Disclosure of a flipping device for cooking foods in an oven at home or at a commercial location resulting in a uniform cooking of the food as well as retaining a juicy texture uniformly within the food.

A portable rotating spit for grills including a blade mounted on a cylindrical support in which the electronic device is installed. A bearing engages the support and is screwed into a ring which is threaded into the thread of the rotating assembly of the blade of the spit. A cover of the handle is threaded into the opposite segment of the thread of the rotating assembly. The rotating portion of the spit includes the blade mounted on the support and integrated by a probe with a weld bead and a wire pack for the thermocouples which will measure the temperature points of the food in contact with the spit. The printed circuit board of the electronic device and a disc with a central hole, in which the shaft of the gearmotor is fitted, are attached to the support. The rotating assembly of the blade includes a housing receiving the batteries, a gearmotor, a switch and a washer. The electronic device has an electric source with batteries, a microprocessor which receives the signals from analog/digital converters which are interconnected to the thermocouples attached to the blade of the spit and a Bluetooth module enabling a wireless transmission to the application installed on the smartphone.

A cooking device includes a clamping and grate system including: a clamp with a lever movable between an open position and a closed position and a clamp body having a clamp mounting feature and configured to move responsively to the lever moving between the positions; a first grate; a second grate adjustably spaced from the first grate; and a spring assembly including a spring configured to exert a biasing force on the second grate towards the first grate and an adjustment block including adjustment features. One of the adjustment features is coupled to the clamp mounting feature and the plurality of adjustment features are each configured to reversibly couple with the clamp mounting feature such that a distance between the spring and the first grate is controlled by which one of the adjustment features is coupled with the clamp mounting feature when the lever is in the closed position.

A method and system for assessing individual and/or overall cooking progress of food items in a food preparation system is disclosed herein. The method for assessing cooking progress of food items relies on reliable annotated data in order to provide real-time feedback and guidance to a user. The methods and systems are specifically trained to optimize the accuracy of determining cooking progress of food items, utilizing a difference feature tensor that compares the cooking progress of a food item with a baseline image of the food item at the start of the cooking process. The noise and averaging effect due to the presence of different food items and/or same types of food items with slight variations in appearances and consistencies are reduced in the cooking progress level determination model, resulting in better accuracy of the cooking progress level assessment.

A method and system for locating food items and determining their outlines in the images captured by a food preparation system is disclosed herein. The method relies on reliable annotated data to determine locations and outlines of food items, with a higher accuracy than conventional methods, due to the additional constraints provided by food item identities and cooking progress levels of the food items. With the location and outline determination performed prior to the cooking progress level determination in a separate process, the disclosed methods and systems allow for different types of foods to be cooked simultaneously and monitored individually, and improving the functions of the cooking appliances and the convenience of the users.

Rotisserie forks and a basket for use on a motorized elongated spit rod having a central axis and a sharpened tip, wherein the forks or basket have a) a split shaft collar having an opening that slidably receives the spit rod and has an inside diameter, and b) a lever-action quick-release clamp that surrounds the shaft collar, has open and closed lever positions, and moves between its open and closed positions in a direction perpendicular to the spit rod central axis. When open, the lever enables the shaft collar and fork or basket to move along the spit rod central axis. When closed, the lever reduces the shaft collar inside diameter so that the fork or basket does not move along the spit rod central axis during rotisserie grilling. The lever does not lengthen the forks or basket along the spit rod central axis when moved between its open and closed positions.

A ruled rotisserie spit for use in a motorized rotisserie device in a grill. The spit has an elongated spit rod having a central axis and a sharpened tip, a spit rod centerline corresponding to the spit rod center of mass, a food centerline axially displaced from the spit rod centerline and corresponding to a desired midpoint for food that will be grilled using the rotisserie device, and one or more pairs of index marks or other discernible indicia on the spit rod located either side of and equidistant from the food centerline.

A rotisserie arrangement mounts above the heat source of a grill. The rotisserie includes a plurality of holding devices configured to receive a flat meat item such as a steak or burger patty. The holding devices are spaced apart and rotatably coupled around the periphery of a vertically mounted wheel that is rotated by a power source. As the wheel rotates, the holding devices are passed over the heat source in succession. Further, two turning rollers are mounted adjacent the periphery of the wheel and spaced apart 180 degrees about the circumference of the wheel. As each holding device passes each turning roller, a projection on the holding device contacts the turning roller and causes the holding device to rotate one-quarter turn relative to the wheel.

An apparatus for vacuum tumbling and barbecuing food includes a barbecue and a vacuum tumbling container which fits inside the barbecue. The vacuum tumbling container has a vacuum valve. In an embodiment, the vacuum tumbling container is affixed to a rotatable connector of the barbecue. In another embodiment, the barbecue includes an enclosure which alternately accepts a vacuum tumbling container or food for cooking on the barbecue. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes a divider for partitioning the barbecue into subchambers, each suitable for holding a vacuum tumbling container or a cooking grate. In another embodiment the vacuum tumbling container also functions as a pressure cooker.

A convertible rotisserie support insert for a barbecue grill has an arcuate body portion (13) having an open front end (45) and a back end (23), and a height that tapers from a maximum height at the open front end of the body portion to a minimum height at the back end of the body portion. A front cover portion (21) is removably attachable to the arcuate body portion so as to extend across the front opening of the arcuate body portion. The front cover portion has at least one upwardly extending lid support structure (41) configured to support the hinged lid (55) of a barbecue grill (51) in a first angled use position relative to the bowl (53) of the barbecue grill when the convertible rotisserie support insert is placed on the rim of a hinged lid barbecue bowl. Removal of the front cover portion allows the hinged lid of the barbecue grill to drop down onto the top side (15) of the arcuate body portion (13) to a second angled use position relative to the bowl of the barbecue grill.