Cooking pan for sauteing and deglazing

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates generally to configurations for cooking pans.

[0004] 2. Discussion of the Known Art

[0005] Cooking food by sauteing calls for a small amount of fat such as butter or cooking oil to be applied on a heated cooking surface of a sturdy frying pan, and placing food pieces to be cooked on the fat when hot. Sauteing should not be confused with pan frying which calls for greater amounts of fat. See generally, Z. Camrass, “The Only Cookbook You'll Ever Need”, Rand McNally (1977) at page 136.

[0006] Deglazing is a second step in a typical saute cooking recipe and relates to the discarding of unwanted fat. A common term used by chefs is “degrease and deglaze”. While sauteing, some of the food pieces may stick or adhere to the bottom of the pan. This residue is called “fond”. The fond is important to a good sauce which is prepared by adding a liquid to the pan during the deglazing step. Thus, deglazing includes adding a liquid such as wine, water or vegetable products to the pan once the fat has been discarded. The food pieces are then cooked further with the deglazing liquid to form the sauce. Because the deglazing liquid evaporates while being heated causing the sauce to thicken, the food pieces must continue to be mixed. Accordingly, the pan must be shaken frequently throughout the entire cooking process to ensure that all food pieces are cooked and deglazed uniformly.

[0007] Shaking the pan often also helps to make the temperature of the ingredients more uniform and spreads the heat about the pan. Most persons who use a saute pan generally use a forward and back motion. Persons may try to lift the front edge of the pan by snapping their wrist, in order to mix the ingredients more fully. Such wrist action causes some of the pan contents to fall out from the front of the pan and wind up on top of the stove, thus requiring a person afterward to clean the stove as well as the pan. Yet, to cook in virtually any pan without mixing the ingredients during the cooking process will cause uneven cooking, scorching or burning of some of the food ingredients.

[0008] In order to catch some food pieces that would otherwise fall on the stove while cooking with a saute pan, persons may attempt to move the pan quickly forward again after each forward and backward movement, making the cooking process more complex and tiresome. Notwithstanding good cooking skills acquired by some consumers as well as professionals at restaurants and other food service establishments, the available pans do not allow saute cooking without significant food waste and follow-up cleaning.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 1,398,655 (Nov. 29, 1921) discloses an egg turnover pan with an over-hanging lip opposite the pan handle. The pan is claimed to allow a partially cooked egg placed in the pan to be turned over by a jerking movement toward the user. Specifically, the pan has an overhanging lip opposite the pan handle, wherein the lip extends substantially parallel to the bottom of the pan. As demonstrated in Examples 12 and 24 set out later below, the pan construction of the '655 patent does not facilitate saute cooking of meat, vegetables, and other food pieces, however. In particular, the food pieces become stuck beneath the overhanging lip when the pan is drawn backward toward the user, rather than being mixed and “flipped” backward toward the center of the pan.

[0010] As far as is known, no pan configuration has been disclosed since the 1921 '655 patent for the purpose of redistributing food contents about a pan in response to a sudden backward movement of the pan while cooking. A saute pan configuration that will allow pieces of pasta, rice, vegetables, meats and the like to be cooked uniformly without spillage, would be highly desirable. A saute pan that facilitates regular mixing and redistribution of food pieces during cooking would also fulfill important commercial and consumer needs.

[0011] According to the invention, a cooking pan has a bottom wall forming a cooking surface, a side wall extending upward from the bottom wall, and an elongated handle joined at one end to the side wall. A lower portion of the side wall next to the cooking surface and opposite the handle is formed so that food pieces when placed on the cooking surface are urged against the lower portion and propelled upward near the side wall when the handle is moved suddenly backward.

[0012] The side wall also has an upper portion opposite the handle, and an inside surface of the upper portion has a profile in a plane that coincides with an axis of the handle and is substantially normal to the cooking surface. A line drawn tangent to the profile and substantially at a top edge point of the inside surface forms an angle of between 2 and 10 degrees with respect to the normal direction of the cooking surface. Food pieces propelled upward near the side wall when the handle is drawn backward, are directed by the upper portion of the wall to land within a forward region of the cooking surface further from the handle of the pan, rather than outside the pan or near the handle.

[0013] For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and the appended claims.

[0014] In the drawing:

[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooking pan according to the invention; and

[0016] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cooking pan as seen along section line 2—2 in FIG. 1 and in a plane normal to a cooking surface of the pan.

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a cooking pan 10 that is configured according to the invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cooking pan 10 in FIG. 1.

[0018] Basically, the cooking pan 10 has a bottom wall 12 (FIG. 2) that defines a cooking surface 14. The cooking pan 10 may be made of any thermally conductive materials suitable for use in cooking utensils such as, e.g., aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and metal laminates. In the illustrated embodiment, the cooking surface 14 has a generally circular boundary with a diameter D1 of about, e.g., 7½ inches.

[0019] The cooking pan 10 also has a circular outer rim or side wall 16 that may be formed integrally with the bottom wall 12, and an elongated handle 20 that is fastened at one end to the side wall 16 as shown in the drawing. The side wall 16 extends upward from the periphery of the cooking surface 14, and has an overall outer diameter D2 of about, e.g., 12.0 inches. A lower portion 18 of the side wall next to the cooking surface 14 rises smoothly upward and away from the cooking surface boundary. The lower portion 18 is formed so that when the pan handle 20 is moved suddenly backward in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2, pieces of food when placed on the food surface 14 are urged against the lower portion 18 and propelled upward near the side wall.

[0020] In the illustrated embodiment, the side wall 16 has a height H of about 2.0 inches as measured from the cooking surface 14 to a point P1 on a top edge of the wall 16 nearest the pan handle 20. The side wall 16 has a substantially uniform height as it extends 90 degrees in either direction from the point P1 to points P2, P3 to surround a rear region 22 of the pan cooking surface 14, closer to the handle 20. Beginning at the diametrically opposed points P2, P3, the top edge of the side wall rises further upward from the cooking surface 14 to a top edge point P4 diametrically opposite the handle 20. In the present embodiment, point P4 is located above the cooking surface 14 by an additional height R of, e.g., 1.5 inches beyond the height H of 2.0 inches, i.e., a total of 3.5 inches. The added height R of the point P4 is preferably about 0.75 times H. The upper portion 24 of the side wall extends from the points P2, P3 to surround a forward region 28 of the cooking surface 14, further form the handle 20.

[0021] An upper portion 24 of the side wall 16 opposite the handle 20 (point P1) has a cross-section as shown in FIG. 2 in a plane normal to the cooking surface 14 of the pan 10, which plane coincides with a long axis of the handle 20. The inside surface of the side wall 16 at a point P5 diametrically opposite the handle 20 and at the same height H as the point P1 above the cooking surface 14, has a slope S of preferably not more than 90 degrees with respect to the cooking surface 14.

[0022] As seen in FIG. 2, the upper portion 24 of the side wall has a curvilinear inside surface 26 that extends upward and radially inward of the pan 10. A line drawn tangent to the inside surface 26 in the vicinity of the top edge point P4 defines an angle A with respect to the normal direction of the cooking surface 14. In each of the following examples, the configuration of cooking pan 10 was adjusted so that a line drawn tangent to the inside surface 26 of the side wall upper portion in the region of the point P4, formed various angles A ranging between 0 and 90 degrees.

[0023] In a first group of examples (Examples 1-12), food pieces were initially distributed over the entire cooking surface 14 uniformly to a height of one inch. The pan was periodically moved forward, and quickly retracted a total of 10 times, and the results averaged. A second group of examples (Examples 13-24) were performed under the same conditions as the first group, except that the quantity of the food pieces was increased to an initial uniform height of 1½ inches over the cooking surface 14. In each of the examples, food mixes are identified by the following numbers:

[0024] Group I

[0025] Conventional 12-inch saute pan with an outer rim or side wall formed with a constant height (H) of 2.0 inches about the entire cooking surface.

[0026] The present pan 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2, configured so that A=0 degrees.

[0027] The pan 10 configured so that A=5 degrees.

[0028] The pan 10 configured so that A=10 degrees.

[0029] The pan 10 configured so that A=15 degrees.

[0030] The pan 10 configured so that A=20 degrees.

[0031] The pan 10 configured so that A=25 degrees.

[0032] The pan 10 configured so that A=30 degrees.

[0033] The pan 10 configured so that A=35 degrees.

[0034] The pan 10 configured so that A=45 degrees.

[0035] The pan 10 configured so that A=60 degrees.

[0036] The pan 10 configured so that A=90 degrees. The angle corresponds to the configuration of the earlier mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 1,398,655 egg turnover pan.

[0037] Group II

[0038] Conventional 12-inch saute pan; food mix depth increased initially to uniform height of 1½ inches in all the following examples.

[0039] The present pan 10 configured so that A=0 degrees.

[0040] The pan 10 configured so that A=5 degrees.

[0041] The pan 10 configured so that A=10 degrees.

[0042] The pan 10 configured so that A=15 degrees.

[0043] The pan 10 configured so that A=20 degrees.

[0044] The pan 10 configured so that A=25 degrees.

[0045] The pan 10 configured so that A=30 degrees.

[0046] The pan 10 configured so that A=35 degrees.

[0047] The pan 10 configured so that A=45 degrees.

[0048] The pan 10 configured so that A=60 degrees.

[0049] The pan 10 configured so that A=90 degrees. The angle corresponds to the configuration of the earlier mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 1,398,655 egg turnover pan.

[0050] In view of the foregoing results, a preferred range of angles for the angle A in the present cooking pan 10 is between two and ten degrees. Further, an angle A of between five and seven degrees should be close to if not optimum for most saute cooking since, based on the obtained results, such an angle will direct the food pieces almost entirely back onto the forward region 28 of the cooking surface, with few if any pieces landing further back in the rear region 22 of the cooking surface near the handle 20.

[0051] Forming the angle A between two and ten degrees allows the rear region 22 to act as a “barrier” at the back (handle) end of the pan 10, to maintain the food pieces in the pan and keep them from falling on the stove all through the cooking process. The present pan configuration is easy to use, and most persons will find that the contents will not be thrown out onto the stovetop as occurs when cooking with existing saute pans.

[0052] The examples also show that when the angle A approaches 20 degrees, food pieces are propelled back too far onto the rear half-region 22 of the cooking surface for such angle to be useful and safe when thrusting the pan forward and back while cooking. As food is propelled further toward the handle 20 (and user), a danger exists wherein hot food pieces could land on the user's hand or other portions of his/her body. An angle A of between five and seven degrees will cause food pieces to be propelled only minimally (if at all) near the handle 20, thus avoiding such danger when saute cooking with the pan 10.

[0053] The Group I examples used a pan which was half full. The Group II examples used a pan that was three-quarters full. With respect to the values set for the angle A of the pan 10, the results tend to be similar for the two groups. Specifically, once the angle A exceeds 20 degrees, the mixture of food is propelled backward too far toward the handle 20. The increased depth of the pan contents in Group II forced the food pieces to be propelled further for lesser values of angle A than in Group I.

[0054] The present cooking pan 10 will enable persons having little cooking skill as well as professionals to mix and redistribute food pieces about the pan with ease while sauteing, and with much less waste and follow-up cleaning than with the conventional pans.

[0055] While the foregoing description represents preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention pointed out by the following claims.