A heating and cooking apparatus inside the cooking chamber of a 3D food printer includes a laser cooking apparatus controlled by a processor implementing particular computer program instructions specific to the operation of the heating and cooking apparatus. The laser cooking apparatus includes at least one laser system with at least one laser beam able to heat the food product to its cooking temperature. Each laser system provides two or more laser beams, each of which can be deflected and focused into the food product with a beam spot of adjustable diameter. The heating and cooking apparatus also can include an electromagnetic radiation heating apparatus that is controlled by the processor and emits electromagnetic radiation to warm the food product inside the cooking chamber to a temperature below its cooking temperature.

A food station includes a base configured to support a food product, a frame coupled to the base and including a longitudinal member having a length extending in a longitudinal direction, and a heat strip module coupled to the longitudinal member. The heat strip module includes a housing, a heating element coupled to the housing, and a reflector coupled to the housing. The heat strip module is at least one of (a) selectively rotatable relative to the longitudinal member between a first orientation and a second orientation and configured to emit the energy in both the first orientation and the second orientation or (b) selectively repositionable along the length of the longitudinal member between a first position and a second position and configured to emit the energy in both the first position and the second position.

Several embodiments include a cooking appliance/instrument (e.g., oven). The cooking appliance/instrument can include a cooking chamber, a support tray adapted to hold food in the cooking chamber; and a heating system comprised of at least a heating element. The heating system is adapted to emit waves according to a particular configuration such that the emitted waves is substantially transparent or substantially opaque to the support tray and thus enabling the cooking instrument to select what to heat.

A methodology and product or system configurations are provided which allow food to be directly irradiated for cooking applications which involve the impingement of direct radiant energy on food or comestible items. Cooking vessels or cook-packs are used that are optically transmissive in visible or infrared narrow wavelength bands emitted in suitable narrowband cooking or heating systems.

The present invention discloses a chicken roasting oven capable of conducting multidimensional roasting, which includes a housing, a lid, an inner and outer pot. The inner pot is fixedly arranged in the housing, the outer pot is placed in the inner pot, strip-shaped heating elements are arranged on the inner side wall of the inner pot and connected end to end, a sheet-shaped heating element is arranged at the bottom of the inner pot, the lid can cover the top end of the housing, a thermal insulation plate and a liner are sequentially and fixedly arranged at the bottom end of the lid, a light wave tube is fixedly arranged at the bottom end of the liner and covered by a screen, and the sheet-shaped and strip-shaped heating elements and light wave tube are respectively electrically connected with a multistage switch and a power supply.

A multi-zone food holding bin has a continuous food supporting surface with multiple food holding zones. Each food holding zone is independently controllable so that different food temperatures may be maintained in adjacent food holding zones.

A multi-zone food holding bin has a continuous food supporting surface with multiple food holding zones. Each food holding zone is independently controllable so that different food temperatures may be maintained in adjacent food holding zones.

A heating appliance generally includes a housing having a compartment and a door for selectively accessing the compartment. The compartment is sized to receive a food product. The heating appliance also includes a heating element disposed within the compartment for cooking the food product, and a control unit for operating the heating element to cook the food product without preheating the compartment.

A cooking system for cooking food includes a housing having a hollow interior, a lid movable relative to said housing, and at least one heating element associated with one of said housing and said lid. The cooking system is operable in a plurality of modes including a conduction cooking mode and a thermal radiation cooking mode. In said conduction cooking mode, the cooking system is operable as a conductive cooker and in said thermal radiation cooking mode, the cooking system is operable as a radiative cooker.

A system for direct injection of selected thermal-infrared (IR) wavelength radiation or energy into food items for a wide range of processing purposes is provided. These purposes may include heating, raising or maintaining the temperature of the food articles. The system is especially applicable to operations that require or benefit from the ability to irradiate at specifically selected wavelengths or to pulse or inject the radiation. The system is particularly advantageous when functioning at higher speeds and in a non-contact environment with the target.