Patent Application
20090095170
The present invention relates generally to marinade containers and meat tenderizers.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a sealable marinade container, comprising a base and a lid, which marinades and tenderizes meat and other products.
Sealable containers for marinating meats and other foods are known in the art. They include a marinade container comprising a marinade tray having projecting tines for tenderizing meats.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,351 to Kell discloses a marinade tray having a base and lid that seal to form a marinade container. The base of the marinade container is flat and its exterior surface can be used as a cutting board. The interior surface of the base comprises a plurality of tines that puncture the meat in the base to facilitate the diffusion of marinade into the meat. The base can also be used for cooking the meat and the tines transmit heat into the meat to facilitate cooking.
It is believed that the existing marinade containers can be further improved.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a marinade container, which is a further improvement of the existing marinade containers.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a marinade container, comprising a base element having an inner surface provided with a plurality of tines which are configured for puncturing holes in a surface of a piece of food product, said base element also having an outer surface; and a lid element having an inner surface provided with a plurality of tines which are configured for puncturing holes in a piece of food product, said lid element and said base element being connectable with one another so as to define an inner space in which a piece of food product can be accommodated and said tines on said inner surface of said base element and on said inner surface of said lid element being configured so that when the piece of food product is accommodated in said inner space said tines of said base element puncture holes in one surface of the piece of food product and said tines of said inner surface of said lid element simultaneously puncture holes in an opposite surface of the piece of food product for increasing a diffusion of marinade into the food product and for thereby increasing the effectiveness with which the piece of food product is marinated and made tender.
When the marinade container is designed in accordance with the present invention, not only a piece of food product is punctured from below through its lower surface, but it is also punctured from above through its upper surface, and therefore a diffusion of marinade into a food product is increased, which significantly increases the effectiveness with which the piece of food product is marinated and made tender.
In accordance with another important feature of the present invention, the inner space between the base element and the lid element can be adjusted so as to accommodate pieces of food product of different thicknesses and at the same time to guarantee that both the tines of the inner surface of the base element and the tines of the inner surface of the lid element puncture holes in the lower surface and in the upper surface of the piece of food product.
The adjustment can be performed by deflection of one of the elements, and preferably by the deflection of the lid element relative to the base element. For this purpose the peripheral region of the lid element can be provided with folds or corrugations.
In accordance with still a further feature of the present invention, both the lid element and the base element are provided on the outer surfaces with projections Which can be supported on a supporting surface, so that the marinade container can be arranged in one position in which the base element is located below the bottom and the lid element is located above, and another position in which the lid element is located below the bottom and the base element is located above.
For stacking purposes the outer surfaces of the base element and the lid element can be provided also with depressions in which the above mentioned projections are engageable when several marinade containers are located over one another.
To facilitate the engagement of the projections into the depressions, orienting means are provided for example on an outer surface of the lid element and formed as a periphery closed projection.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
A marinade container in accordance with the present invention is provided for marinating food products, such as for example a piece of meat, etc. The inventive marinade container has a base element which is identified with reference numeral 1 and a lid element which is identified with reference numeral 2.
The base element 1 and the lid element 2 are provided with handles 3 and 4 correspondingly. The base element 1 and the lid element 2 are optimally composed of a food compatible plastic material which is commonly used for food storage containers.
As can be seen from
In particular, the base element 1 has an inner surface 5 and an outer surface 6, while the lid element 2 has an inner surface 7 and an outer surface 8.
When the lid element 2 is connected with the base element 1, the inner surfaces 5 and 7 of the base element 1 and the lid element 2 define therebetween an inner space for accommodating a piece of food product, for example a piece of meat, to be marinated.
The outer surfaces 6 and 8 of the base element 1 and the lid element 2 are provided with projections which are configured to allow the sealed container to rest stably on a supporting surface either on the base element 1 or on the lid element 2. In particular, the base element 1 is provided on its outer surface 6 with projections 9, while the lid element 2 is provided on its outer surface 8 with projections 10. Since the marinade container can rest stably on the support surface either on the projections 9 of the outer surface 6 of the base element 1 or on the projections 10 of the outer surface 8 of the lid element 2, the marination of the piece of food product in the marinade container is facilitated on both upper and lower surfaces of the piece of food product.
The outer surface 8 of the lid element 2 is provided with depressions 11. The depressions are configured so that the projections 9 of the base element are insertable in the depressions 11. This arrangement provides for stably stacking of the multiple marinade containers on top of one another as shown in
For orienting the projections 9 relative to the depressions 11 a peripherally closed projection 12 is provided on the outer surface 8 of the lid element 2.
The base element 1 and the lid element 2 are connected to form an air tight seal when sufficient force is provided to the elements to connect them with one another. For this purpose the base element has a lip 13, while the lid element has a groove 14, that are configured so that the lip 13 air tightly engages into the groove 14.
In accordance with an important feature of the present invention, the inner surfaces of the base element 1 and the lid element 2 are provided with a plurality of tines. The inner surface 5 of the base element 5 has a plurality of tines 15, while the inner surface 7 of the lid element 2 is provided with a plurality of tines 16. The tines 15 and 16 are configured so that they penetrate a piece of food product by puncturing holes in corresponding surfaces of the piece of food product, so as to provide a diffusion of marinade into the food product and thereby increase an effectiveness with which the piece of food product is marinated and made tender. The tines can be formed, for example, as substantially conical projections with substantially sharp tips.
In accordance with the present invention means are provided for adjusting of a vertical size of the inner space between the inner surface 5 of the base element 1 and the inner surface 7 of the lid element 2.
The adjusting means can be formed, for example, as a portion of one of the elements which allows the one element to move in a vertical direction toward and away from the other element. This portion is identified with reference numeral 17. It can be formed as a portion which is provided with at least one fold or a plurality of fold and configured, for example as a corrugated portion. As shown in
The displacement of the main portion, for example, of the lid element 2, must be such that when the piece of food product is located in the container between the base element 1 and the lid element 2, the tines 15 of the base element 1 and the tines 16 of the lid element 2 penetrate into the piece of food product and puncture holes in the lower surface of the piece of food product and in the upper surface of the piece of food product.
It should be mentioned that the force required to move the main portion, for example, of the lid element 2 downwardly toward the base element I or upwardly from the base element 1 is selected to be less than a force required to maintain the air-tight seal between the lid element 2 and the base element 1 due to the engagement of the lip 13 of the base element 1 into the groove 14 of the lid element 2.
The marinade container in accordance with the present invention operates in the following manner:
When for example the base element 1 is placed on a support surface, a piece of food product is placed into the base element 1 on its inner surface 5 provided with the tines 15. Then, the lid 2 is placed on the base element 1 so that its inner surface 7 faces the inner surface 5 of the base element 2, and a force is applied, so that the lip 13 of the base element 1 engages into the groove 14 of the lid element 2 and an air-tight connection of the two elements with one another is established. Then, a user displaces the main part of the lid element 2 toward the base element 1 or away from the base element 1, so that the piece of food product is accommodated tightly in the inner space formed between the inner surface 5 of the base element 1 and the inner surface 7 of the base element 2 and the tines 15 of the base element 1 puncture holes in the lower surface of the piece of food product, while the tines 16 of the inner surface 7 of the lid element 2 puncture holes in the upper surface of piece of the food product. The piece of the food produce is left in the marinade container for sufficient time to allow diffusion of marinade through the holes in the upper and lower surfaces of the piece of food product into the volume of the piece of food product.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the type described above.
While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a marinade container, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.
