초록 ▼

An oven for cooking foods, and especially for browning foods, has heated, radiant walls. Heat may be supplied by a gas burner flame in a plenum behind the walls, with products of combustion thus being isolated from the food in the oven chamber. In one embodiment food products are continuously convey

An oven for cooking foods, and especially for browning foods, has heated, radiant walls. Heat may be supplied by a gas burner flame in a plenum behind the walls, with products of combustion thus being isolated from the food in the oven chamber. In one embodiment food products are continuously conveyed through the oven chamber and, depending on oven temperature, are either cooked or simply browned in the oven by the radiant wall heat. Fats and other materials rendered from the food products, if not fully incinerated in the oven chamber, may be transferred along with exhaust air from the oven chamber to a separate combustion chamber, for incineration, the heat from which is used to contribute to heat requirements for the plenum. Steam or other inert gas is introduced to the oven chamber to minimize oxidation and prevent flame, and the steam can be produced by heat exchange with exhaust plenum gases. An alternative wall heating system uses electric resistance heat elements inside a thin ceramic wall. In one preferred embodiment of a conveyorized oven the oven chamber has two stages, a browning stage and a cooking stage, with atmosphere gases constantly moved toward the browning stage so as to be incinerated before leaving the oven chamber. An embodiment is disclosed wherein a web-like metal conveyor of a radiant wall oven is returned through the oven in order to heat the conveyor sufficiently to put grill stripes on a product being browned, such as meat. Water spray or other means are included for controlling the temperature of the belt to a desired range. In a further embodiment a radiant wall oven is combined in series with a microwave oven, so that the food products are browned in the radiant wall oven and cooked in the microwave oven.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] A method for cooking a food product, comprising:placing the food product in an oven chamber having heated, radiant walls maintained at a temperature of at least about 1200.degree. F., with the food product spaced from the walls,delivering a heated gas through nozzles into the oven

[ We claim:] [1.] A method for cooking a food product, comprising:placing the food product in an oven chamber having heated, radiant walls maintained at a temperature of at least about 1200.degree. F., with the food product spaced from the walls,delivering a heated gas through nozzles into the oven chamber and impinging the heated gas against the food product, and thereby simultaneously subjecting a surface of the food product to both radiant heat and hot gas impingement,retaining the food product in the oven chamber and subjected to the heat from the radiant walls and from the heated gas impingement for a dwell time sufficient to brown the surfaces of the food product, but not sufficient to burn the exterior surfaces, andintroducing and maintaining an oxygen-deficient atmosphere in the oven chamber, low enough in oxygen that the food product does not flame while in the oven chamber.