APPARATUS FOR GRILLING FOOD

Abstract: The invention relates to a grill cooking device having one or more flames (5) shielded by container elements (7) upwardly turned and filled with incoherent material. The grill is formed by channel elements (8) opened toward the food and showing teeth (11) to hold the food.

Description: The present invention relates to an apparatus for grilling food, of the type having d heat source consisting of one or more gas burners. Rs is it known, the apparatuses for grilling foodstuffs usually consist of a heat source which can be without direct flame, such as a small coal furnace, or with direct flame, such as a series of gas burners appropriately screened by means of flame trap plates, and of a grill which, if it is of the revolving type, consists of two superimposed parts between which the product to be grilled is fied. If it is of the revolving type, the grill is provided with continuous or alternate rotary movement in such a way that all the sides of the food are in turn exposed to the heat source in order to obtain uniform cooking. Said know apparatuses involve a considerable drawback, in that the fat contained in the food melts when heated and drops onto the heat source and the flame trap plate, so catching fire. The burning fat, besides an annoying smoke production, causes the formation of a flame which laps on the product to be cooked, unduly altering cooing conditions and creating burnt areas on the product itself. An object of the present invention is now to provide an apparatus for grilling foodstuff, which allows to eliminate the aforementioned drawback of the apparatuses know up to now, avoiding tat the melted fat drops on the hot surfaces near the product to be cooked and assuring that a direct contact between the product to be cooked and the flame is always avoided, so satisfying the severe requirements of good grilling. Said object is achieved by an apparatus for extemporary grilling of food, of the type comprising a grill for supporting and holding the food and a heat source consist of one or more flames and screens placed between the same and the grill, for indirect flame cooking, characterized in that the screens consist of container elements, open towards the grill, filled with incoherent material appropriate for absorbing the fat or other substances which drop from the food and for maintaining the same at the temperature below the fat inflammability one. Furthermore, said material can contain aromatizing vegetable substances (for example juniper) which, at that temperature, exhale aromatic smokes and provide the food under cooking with special organoletic characteristics. According to an advantageous feature of the invention, under the burners, the grill has a drippingpan, at such a distance that the melted fat dropping from the food does not catch fire or, if it does, it does not create such a flame as to reach the product under cooking. The apparatus can be very easily cleaned in that cleaning is limited to the dripping-pan alone and to the periodical substitution of the incoherent material which fills the container elements. According to another advantageous feature, the grill is of the revolving type, consisting of two equal and superimposed parts and presents, instead of the k usual rods or metal hurdle, channel-shaped elements designed to receive at least part of the melted fat and to keep it inside during the grill rotation, leaving it to let drop again onto the product at the end of each semirotation of the grill. In particular, said channelshaped elements are open towards the product and all together form the grates between which the product itself is fixed, said fixing being preferably obtained by means of teeth present on the edges of the channelchaped elements. Moreover, the revolving grill is knept at an optimal distance, of 15 cm approximately, from the container elements of incoherent material and is lifted to be periodically rotated. The invention will be now described more in detail whit reference to the attached drawing where: - fig. 1 is a perspective view of the grilling apparatus - fig. 2 is a perspective partial view of the gas burners and relevant container elements of the apparatus of fig. 1 - fig. 3 is a perspective partial view of the grill of fig 1. Referring to aforesaid figures, the apparatus according to the invention essentially comprises a supporting structure 1, a heat source 2 and a grill capable of holding or supporting the food to be cooked, either the grill 7; is of the revolving or of the fixed type. The heat source consists of adjacent rows of gas burners 5, fed by a single distributing common tube 6 with branches 4. Over each row of burners, a channel-shaped element 7 is positioned fixed to supports present in the supporting structure, parallely to the gas feeding tube 4 forming the corresponding row of burners. The channel-shaped elements 7 have a width higher than or equal to the one of burners 5, in a way that the latter remain protected from the melted fat drops falling from the food. The channel-shaped elements 7 have also a flame trap function in order to allow a more uniform heat distribution. Said channel-shaped elements 7 are filled with incoherent material capable of absorbing the melted fat and of resisting to heat, such as for example ash, sand and the like. In this way, the fat or the other substaces are absorbed by the ash itself which, being at a lower temperature than the one of inflammability, prevents them from burning. Futhermore, cleaning of the elements 7 is extremely easy in that it is limited to the removal of the elements themselves from their relevant supports and to the substitution of the incoherent material contained in the channels with other fresh material. The apparatus according to the invention can be provided with a fixed grill or a revolving grill. In the latter case, the grill consists of two equal parts A and B, superimposed and designed to hold the food to be cooked in between. Each part of the grill is formed by channel elements 8, having both ends 9 closed, positioned parallel and spaced from one another. Said channel elements 8 extend parallely to the rotation axis R of the grill 3 and are kept in position by cross arms 10 placed at right angle in respect to the channel elements and externally fixed to the same in correspondence to their bottoms. Therefore the grate thus formed constitutes the grill and the channel elements of the two parts of the grill have their bottoms oriented in opposite directions. Advantageously, in order to better hold the food and to decrease the contact surface thus allowing easier removal of the cooked food, the edges of the channel elements 8 are provided with teeth, as shown by the reference 11. When the two parts of the grill A and B are fixed to one another with the food placed between them, the open part t3 of the channel elements 8 is in contact with the food itself and the melted fat dropping from same in the areas in contact with the channel elements 8 is held within them. Of course, when the grill is rotated by 180 , the lower part n of the grill, the channel elements 8 of which hold the fat, moves towards upside with its channel elements in overturned position, so that the fat drops again for gravity reasons on to the products, thus contributing to make them cook well. This cycle repeats itself until the products are completely cooked. The closed ends 9 of the channel elements 8 prevent the melted fat from flowing out from said ends. What reported hereinabove easily shows that the illustrated apparatus presents undeniable advantages even from the viewpoint of cleaning. As a matter of fact the quantitaty of melted fat dripping from the products under cooking is substantially reduced by the channel elements forming the grill G, while the channel-shaped elements 7 placed on top of the burners 5 eliminate the inconvenience of stoppage of the burners themselves and of the formation of burned fat pieces, which not only produce smokes and undesirable flames, but also encrust the surface on which they are. The fat pieces which may drop from the products under cooking in between the containers 7, reach a dripping-pan (not illustrated) placed under the burners 5, preferably at such a distance as to assure a temperature below the inflammability point of said fat pieces. It should also be noted that, in the case of a revolving grill, the latter is usually kept at an optimal distance (of the order of 15-16 cm) from the heating elements 7, being periodically lifted to allow its 180 rotation.

Claims: CLAIMS 1) An apparatus for extemporary grilling of food, of the type comprising a grill (3) supporting or holding the food, and a heat source consisting of one or more flames and of screens placed between the same and the grill, for an indirect flame cooking, wherein the screens consist of container elements (7), open towards the grill, filled with incoherent material, capable of absorbing the fat or other substances which drop from the food and of maintaining the same at a temperature lower than the one of inflammability. 2) An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the incoherent material is ash, and/or sand. 3) Nn apparatus according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the containers also contain one or more aromatizing vegetable substances. 4) An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the heat source consists of parallel rows of gas burners (5), wherein the elements (7) forming the screens are formed by channels having U-shaped sections, each extending for the whole lenght of the relevant row of burners and having a width equal or higher than the one of said row, the channels being turned upwards and mounted in a removable way. 5) Nn apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a dripping-pan placed under the heat source, in a position where the temperature caused by the source is not enough to burn the substances dropping from the food. 6) ,Nn apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, of the type with revolving grill, characterized in that the grill (3) comprises a series of channel components (8) parallel to the rotation axis (R) of the grill itself, placed in a way as to have their concave part turned towards the food fixed in the grill and adapted to receive the melted fat flowing from the products themeselves and making it fall again on the products during the grill rotation. 7) An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said channel elements (8) have teeth (11) on their edges to hold the products. 8) Nn appartus according to claims 6 or 7, wherein the grill is placed at a lower distance from the containers of incoherent material than its half-widths and wherein the grill is periodically lifted and rotated by 18ti . 9) n apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the grill is kept at a distance of 15 cm from the containers of incoherent material.

Inventors: COLLI, BRUNO
Applicants: COLLI, BRUNO
Application year: 1984
Main classification: A47J37
IPC codes: A47J37