IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FOOD
Year: 1884

page_text: I, CARL BECKER, of Berlin, Prussia, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FOOD" to be as
follows:-
-My invention relates to the method of cooking food described in the specification
of the British patent No. 3158, A.D. 1882, and it consists in means for improving
the outward appearance of articles prepared according to the same.
When meat or dough is treated according to the said method at temperatures
below the boiling point of water, its outer surface will retain a light colour, which,
in many cases, is not approved of by consumers.
In order to obviate this inconvenience, the articles, after having been done in the
closed cooking-vessels, are for some time exposed to the action of the air, while
they are kept about at the same temperature as before. By this treatment their
outer surface will assume a brown colour, or be converted into a brown crust.
The air may be admitted to the cooking-vessels while the articles remain in thein,
or these are otherwise exposed to the air under the said conditions respecting the
temperature. A modification of the treatment consists in letting the air act on the
articles at intervals during the cooking-operation.
T
J. HENRY JOHNSON,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.,
Agent for the said Carl Becker,

page_text: I, CARL BECKER of Berlin, Prussia, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FOOD," and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the method of cooking food described in the specification
of the British letters patent No 3158, A.D. 1882, and it consists in means
for improving the outward appearance of articles roasted or baked according to the
same.
The said method consists in performing the cooking operation by means of a
water-bath at the lowest temperature requisite for causing the food to become
completely done, and so that albuminous substances may not coagulate more than
is compatible with their perfect digestibility, and that. the outer parts of such
articles as are to be roasted or baked, may not become hard, and in consequence
also difficultly digestible.
This cooking method as hitherto carried out, presents a defect in respect to the
roasting of meat and the baking of pastry and the like. These articles, though
being completely done by the roasting or baking process performed in the closed
apparatus, are pale on the outside, and the meat appears as if it bad been boiled.
In order to obviate this inconvenience, and to impart outwardly to the meat, the
pastry, &c., the brown color to which consumers are accustomed, and which is
ordinarily looked upon as a requisite attribute, I first fully prepare the meat,
pastry, &c., in the hermetically closed apparatus as described in the aforesaid
specification, and thereupon open the cover of the apparatus in order to admit air
into the roasting or baking vessel while the articles contained therein are kept at
about the same temperature as before. By the action of the air and the heat combined
the surface or outer portion of the said articles will then, within a short time,
assume the desired brown color, or be converted into a brown crust. The articles
may, however, also be otherwise exposed to the air, provided they be maintained
at the requisite temperature as stated.
A modification of the treatment consists in letting the air act on the articles at
intervals during the cooking operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The process of imparting a brown color to articles of food cooked in a closed
water-bath, by exposing them, after they have been done to the required degree, to
the atmospheric air, and at the same time maintaining them at an elevated
temperature, substantially as described.
Dated this twenty sixth day of February 1885