing and shaping of the aperture clusters 30 in the rack 10, which allow fluid to drain from the food product 30, while supporting the food product 30 above the collection area of the fluid 54. Regarding dryness, the aperture clusters 26 facilitate the evaporation of the fluid 54 back into the food product 30, rather than into the atmosphere in the oven 11. Because most, if not all, of the apertures 28 in the rack 10 are covered by the food product 30, there is substantially less evaporation of the fluid 54 into the atmosphere of the oven 11 than occurs with a rack having a plate that is perforated across its entire surface.
The rack 10 and tray 12 may be constructed using a variety of materials such as plastics, metals, composites and ceramics. The desired material may depend on the use of the rack 10 and tray 12, which may also may vary. By way of example, the rack 10 may be used in an oven for cooking food products, warming cooked food products or keeping warm food products at a desirable temperature prior to serving.
A variety of modifications to the embodiments described will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure provided herein. Thus, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.
