A dual purpose, single use wood grill brush for cleaning a grilling surface and thereafter providing a flavor enhancing smoke. The device is a thin sheet of wood selected for the flavor enhancing characteristics of the smoke therefrom when slowly burned, which sheet is desirably soaked in water to make the wood flexible so that it may be manually used to clean the grilling surface prior to grilling, and then deposited on the heat source where it smokes rather than flames because of the absorbed water content. Exposing the food being grilled to such smoke during the grilling process provide a unique flavor to the food. One embodiment of the device includes a flat edge on one end and a plurality of longitudinally extending fingers at the other end, both useful in the cleaning process. Other embodiments of the device specifically for grilling surfaces with spaced parallel rods include a thin sheet of wood with notches for selectively cleaning the entire surface of the rods. Methods are also disclosed.

In a method for determining a volumetric variable of food treated in a treatment chamber of a household cooking appliance, images are captured from the treatment chamber in chronological order. Image points belonging to the food are identified in one image of a sequence of images, and a movement direction and a movement speed of the image points using an optical flow method are calculated for subsequent images. Movement directions of previously identified image points are classified into classes for different movement directions and numbers of image points that fall into respective ones of the classes are counted. A variable relating to the volume of the food is counted and the household cooking appliance varies an operating parameter of the household cooking appliance influencing the treatment of the food, when the calculated variable satisfies a specified criterion.

In a method for determining a volumetric variable of food treated in a treatment chamber of a household cooking appliance, images are captured from the treatment chamber in chronological order. Image points belonging to the food are identified in one image of a sequence of images, and a movement direction and a movement speed of the image points using an optical flow method are calculated for subsequent images. Movement directions of previously identified image points are classified into classes for different movement directions and numbers of image points that fall into respective ones of the classes are counted. A variable relating to the volume of the food is counted and the household cooking appliance varies an operating parameter of the household cooking appliance influencing the treatment of the food, when the calculated variable satisfies a specified criterion.

A deep fryer and related methods of frying a whole turkey in a reduced cooking oil volume. A frying basin can have a rounded profile avoiding dead spaces within the frying basin. The frying basin can include a recessed channel at a bottommost portion of the frying basin to accommodate a heating element, such that the heating element does not project above a floor of the frying basin. The deep fryer can have a rotisserie assembly for mounting and rotating the whole turkey such that only a lower half of the whole turkey is submerged within the cooking oil at any one time. The deep fryer can include a kick-stand feature that allows a user to lower and raise the rotisserie assembly including the whole turkey using only one hand such that a user need not lean over or otherwise put their hands or body above the frying basin.

The mobile grill with sprinkler system may comprise a grill, a sprinkler system, a smoker, an oven, and a trailer. The grill, the smoker, and the oven may be coupled to the top of the trailer such that the grill, the smoker, and the oven may be towed to a venue for use. The mobile grill with sprinkler system may be operable to cook and/or heat food. As non-limiting examples, the grill and the smoker may be operable to cook meat while the oven maintains side dishes at an elevated temperature. The sprinkler system located within the grill may be adapted to dispense water inside of the grill when activated by a user.