An improved convection/impingement oven for continuously cooking food. The oven has a wire link type belt which moves through an elongated cooking chamber. Hot air is blown on the upper surface of the food to be cooked. A separately controlled hot air source is blown on the lower surface of the food. Hot air impingement units are placed along the length of the oven and the cooking vapors are not recirculated but instead pass along the elongated cooking chamber and are exhausted at the end. Preferably a color development and sealing section has upper and lower burners which heat the food and the heat from these burners also pass the entire length of the cooking chamber before being exhausted. Also preferably steam or a water spray is used to regulate the humidity and this may be regulated in several different sections of the cooking chamber.
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/394,194 filed on Feb. 24, 1995, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/092,755 filed on Oct. 2, 1992, now abandoned.
A system for arranging foodstuff in compact formations is presented. The system contemplates a lateral conveyance apparatus having a transport surface, such as a moving conveyor belt, that is adapted to receive foodstuff from an upstream food presenting machine and selectively shifts foodstuff laterally so that adjacent rows may be arranged in a compact, nested arrangement. The lateral conveyance apparatus has a lateral shift mechanism and an optional sensing device for activating the mechanism as a row of items of foodstuff is sensed. The system may also include an axial spacing apparatus having a transport surface for varying the axial spacing of rows of foodstuff. Axial spacing is achieved by creating a speed differential between the transport surface of the axial spacing apparatus and the transport surface of another, adjacent apparatus.
A method for treating used cooking liquid from a cooking process includes the steps of removing a portion of the used liquid cooking medium from a cooking vessel and channeling it to a treatment vessel. The treatment vessel is sealable against a pressure that is substantially greater than atmospheric pressure. The cooking medium in the treatment vessel is then subjected to a pressure substantially greater than ambient atmospheric pressure, and it is heated in the treatment vessel to a temperature greater than an atmospheric pressure boiling point for a sufficient time to restore the cooking medium to a condition suitable for cooking. Finally the treated cooking medium is returned to the cooking vessel from the treatment vessel. This method is environmentally useful for significantly reducing wastewater production and "makeup" water usage.
A method for cooking food includes heating a liquid cooking medium in a cooking vessel having a "U"-shaped structure having a height is sufficient, with sufficient medium added, to attain a hydrostatic pressure at a predetermined lower depth that is substantially greater than ambient atmospheric pressure. The food is conveyed through the vessel, mostly cooking at the bottom, where the hydrostatic pressure facilitates a cooking of the food at a rate substantially greater than a rate at ambient pressure. A further aspect of the invention is a method for reducing wastewater output and makeup water usage when cooking a food containing a complex carbohydrate. This method causes released complex carbohydrate to cause a lower viscosity increase than at ambient pressure, thereby increasing a cooking effectiveness of the water and reducing a need for adding makeup water and disposing of wastewater.
An apparatus for destroying pathogens on meat includes a dewatering station, a steam heating chamber, and a cooling chamber. The meat is treated as it is moved along by a conveyor. The dewatering chamber includes an air blower with nozzles for blowing air at the surface of the meat to remove surface water from the meat. The steam heating chamber is disposed adjacent the dewatering chamber and includes a steam heating chamber enclosure that is sealed for maintaining a positive pressure in the steam heating chamber relative to the dewatering chamber. In one embodiment the steam chamber moves along with the meat on the conveyor. The cooling chamber is disposed adjacent the steam chamber opposite from the dewatering station. The cooling chamber has nozzles for spraying chilled water onto the surface of the meat for rapidly cooling the meat after it is passed through the steam heating chamber. The meat conveyor extends through the dewatering chamber, the steam chamber, and the chilled water chamber. The meat conveyor supports the meat and transfers it from chamber to chamber. A method for destroying pathogens on meat is also disclosed that includes the steps of removing surface water from the meat, passing the meat through a steam chamber having a positive pressure relative to the outside of the steam chamber, and rapidly chilling the surface of the meat.
A conveyor oven having a heating chamber and an oven chamber. A conveyor is disposed in the oven chamber to convey food products between an entry port and an exit port. An air impingement assembly is disposed to provide jets of impingement air toward the food product. A fan blower, a heater and a moisture delivery device are arranged to provide heat and moisture to an airflow to the air impingement assembly so that the jets of air are heated and laden with moisture and provide as a blanket-like mixture of air and moisture at the surface of the food product.
