An apparatus for and method of causing the concentration of coating materials in a coating solution to be automatically adjusted. The apparatus monitors the current flow from a power source to the coating solution and provides pulses substantially proportional to the integral of such current flow. The apparatus counts in a first direction in response to the pulses and energizes means causing the coating material solution to be adjusted in response to counting in the first direction. The energize...

A method of cooking a complete meal in one vessel involving placing specified types of foods in a specific sequence of layers within the vessel, along with appropriate flavorings, so that the various foods retain their separate flavors and structural integrity and can be served separately after cooking.

The present invention relates to a method and device for the processing of organic substances, particularly the preparation of comestibles such as potatoes, with direct passage of electric current in an electrolyte. The method is distinguished in that the electric characteristics of the current passage processing, e.g. the voltage applied, are varied during the processing period and that the processing is divided into a number of stages with mutually dissimilar electric characteristics. The devi...

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 temperatur...

A cooking apparatus has a circular cooking vessel, an overflow situated at an upper portion of the cooking vessel for removing water and starch or scum from a top part of the water bath in the vessel, a heater situated in the cooking vessel for maintaining the water bath at a desired predetermined temperature and a horizontal circular plate arranged on the circular cooking vessel and covering the open top thereof. The plate has a plurality of circularly distributed apertures. There is further pr...

A method of freezing peeled apple pieces is disclosed where the apple pieces are blanched in plain water, generally at a temperature of 85.degree.-95.degree. C., dried by convection hot air at 60.degree. in less, and frozen.

Whole raw onions, as harvested, are cleaned and scalded sufficiently to slicken the membrane interface between the outermost and next inner layers of flesh without appreciably affecting the interfaces between subsequent layers of flesh. The root and stem ends are then cut off, and the outermost layers of flesh of each onion bulb and any outer skin adherant thereto is cut longitudinally along the root-stem axis of the bulb to provide a slit therealong. The so-slit onion bulb is then gripped at op...

An article of food is heated in an oven in which air is circulated. Moisture in the form of steam or a water spray is added to the air as it circulated several times during the cooking or thawing cycle according to a program. Each moisture dose and the length of the interval between doses is controlled independently according to the treatment desired. The first dose is made after the cooking cycle is started, and the dosing time is usually a fraction of the time between doses.

A process for cooking, in a cooking fluid, food products which lose a portion of their moisture content as vapor during the cooking cycle is provided. The food products are spaced and oriented so that during cooking, water vapor is expelled from the food products into the vertical convection channels formed by the spacing and orienting of the food products. The expelled buoyant water vapor augments the upward vertical convection of the cooking fluid through the vertical convection channels, ther...

Uncooked potato products are preserved by a process wherein the potatoes are peeled, cut, blanched, cooled, and dried. Then the potato products are packaged in a flexible vacuum bag which is evacuated, flushed with an inert gas, and sealed. The preservation process is designed to preserve pre-cut, uncooked potatoes for storage at 34.degree.-38.degree. F. for four to six weeks.