Patent ID: 8074634

Claim:
An apparatus for cooking food with infrared radiant energy, the apparatus comprising: a burner having a cooking setting which is a highest cooking setting for the burner; a support member for supporting the food; and an emitter mounted between the burner and the support member so that the emitter is for absorbing energy from the burner, wherein the emitter includes a substantially concave surface that is oriented toward the support member and is for emitting infrared radiant energy toward the support member, the substantially concave surface of the emitter comprises a metal surface, and said metal surface was modified, prior to any use of the apparatus for cooking, in a manner for increasing emissivity of the substantially concave surface, so that the substantially concave surface of the emitter has an emissivity of at least about 0.6 when the burner is operated at the highest cooking setting, when the burner is operated at the highest cooking setting, more than 60% of the infrared radiant energy emitted from the substantially concave surface will be longer than 5 microns in wavelength, the burner will heat the emitter in a manner so that a first section of the emitter will be cooler than a second section and a third section of the emitter, the first section of the emitter is positioned between the second section and the third section of the emitter, and the first section of the emitter is located at a lowermost portion of the substantially concave surface.