AU734593B3

AU734593B3 - A cooking process and apparatus

Info

Publication number: AU734593B3
Application number: AU23231/01A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Keith Ronald Harris
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-02-26
Filing date: 2001-02-26
Publication date: 2001-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2007-02-26
Also published as: WO2002067695A1

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR A PETTY

PATENT

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: KEITH RONALD

HARRIS

CULLEN

CO.,

Patent Trade Mark 239 George Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

Attorneys, Invention Title: A COOKING PROCESS AND

APPARATUS

The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us: A COOKING PROCESS AND APPARATUS TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to cooking processes and apparatus, and has particular relevance to apparatus for cooking edible cones.

BACKGROUND ART United States Patent No. 3424076 describes methods and apparatus for cooking a cone-shaped tortilla product into a crisp stiff shell.

United States Patent No. 5,009,902 also describes a fried and crisp taco-shell made from tortilla and a method of producing same.

United States Patent No. 4,313,964 describes a further apparatus and method for cooking a dough and forming it into an edible coneshaped container.

United States Patent No.4,313,965 describes a process and apparatus for forming an ice-cream cones.

In all of the above disclosures cones are formed using inner and outer conical shaped formers.

Where the cones are formed by cooking in fat such as in the processes discussed in the first three United States patents mentioned above a surprising amount of uplift is created by the cooking fat and this uplift needs to be countered. Various means of counteracting the uplift have been proposed.

Any solution for counteracting uplift during cooking should not compromise the efficiency of processes.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking process and apparatus which will enable fast and efficient production of edible cone-shaped jackets which can be used to serve a wide variety of food fillings.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided a process for cooking of a flour or corn tortilla comprising the steps of:folding the flour or corn tortilla into a cone-shaped configuration, placing the flour or corn tortilla in a first cone-shaped metal former, inserting a second cone-shaped metal former into the flour or corn tortilla to form an assembly, inserting the assembly in a support rack housed within a cooking basket having a closure means, submerging the cooking basket into a pre-heated cooking fluid to fry the flour or corn tortilla, characterised in that the sleeve is able to float within the cooking fluid and that the distance that the second cone shaped sleeve rises in the cooking fluid and thus the thickness of the cooked flour or corn tortilla is determined by a pre-determined spacing between the sleeve and the lid of the basket, The support rack is able removable from the basket.

The support rack provides a plurality of support positions for the t~e re ee r 1

LD

n assemblies.

The support rack is suspended from the sidewalls of the cooking basket.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a cooking apparatus comprising; a cooking basket having closure means, a plurality of sets of cone-shaped formers, a rack which provides support for sets of the cone-shaped formers within the basket, and support means for supporting the racks within the basket at a predetermined distance below the closure means of the basket.

The rack is removable from the basket.

The sets of cone-shaped formers each comprise as outer former with apertured walls and an inner former with planar walls.

The inner cone of each set of formers is spaced from the lid of the basket by approximately 30 millimeters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Aspects of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figurel is a side view of a cooking apparatus according to the present invention, and Figures 2, 3 4 are end, plan side views of a basket of the lo apparatus of Figure 1, and Figures 5 6 are plan and side views of a rack for the apparatus of Figure 1, and Figures 7, 7a, 8 and 8a are side and plan views of cone-shaped formers for the apparatus of Figure 1, and 15 Figure 9 is a diagrammatic drawing of the relative positions of the cone-shaped formers of Figures 7 to 8a and a closed lid of the basket during cooking.

With respect to the drawings the apparatus of the present invention comprises a cooking basket and closure means generally indicated by arrow 1, a rack generally indicated by arrow 3a which provide support for the formers 3 within the basket 1.

The basket 1, further illustrated by Figures 2 to 4, is generally in .J the form of a wire cage having sidewalls 5, endwalls 6, a bottom wall 7 and a closure lid 8.

The sidewalls 5 may taper slightly towards the bottom wall 7.

The side, end and bottom walls can be constructed from solid metal bars 8 and a metal mesh 9.

The basket 1 includes a closure lid generally indicated by arrow which comprises a hinged loop 11, and a handle 12.

Two spaced crossbars 13 are fixed to the underside of the loop 11.

The closure lid 10 is able to be hinged into a fully open position (not shown) its travel being limited by stops 14 which extend from a sidewall of the basket adjacent the hinge of the lid Figures 5 to 9 of the drawings illustrate in more detail the rack 2 and formers 3.

The formers 2 (Figures 7 to 9a) each comprise an inner former and a complimentary outer former 16.

The inner and outer formers 15, 16 are truncated cones spun from relatively thin (approximately 0.9 millimeters thick) food grade aluminium.

The outer formers 16 are slightly shorter than the inner formers The inner formers 15 are provided with a plurality of apertures 17 in the wall thereof.

By contrast the walls of the outer formers 16 are planar.

The rack 3 is illustrated by Figures 5 and 6.

The rack comprises a lifting bars 18 and handles 19 formed from single pieces of metal bar bent into the configuration illustrated to S. provide an upper rest portion 20 and a lower rest portion 21 via an intermediate upright 22.

20 The lower rest portions 22 are welded to a cluster of conjoined support sleeves 23 each of which have tapered walls.

Sets of inner and outer formers 15 and 16 are designed to be supported by the sleeves 23.

When the rack is placed in the basket 1 and loaded with the formers 15, 16 (Figure 1) the upper rests 20 overlie the top edges of the endwalls 6 of the basket 1.

As is best exemplified by Figure 9 once the rack 3 is loaded with sets of formers are positioned in the basket 1 and the closure lid 10 is down the top edges of the inner formers 15 area and set at a predetermined distance from the lid.

The distance is important as it determines the extent to which the inner formers 16 can "float" during cooking, and thus the maximum thickness of the walls of cooked cones so determined.

The cooking process of the present invention comprises the steps of folding a a flour or corn tortilla 21 into a cone-shaped configuration, placing the flour or corn tortilla 24 into the apertured inner formers inserting the second former 16 into the flour or corn tortilla to form an assembly, inserting the assemblies into the supports and racks, closing the closure means 11 and submerging the cooking basket into a pre-heated cooking fluid (not shown).

As the flour or corn tortilla 24 is cooking the cooking fat will create a film between the outer surfaces of the flour or corn tortilla and a film of fat will be formed between the outer surface of the inner former 16 and the inner surface of the shaped flour or corn tortilla, the inner formers will float until contact is made between the top edges of the inner cores and the overlying closure lid.

After cooking the combined rack and support are removed and the unit placed on a cooling rack (not shown) which is specifically designed to support clear off a work surface unit.

Uplift forces transferred to the lid during cooking may be counteracted by fastening or weighting devices (not shown) fixed to the free end of the lid.

By contrast with the prior art devices and methods the present invention has a number of distinct advantages in that; faster and more efficient cooking is achieved by allowing a fat film to be readily created between both inner surfaces of the outer former and the outer former surfaces of the inner former and the product, Consistent wall thickness of the cooked product is readily achieved, The apparatus can be produced at a relatively low cost and readily set up for constant high volume production.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and modifications and additions thereto may be made without 7 departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A process for cooking a dough comprising the steps of:- folding a flour or corn tortilla into a cone-shaped configuration, placing a flour or corn tortilla in a first cone-shaped metal former, inserting a second cone-shaped metal former into the flour or corn tortilla to form an assembly, inserting the assembly in a support rack housed within a cooking basket having a closure means, submerging the cooking basket into a pre-heated cooking fluid to fry the flour or corn tortilla, characterised in that the second cone-shaped sleeve is able to float within the cooking fluid and that the distance that the sleeve rises in the cooking fluid and thus the thickness of the cooked flour or corn tortilla determined by a predetermined spacing between the sleeve and the lid of the basket,

2. Cooking apparatus for performing the process of claim 1 comprising; a cooking basket having closure means, a plurality of sets of cone-shaped formers, a rack which provides support for sets of the cone-shaped formers within the basket, and support means for supporting the racks within the basket at a predetermined distance below the closure means of the basket.

3. Apparatus for performing the process of claim 1 and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 26th day of February 2001 KEITH RONALD HARRIS By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.