GB2432107A

GB2432107A - Oven or grill trays

Info

Publication number: GB2432107A
Application number: GB0523202A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Pettit
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-11-14
Filing date: 2005-11-14
Publication date: 2007-05-16
Also published as: GB0523202D0

Abstract

A tray 3 for supporting food in an oven or under a grill, formed by a plate 4 and walls 5 extending from and around the plate 4. The plate 4 has an arrangement of raised surface portions 6 for supporting food to facilitate removal of the food from the plate 4. The surface portions 6 may be in the form of cones, pyramids, frustoconical portions or otherwise frustum shaped portions.

Description

OVEN OR GRILL TRAYS

The invention relates to oven or grill trays for carrying food in an oven or under a grill.

A conventional oven or grill tray comprises a flat plate surrounded by a wall. It is a problem with food cooked in an oven or under a grill using such a tray that the food often sticks to the surface of the plate on which it is located and cannot be removed from the surface without damage being caused to the food. The food may therefore be aesthetically less attractive and may also undesirably be broken into several portions.

Further, it may be desired for juice and fat produced during cooking from the food to drain away, particularly to reduce the fat content of the food consumed. In order to try to overcome the problem of sticking the surface of the plate may be covered with foil but this is time consuming and not always successful.

According to the present invention, there is provided an oven or grill tray for carrying food in an oven or under a grill, formed by a plate and a wall extending from and around said plate to define a cooking area, wherein said plate includes a plurality of raised portions for supporting food, which facilitate removal of food cooked on the portions from the plate.

I

For a better understanding of the invention, a tray embodying the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic plan view of a tray; and Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional view through the tray.

The tray, general indicated at 3, comprises a plate 4 of substantially rectangular shape having first and second faces and a wall 5 extending from and around the sides of the plate 4 at an obtuse angle to the first face. A lip 8 (not distinguished from the wall 5 in Figure 1) extends outwardly from the free end of the wall 5 to facilitate lifting of the tray 3.

The plate 4 is formed by a plurality of cones 6 having rounded apexes 7. The cones 6 are arranged in parallel rows parallel to the sides of the tray with each row offset by half the distance between adjacent cones in an adjacent row. The base of each cone 6 merges smoothly into the bases of the adjacent cones 6. The apexes 7 of the cones are co-planar and the bases are co-planar. The height of the wall 5 is preferably greater than the height of the cones 6 and may, for example, be 3 cm.

All the cones 6 are equally spaced from the six nearest neighbouring cones 6 and are of equal heights. The distance between the apexes of adjacent cones 6 is preferably between 0.5cm and 4cm and more preferably between 1cm and 2cm. The height of each cone is preferably between 0.5cm and 4cm and more preferably between 1cm and 2cm. The height of a cone 6 need not be related to the spacing of the cases.

The tray 3 is preferably made of a single piece of material which is suitable for use in an oven or under a grill, such as a suitable metal or other flameproof material. The tray 3 may be formed in a mould or otherwise formed. The raised portions may be formed in a mould or by a pressing process. If formed in a mould, the tray including the raised portions is preferably formed in a single step. The surface of the tray 3 may be, in part or entirely, coated with a non-stick substance such as Teflon .

In use, the food is placed on the first side of the tray 3 resting on the apexes 7 of the cones 6 and the tray 3 is then placed in a cooking oven or under a grill. Juices and fats from the food run from beneath the food into the space between the cones 9. There is no need to position metal foil beneath the food as is conventionally done as the walls of the tray 3 prevents the juices and fats flowing onto the oven or grill surfaces. When the food is cooked, it is removed from the tray 3 without sticking to the tray 3 or with reduced sticking to the tray 3 in comparison to conventional trays. Damage to the food and its appearance is thereby prevented or at least reduced. Also, the tray 3 may also advantageously allow circulation of air in an oven directly under food. The apexes 7 also grip the food to prevent lateral movement thereof, such as sliding or rolling.

The surface area of the cones 6 contacted by food placed on the first face of the tray 3 may be between 0.1 to 0.5 and preferably between 0.2 to 0.4 of that surface area that would be contacted by the food if the first face were flat.

While in the embodiment described above, the raised portions are in the form of cones, this clearly does not have to be the case -the raised portions could be in the form of other kinds of projection or projections, such as pyramidal, frustoconical or otherwise frustum shaped projections. Also, it is not necessary for the raised portions to extend over the entirety of the plate -they might only extend over a part thereof.

The raised portions may also be spaced with a flat region of the first face between portions.

In addition, although the illustrated embodiment has all the raised portions of the same height. This need not be the case -some portions or a group of portions may be higher than others. In addition, the illustrated embodiment has each raised portion in a row the same distance from the next adjacent raised portion in the same row. This need not be the case, the spacings may be varied. In this case, the density of the cones 6 in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, taken over the area of the plate covered by such cones 9, may be from 0.2 to 5 per cm2, preferably 0.5 to 5 per cm2 and more preferably between 1 and 2 per cm2.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. An oven or grill tray for carrying food in an oven or under a grill, formed by a plate and a wall extending from and around said plate to define a cooking area, wherein said plate includes a plurality of raised portions for supporting food, which facilitate removal of food cooked on the portions from the plate.

2. An oven or grill tray according to claim 1 wherein said walls are higher than said plurality of raised portion.

3. An oven or grill tray according to one of claim 1 or 2 wherein a lip extends outwardly from the end of the wall remote from the plate in a direction generally parallel to the plane of the plate.

4. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein one or more of said raised portions are substantially conical or pyramidal or frustoconical or otherwise frustum shaped.

5. A tray according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein one or more of said raised portions are substantially conical or pyramidal and have a rounded apex.

6. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein the number of separate raised portions per square centimetre is between 0.5 and 5 taken over the area of the tray including said raised portions.

7. A tray according to claim 6 wherein the number of separate raised portions per square centimetre is between 1 and 2 taken over that area of the tray including said raised portions.

8. A tray according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the number of separate raised portions per square centimetre is between 0.5 and 0.7.

9. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein the surface area of the raised portions which is substantially parallel to the plane of the plate is between 0.1 and 0.5 taken over that area of the tray including said raised portions.

10. A tray according to claim 9 wherein the surface area of the raised portions that is substantially parallel to the plane of the plate is between 0.2 and 0.4 of the surface area of the plane of the plate taken over that area of the tray including said raised portions.

11. A tray according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein all of said raised portions have a top or apex which are co-planar.

12. A tray according to any one of claims 4 to 11 wherein all of said raised portions have bases which are co-planar.

13. A tray according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein all the raised portions are of equal height.

14. A tray according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the height of each raised portion is between 0.5 and 4cm, preferably between 1 and 2cm.

15. A tray according to any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein the raised portions are arranged in parallel rows.

16. A tray according to claim 15 wherein each raised portion of a row is spaced from the next adjacent raised portion of a row by a distance that is equal for all raised portions.

17. A tray according to claim 16 wherein the raised portions of one row are offset relative to the raised portions of the next adjacent row or rows by half the distance between adjacent raised portions in a row.

18. A tray according to claim 16 or claim 17 wherein said distance is between 0.5 and 4cm, preferably between 1 and 2cm.

19. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein each raised portion is an equal distance from all of the nearest adjacent raised portions thereto, each raised portion being surrounded by six raised portions equiangularly spaced therearound.

20. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein the tray is formed of pressed metallic material.

21. A tray according to any preceding claim wherein the plate and walls are formed of one piece of material.

22. A tray substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.