Cooked food staging device and method
First Claim
1. A device for holding a plurality of previously cooked food portions at elevated temperatures, comprising:
- at least one discrete compartment for holding the food portions, said compartment having a compartment height and being bounded by an upper heated compartment surface and a lower heated compartment surface;
a cabinet defining a volume that encloses said at least one compartment therein, said cabinet including at least one opening for inserting the food portions into said compartment and for removing the food portions contained in said at least one compartment; and
at least one tray for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray including a tray bottom and a tray sidewall, said tray sidewall extending upwardly from said tray bottom and terminating at an upper edge, wherein said tray has a height that is zero to about 0.25 inches less than the height of said compartment such that when said tray is stored in said compartment, evaporation of liquid from the cooked food portions contained within that said tray is restricted.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cooked food staging device and method is provided. The cooked food staging device allows previously cooked food items, particularly sandwich fillings such as hamburger patties, fish fillets, biscuits, Canadian bacon, pork sausage, eggs, chicken patties, chicken fillets and nuggets, to be stored over extended periods of time at an elevated temperature without significant deleterious effects to the appearance, taste and texture of the food while avoiding risk of bacterial contamination. The food staging device is composed of a plurality of discrete compartments bounded by upper and lower heated compartment surfaces. Food can be stored within the compartments in trays having side walls of a height such that a gap is achieved between the top of the tray and the upper compartment heated surface to limit and control the evaporation of liquid from the food stored therein.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A device for holding a plurality of previously cooked food portions at elevated temperatures, comprising:
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at least one discrete compartment for holding the food portions, said compartment having a compartment height and being bounded by an upper heated compartment surface and a lower heated compartment surface; a cabinet defining a volume that encloses said at least one compartment therein, said cabinet including at least one opening for inserting the food portions into said compartment and for removing the food portions contained in said at least one compartment; and at least one tray for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray including a tray bottom and a tray sidewall, said tray sidewall extending upwardly from said tray bottom and terminating at an upper edge, wherein said tray has a height that is zero to about 0.25 inches less than the height of said compartment such that when said tray is stored in said compartment, evaporation of liquid from the cooked food portions contained within that said tray is restricted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A device for holding a plurality of previously cooked food portions at elevated temperature, comprising:
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a cabinet having a cabinet front, a cabinet rear, spaced-apart first and second opposed sidewalls, a top and a bottom; an uppermost shelf and a lowermost shelf, said uppermost shelf comprising a lower heated surface and said lowermost shelf comprising an upper heated surface; means for heating said upper and lower heated surfaces; at least one interior shelf located above said lowermost shelf and below said uppermost shelf and comprising an upper surface, a lower surface vertically spaced apart from the upper surface, and heating means for heating said upper surface and said lower surface of said interior shelf, said heating means being located in the space between said upper surface and said lower surface of said interior shelf; an upper holding chamber and a lower holding chamber for containing cooked food portions, said upper holding chamber being bounded and heated by a lower heated chamber surface defined by the upper surface of the interior shelf and an upper heated chamber surface defined by the lower heated surface of the uppermost shelf, said lower holding chamber being bounded and heated by a lower heated chamber surface defined by said upper heated surface of the lowermost shelf, and an upper heated chamber surface defined by said lower surface of said interior shelf; an opening located in said cabinet front for inserting the food portions into said cabinet and for removing the cooked food portions from said cabinet; and at least one tray for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray comprising a bottom and a sidewall extending upwardly from said bottom, said sidewall defining a tray height that is in the range of from about 0 inches to about 0.25 inches less than the height of one of said chambers. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A device for holding previously cooked food portions at elevated temperatures, comprising:
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at least one heated compartment for holding the food portions, said compartment having an upper compartment surface; a cabinet defining a volume for housing said compartment therein; at least one tray having an open top for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray being placeable into said compartment;
said tray including a tray bottom, a top edge, and a sidewall structure extending upwardly from said bottom between the tray bottom and the top edge; andmeans for supporting said tray in said compartment so that the bottom of said tray is substantially horizontal and said top edge of said tray is from zero to about 0.25 inches from said upper compartment surface to restrict evaporation of liquid from the cooked food portions contained within said tray. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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20. A device for holding previously cooked food portions at elevated temperatures, comprising:
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at least one compartment for holding the food portions, said compartment being bounded above by an upper heated surface; a cabinet defining a volume for housing said at least one compartment therein and including at least one area for inserting and removing the food portions into and out of said compartment; at least one tray for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray being placeable into said at least one compartment;
said tray including a tray bottom, an open top having a top edge, and a sidewall structure between said tray bottom and said top edge; anda supporting structure within said at least one compartment for supporting said tray when contained in said at least one compartment such that said top edge of said tray is from zero to about 0.25 inches from said upper compartment surface to restrict evaporation of liquid from the cooked food portions contained within said tray. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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21. A device for holding previously cooked food portions at elevated temperatures, comprising:
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at least one heated compartment for holding the previously cooked food portions, said compartment having an upper compartment surface; a cabinet defining a volume for housing said at least one compartment therein; at least one tray having an open top for containing the previously cooked food portions, said tray being placeable into said compartment, and said tray including a tray bottom, a top edge, and a sidewall structure extending upwardly from said bottom between the tray bottom and the top edge; and a supporting structure within said at least one compartment for supporting said tray when contained in said at least one compartment such that the top edge of said tray is from 0 to about 0.25 inches from said upper compartment surface to restrict evaporation of liquid from the cooked food portions contained within the tray. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification